Mother in Circassian is анэ (ane) in Kabardian and нанэ (nane) in Adyghe. Father is адэ in Kabardian and Татэ in Adyghe.
Family words in Kabardian and Adyghe
| English | Kabardian | Adyghe |
|---|---|---|
| mother | анэane | нанэnane |
| father | адэade | ТатэTate |
| grandmother | анэшхуэaneshkhwe | нэнэжъnenezhh |
| grandfather | адэшхуэadeshkhwe | тэтэжъtetezhh |
| brother (Kabardian) · my brother (Adyghe) | къуэшqwesh | сшыsshy |
| sister | шыпхъуshypkhwu | шыпхъуshəpkhu |
| daughter | пхъуpkhwu | пхъуpkhu |
| child | сабийsabiy | сабыйsabəy |
| elder | нэхъыжьnekh'yzh' | нахьыжъnah'əzhh |
| family | унагъуэwunaghuwe | унагъоwnagho |
Lesson 11 of the Circassian app’s audio course is a family at home, and Madina introduces everyone. Some words are shared by both dialects: sister is шыпхъу in both, and daughter is пхъу in both. The course points out a nice detail: you can hear daughter inside sister.
In Kabardian, the words for the grandparents start with the words for the parents. The course notes that you can hear father at the front of адэшхуэ, grandfather; grandmother, анэшхуэ, starts with mother in the same way. The Kabardian dictionary in the app gives them as “grandfather” and “grandmother”.
This is my mother
To say “mother and father”, Kabardian puts the word икIи (“and”) between them. Adyghe adds a small ending to each word instead: Нанэрэ татэрэ. Both come from lesson 15 of the course.
Meet the family
The scene from lesson 11, in both dialects. Madina introduces her family to Aslan; tap a line to hear it.
Kabardian · lesson 11 · at the door
Adyghe · lesson 11 · at the door
Two words to watch
Нанэ is mother in Adyghe, but the Kabardian dictionary in the app gives нанэ as “grandmother” and “old woman”. In a family that speaks both dialects, one person’s mom can sound like another person’s grandma.
In Adyghe the course teaches “my brother” as сшы, “the way a family says it”. On its own, шы is the word for horse in the course’s lesson 10, and the Adyghe dictionary in the app lists шы both as “brother” and as “horse”.
Two Kabardian words also work as polite ways of addressing people, according to the Kabardian dictionary: адэ (father) is a polite way to address an older man, and шыпхъу (sister) is a respectful way for a man to address a woman.
More Circassian phrases
Each page has both dialects with audio. The Circassian phrasebook puts them all on one page, and how to say it in Circassian has the most-searched words.
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Family in Circassian: questions
What is mother in Circassian?
анэ in Kabardian and нанэ in Adyghe.
What is father in Circassian?
адэ in Kabardian and Татэ in Adyghe.
How do you say grandmother in Circassian?
анэшхуэ in Kabardian and нэнэжъ in Adyghe. In Kabardian, нанэ can also mean grandmother.
How do you say brother and sister in Circassian?
Brother is къуэш in Kabardian; the Adyghe course teaches “my brother”, сшы. Sister is шыпхъу in both.
How do you say this is my mother in Circassian?
Мыр си анэщ. in Kabardian and Мыр сянэ. in Adyghe.
Sources
- Circassian App audio course (Beginner), Kabardian lessons 10, 11, 12 and 15; Adyghe lessons 10, 11, 12 and 15. Each lesson’s script was reviewed by a native speaker of its dialect before the course was made; the audio on this page is the app’s own.
- M.L. Apazhev, Dzh.N. Kokov, Kabardino-cherkessko-russky slovar (Kabardino-Cherkess–Russian Dictionary), Nalchik: Elbrus, 2008, the Kabardian dictionary built into the app’s Translate screen: адэ, адэшхуэ (p. 20), анэшхуэ (p. 24), къуэш (p. 284), нанэ (p. 332), шыпхъу (p. 578).
- Adyghe dictionary built into the app’s Translate screen (3,499 entries, from dovlet.info): нанэ, тэтэжъ, шы.
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