Gender-neutral kin terms in English
Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2019 8:55 am
I'm working on a text which deals with various types of relatives (in more of a mathematical sense, but anyway), and so I needed a gender-neutral term for "aunt" / "uncle". I came across a few linguistic abominations like "parsib", "pibling", or "auncle", but also the interesting term "ommer". I can't find any etymology for it; the only thing that mentions it is a Wiktionary entry for a presumably unrelated word in Danish.
So, do any of you know the origin of this word? Or do you have other suggestions for terms?
In my natlang Swedish, as in many others, these terms are even more distinct; in relation to my nephews, I would simply be "mother-brother". So no inspiration there. But I'm fairly sure there are other languages that don't distinguish gender here – maybe some suitable loan word?
So, do any of you know the origin of this word? Or do you have other suggestions for terms?
In my natlang Swedish, as in many others, these terms are even more distinct; in relation to my nephews, I would simply be "mother-brother". So no inspiration there. But I'm fairly sure there are other languages that don't distinguish gender here – maybe some suitable loan word?