What is the Greek word for family?

topic posted Fri, March 16, 2007 - 8:17 PM by  DRUM
I'm getting my first tattoo completed when i get my new one done.
And in the empty banner I want the word family put in Greek, but I read somewhere online that in Greek they don't have a word for it.
So I tried babel fish and it came up with οικογένεια now is this correct? and if so how do you pronounce it?
Thank you all!
posted by:
DRUM
United Kingdom
  • Unsu...
     

    Re: What is the Greek word for family?

    Sun, March 18, 2007 - 2:01 PM
    Ok, for crying out loud, who said that there wasn't a greek word for family? Privacy, no. But family???

    Also, I would definitely use oikogenia if I were you, rather than familia, because the later is a latin word, the former a greek one.
    • Re: What is the Greek word for family?

      Sun, March 18, 2007 - 7:26 PM
      Anna's right - thank you Anna! "I Familia" is a greeklish term that, I suspect, grew from being in the US for a long while...;-)
      • Re: What is the Greek word for family?

        Thu, March 22, 2007 - 3:36 PM
        Ha! Yea, like "roof-y", floor-y", "car-o" and other assorted MALAKIES! :)
        • Re: What is the Greek word for family?

          Thu, March 22, 2007 - 6:28 PM
          Hahahahaha...Hey, I did say "Greeklish!"

          I don't understand why Drum couldn't find "family" in Greek. Isn't "ikoyenyia" a standard type of word? Oh well...
          • Re: What is the Greek word for family?

            Fri, March 23, 2007 - 10:53 AM
            I've heard "i familia" too. In fact, I've seen it in modern Greek literature.
            • Re: What is the Greek word for family?

              Fri, March 23, 2007 - 2:15 PM
              Oh I know YOU've heard it! LOLOL

              Really, though, you've seen it in print? Like, i familia, tis familias, tin familian? Where? Do you think that this was a purposeful reference to Greek Americans? Was it a newspaper? A book? Non-fiction? Fiction? What was it?
              • Re: What is the Greek word for family?

                Fri, March 23, 2007 - 3:05 PM
                I don't believe familia is a Greek word. They've adopted many English words the last century and especially recently since Greece has become more in touch with the "modern" outside world. Also ridiculous is the notion that there is no word for privacy. Many words are not translatable directly with the same meaning and nuance, but the Greek language has one of the highest numbers of words in it's language than any other language in existence. The Greek language is all about nuance.
                • Re: What is the Greek word for family?

                  Thu, March 29, 2007 - 9:05 AM
                  What is the etymology (n etumologia?) of oikoyenia? It looks like it might be an old plural, maybe? Is it a root from an older word that doesn't mean family? I remember my Greek teacher telling us that the word for spouse comes from the word for yoke (that's a nice image, getting harnessed into marriage...) I wonder if this is why somebody might say that there is no word for family in Greek.

                  Is familia Greeklish or Italian (or any other Romance language influence)?

                  My favorite Greeklish word is to tuneli ; ) Very useful term for driving.
                  • This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.

                    Re: What is the Greek word for family?

                    Thu, March 29, 2007 - 11:36 AM
                    "to tuneli" LOL I'm partial to "to party" myself, although I 'like the sound of i yiorti better.

                    I think/thought (?) that i familia was from the English family so that would make it Greeklish, but I don't know. If the English family is ultimately from some romance language word for family, than that would make it a romance word I suppose.
                  • This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.

                    Re: What is the Greek word for family?

                    Sat, March 31, 2007 - 2:09 PM
                    Not sure of the etymology of oikogenia, but it is certainly plural, as in the WHOLE family. As for familia, I'd guess it's Italian. The Greeks are close neighbors with them, and the western coast has many italian influences in food, etc. I've heard my own relatives use it, but it was used in a joking way, joking about the family or the use of English.

                    To which word for spouse are you refering? I'm thinking of syzygos, which is not so disparaging at all. Then there's the more common and informal andra/gineka. I can't think of another right now.
                    • Unsu...
                       

                      Re: What is the Greek word for family?

                      Sat, March 31, 2007 - 2:20 PM
                      Yes, sizygos, from si, meaning "together" and "zygos", yoke.

