# Fabulous Answer! (but...nuncle?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 9, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fabulous-answer-but-nuncle/223714 "2004-01-09T20:54:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Petermatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b782af/32.png) [@Petermatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petermatt)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fabulous-answer-but-nuncle/223714/1 "2004-01-09T20:54:20Z")
What a joy to read, with an abundance of both wit and erudition! I’m particularly thankful for all the additional information not specifically called for in the original question. Obviously, “bibliophage” bubbles over with scholarly zeal and wishes to engage others. I was puzzled, however, by the comment that “many standard English words have entered the language through mistakes (uncle from nuncle,…)” According to my old OED, uncle comes from the Latin avunculus, and the first English citation dates from circa 1290, while nuncle is but “a variant of uncle with transferred n,” and its first citation is dated circa 1589. The American Heritage Dictionary (3rd edition) similarly derives nuncle from the phrase “an uncle”. The big Random House Dictionary tells me that the Latin form avunculus was constructed of two parts: av- (shortened from avus, “mother’s father”) and -unculus, a suffix extracted from the diminutives of neuter stems. Nowhere do I find justification for regarding a “nuncle” or a “nunculus” as an ancestor of anyone’s uncle. How about that? * * * Link to Staff Report: [What’s the plural of “penis”?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mplurals.html)–CKDH ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fabulous-answer-but-nuncle/223714/2 "2004-01-10T00:21:40Z")
norange you glad you didn’t say banana. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fabulous-answer-but-nuncle/223714/3 "2004-01-10T03:50:39Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, **Petermatt**. I’ll be a monkey’s … wossname. I would have sworn “an uncle” was from “a nuncle” by transference of the _n_, as “an apron” is from “a napron” and “a nick-name” is from “an eke name.” I was so sure of the fact, I guess I didn’t bother to look it up. Of course I was wrong. I’ll have that fixed. Thanks for bringing it up. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fabulous-answer-but-nuncle/223714/4 "2004-01-10T04:02:12Z")
I forgot to mention that a link to the Staff Report is appreciated. You can provide one by simply pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. Like so: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mplurals.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mplurals.html) ---
**Author:** ![Petermatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b782af/32.png) [@Petermatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petermatt)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fabulous-answer-but-nuncle/223714/5 "2004-01-10T06:29:16Z")
Sorry I didn’t include a link to the Staff Report. I’ve got the idea now. You’re most welcome for the catch, and I hope to see lots more Reports from you! ---
**Author:** ![Xiphos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/48db29/32.png) [@Xiphos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xiphos)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fabulous-answer-but-nuncle/223714/6 "2004-01-15T08:55:22Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Welcome to the SDMB, **Petermatt**. > > I’ll be a monkey’s … wossname. I would have sworn “an uncle” was from “a nuncle” by transference of the _n_, as “an apron” is from “a napron” and “a nick-name” is from “an eke name.” I was so sure of the fact, I guess I didn’t bother to look it up. Of course I was wrong. I’ll have that fixed. Thanks for bringing it up. Is it like those names that have contracted from “mine”: Mine Edward to Ned and Mine Anne to Nan? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fabulous-answer-but-nuncle/223714/7 "2004-01-16T03:34:48Z")
> [@Xiphos](#): > > Is it like those names that have contracted from “mine”: Mine Edward to Ned and Mine Anne to Nan? Without trying to sound funny, where/when did the “mine” before names originate? Meaning? ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fabulous-answer-but-nuncle/223714/8 "2004-01-16T04:33:28Z")
The trick of using “mine”, “thine”, “hers”, “ours”, “yours”, and “theirs” only as the complement of the verb “to be” is relatively recent. “Mine” and “thine”, at any rate, were in the same position as “an”. But the entire question is complicated, due to the fact that Old English, like most Indo-European languages, had both the genitive case of the personal pronoun and possessive adjectives, and, like the rest, tended to use the one for certain constructions and the other the rest of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Xiphos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/48db29/32.png) [@Xiphos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xiphos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fabulous-answer-but-nuncle/223714/9 "2004-01-16T07:52:35Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Without trying to sound funny, where/when did the “mine” before names originate? Meaning? I have always assummed it’s an affectionate usuage as in " my very own". Giving Ned and Nan the status of intimate contractions.