why are they called 'grandparents'? wikipedia says it was originally from the french: grand pere/mere. which makes sense, but why the word 'grand'? does it mean something?
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origin of the word grandparent
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It doesn't say in my English dictionaries, but according to my French dictionary, the "grand" in grandmère and grandpère meant "aged".
That led me to wonder where the Italian nonna (grandmother) and nonno (grandfather) came from; apparently nonna comes from a late Latin word for "wet-nurse", and nonno means the wet-nurse's husband.
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Irish m-i-law always refers to her great aunts as grand aunts, putting them in line (generation wise) wth grandparents. Makes sense, as opposed to great aunts, a generation youger than great grandparents.
JayJanet in Yorkshire
Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree
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