                      Oikogenia, oikos meaning home (think IKEA) and gen, which means begetting,offspring, etc (think genes)

                      Also, I wasn't kidding when I said that there is no word in Greek that really means private or privacy. The closest you can get is the word "idiotis" which in today's Greek means a private citizen, but which I was reading used to mean a person who wasn't involved in politics, and hence, an idiot!
                      • Re: What is the Greek word for family?

                        Sat, March 31, 2007 - 11:07 PM
                        I spent the afternoon, today, in a local public library going through this book, NTC's New College Greek and English Dictionary, National Textbook Company, 1990. It seems that Greek is definitely an "elastic" language. I found a few items of interest:

                        For Family, along with Ikoyenya and familya, I found "i fame-LEE-ya." Message to Ther: we both heard the first two, but I don't remember the last one...do you?

                        I found "to vareli," for barrel. What came to mind for barrel was o kulindros. (Think English "cylinder.")

                        How's about 'i billa" for villa? When I think of a "country home," the first words that come to mind are something along the lines of "to horiatiko spiti." But, I'm guessing that there's a word that I'm not thinking of, a single word, for a "country-type home" in Greek.

                        This was the clincher; "i bizita" for visit. Does no one use "i episkepsi" anymore?
                        • Re: What is the Greek word for family?

                          Sat, March 31, 2007 - 11:50 PM
                          I don't remember "fameLEEya" at all. But, for villa, what I think of is "i epavli," but I'm thinking that there are a lot distinctions between what sort of "villa" is being referred to so that there are probably a lot of different words for this sort of house. I guess that I'd have to see it in context.

                          Speaking of "i episkepsi"...;-)

                          For husband and wife, ginaika and andros are what I'm familiar with.
                        • Re: What is the Greek word for family?

                          Thu, April 12, 2007 - 2:59 PM
                          I will say, just because words are added to the dictionary doesn't make them Greek, or words for that matter. Case in point: Some stupid English dictionary recently "honored" Rachael Ray by adding 'EVOO' to the dictionary. Words, phrases, yes, even absurd acronyms are added to the Greek dictionary too, but doesn't make them Greek words. Another example, my partner's name, William -- as WASPy a name as there ever was, is in the Greek dictionary: Gullielmos (in Greeklish). NOT a Greek name, and not even nice in Greek. Blech.

                          And say, doesn anyone know what the connection is to the French language. I have noticed very French words: boufet (bureau), manto (light coat), and the DMC embroidery floss - they refer to that in the French: say it like, De-Mi-Ce. Very bizarre.
                          • Re: What is the Greek word for family?

                            Fri, April 13, 2007 - 12:24 PM
                            I don't know the exact connection, but would love to know about it.

                            Here are some more examples of Frenchness:

                            asenser (ascenseur -elevator)

                            retire (retiré-penthouse apartment on roof with balcony)
                            speaking of which,

                            do Greeks say "valkon" or "mpalcon" for balcony?

                            The word for movie theater, "sinema" was originally Greek (kinema), adopted by the French (cinéma), and taken back to Greek as we know it today.

                            What's the word for scholarship or internship in Greek? I bet you those come from French (not my life or my first-born son, but...I still bet on it)
  • Re: What is the Greek word for family?

    Thu, October 25, 2007 - 2:55 PM
    You probably have your tatoo by now, but I just joined this tribe.

    I bought a new Greek dictionery (Fitraki) in Athens last year. For family it lists: οικογένεια, famielia, familia (in Greek alphabet).

    The Greek language includes words of foreign origin, just as English does.

    Famieilia & familia probably came from famiglia in Italian or familia in Spanish.
    • Bob
      Bob
      offline 5

      Re: What is the Greek word for family?

      Fri, February 15, 2008 - 4:42 PM
      Familia is from Italian. It's the same root as "familiar." The "oi" in the beginning of the word that was initially provided is a reflection of the Greek orthography. Modern Greek has six different ways to write the sound "i:" η ι υ ει οι and υι. They were once pronounced differently but have merged. So we write "οικογένεια" and say "ikoyenya."

      Greeklish...that could be a subject for a whole new thread! I think I'll start it...;)

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