WFTness: The weird world of relatives in Bulgarian

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Bulgaria is a place where you cannot be farther than 500 km away from your family, no matter how hard you try. Families often live in the same area or, if they don't, one can always take a quick holiday to visit the folks "на село" (na selo, meaning "back in the village"). In fact, children often spend the summer months with one or the other set of grandparents somewhere in the country: in a village, a town or a small city. The "grandma institution" is really strong over here. As is the tradition of coming back from long holidays in the countryside with a car full of tomatoes, apples, peppers, you name it.

Anyway. The centuries-old family traditions and bonds are reflected in the Bulgarian language. Much like the proverbial Inuit and their many words for snow, there are five different words for "uncle" in Bulgarian, four for "aunt", three for "brother-in-law" and four for "sister-in-law".

( But let's start with the easy ones )