Great-great-...-great-grandparents

Question

I have been trying to find words to describe the relationships between direct blood descendants, and so far this is what I have come up with.

Padres - Parents

Abuelos - Grandparents

Bisabuelos - Great-Grandparents

Tatarabuelos - Great-Great-Grandparents

After this point, I have come across quite a bit of contradictory information as to how to continue the "great-great-great-..." pattern. Here are some of the suggestions that I have seen as to how this pattern might continue:

1). Use "tátara-" similarly to the way that "great-" is used in English

For example:

Tátara-tátara-tatarabuelos - great-great-great-great-grandparents

2). Use "bis-" similarly to the way that "great-" is used in English

For example:

Bis-bis-bisabuelos - Great-great-great-grandparents

3). Others have said that anything past "tatarabuelos/great-great-granparents" would be referred to as antepasados/ascendientes - ancestors

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Does anyone know how or if this pattern continues in Spanish. Could you let me know how this might work based on your own experiences. Any help is greatly appreciated.

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very interesting :) - April-Sarah, NOV 4, 2009

oh- and sorry I don't know how to continue it. - April-Sarah, NOV 4, 2009

Posted answer earlier, I know its been years but here you go. - Alopez426, MAY 12, 2013

Starting from father: Padre - Abuelo - Bisabuelo - Tatarabuelo - Trastatarabuelo - Pentabuelo - Hexabuelo - Heptabuelo - Octabuelo - Eneabuelo - Decabuelo - Alopez426, MAY 12, 2013

Answer 1

Since I came across this when looking for an answer, I'll post the correct one even though it's several years old. Listing goes from Father onwards. There is the common belief that you can just add a lot of "tatara" before abuelo and it signifies the same as in English "Great great great, etc" such as tataratatarabuelo and everyone should understand when you say that but another problem here is that tatarabuelo is already great x2 so however many tatara's you add you would need +1 more great so example above should be great great great grandfather, but even so the correct grammatical terms are below.

Padre
Abuelo
Bisabuelo
Tatarabuelo
Trastatarabuelo
Pentabuelo
Hexabuelo
Heptabuelo
Octabuelo
Eneabuelo
Decabuelo

P.S. I'm a native spanish speaker.

Answer 2

It seems that since tatarabuelos means 'great-great-grandparents', and you want to say 'great (x4) grandparents', then wouldn't that be 'tátara-tatarabuelo'?

I find it fascinating that the Spanish language has such a variety of words for family members. It says a lot about the culture.

I had the same thoughts about this (tátara being "great" x 2), but have no direct knowledge of this so I was hoping that a native speaker might weigh in. - Izanoni1, NOV 4, 2009

Tatara is great x2 but only the first time, meaning, to say great x4 you would use tatara x3, only one time less since only the first tatara would be considered great x2. - Alopez426, MAY 12, 2013

For correct term though, they are starting from father: Padre - Abuelo - Bisabuelo - Tatarabuelo - Trastatarabuelo - Pentabuelo - Hexabuelo - Heptabuelo - Octabuelo - Eneabuelo - Decabuelo - Alopez426, MAY 12, 2013

Answer 3

I asked a native speaker a few years ago. He said it was Tátara-tátara- as many times as we have great-greats.

Thanks Malenor...do you, by chance, know where that native speaker was from? (I was wondering if the "bis-bis-" vs. "tátara-tátara-" might have been due to regional differences or simply an example of code-switching

He was from Mexico - a Mexican veterinarian, if it matters. - Malenor, NOV 4, 2009

I don´t know of any regional differences. - Malenor, NOV 4, 2009

Answer 4

I asked a native speaker a few years ago. He said it was Tátara-tátara- as many times as we have great-greats.

Answer 5

This is what i found in the RAE

Bichozno

Chozno

Tataranieto

Bisnieto

Nieto

Hijo

Yo

Padre

Abuelo

Bisabuelo

Tatarabuelo

From this point i didn´t find how to continue, but in all languages you can find a way to express what needs expressing even if the word doesn`t exist, you could continue adding tatara or tras or bis or hepta, sexta etc etc.

Answer 6

bisabuelo, tátarabuelo, tátara-tátarabuelo, tátara-tátara-tátarabuelo, tátara-tátara-tátara-tátarabuelo. It is not 4x generations every time, it simply goes back one generation at a time.

Thanks I gathered that from your response and from what I had already researched previously....My comment was in regards to my own impressions about the word and not to how it is actually used. - Izanoni1, NOV 4, 2009

Answer 7

Tátara-tátara-tatarabuelos - great-great-great-great-grandparents is correct.