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One of the Proto-Indo-European words for "son" appears to have been *suHnús (Skt. sūnú-, Goth. sunus, etc.). The word for "daughter-in-law" is reconstructed as *snusós (Lat. nurus, Gk. νυός, etc.). Could the latter be derived from the former?

Semantically, deriving "daughter-in-law" from "son" seems plausible enough. Formally, the two words are similar enough to make such a derivation tempting, but I don't see any straightforward way that it would work. Has anyone suggested such a derivation?

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    To the close-voter(s): I really don't see how this is a language-specific grammar and usage question. It's a question about Proto-Indo-European reconstructions, which surely are a matter of (historical/comparative) linguistics?
    – Draconis ♦
    Commented Dec 13, 2020 at 17:21
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    What exactly is the question? is it "are they?", is it "has anyone?", or is it "is there any evidence?".
    – user6726
    Commented Dec 13, 2020 at 18:08
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    @user6726 Any or all of those, though I doubt the first is answerable.
    – TKR
    Commented Dec 13, 2020 at 19:17
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    @Draconis this site is really plagued by inappropriate and gratuitous use of that particular closing reason.
    – LjL
    Commented Dec 13, 2020 at 19:17

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Re: "Has anyone suggested such a derivation"

Yes. Just a brief comment so far.

Looking at the relevant entries in NIL (Nomina im indogermanischen Lexicon), I can see they mention such a possible connection (etymology 2 out of 4 mentioned there), citing Kretschmer 1909 (p. 36, ft. 1) and Szemerényi 1977 (68ff).

The relevant passage from Kretschmer 1909:

enter image description here

As you can see, he mentions Pedersen 1893 (ff. 297), who - in his turn - disagrees with Bartholomae 1890 (v.2, p. 31, footnote 5), because Bartholomae 1890 wrote that "wie man *snusā auf *sunu-sā zurückfüren kann, verstehe ich nicht", mentioning in his turn J. Schmidt etc. etc. cf. Pedersen "die alte Etymologie"

The relevant passage from Szemerényi 1977:

enter image description here

enter image description here

Bartholomae, Christian. 1890. Studien zur indogermanischen Sprachgeschichte. Halle: Max Niemeyer.

Kretschmer, Paul. "Zur Geschichte Der Griechischen Dialekte." Glotta 1, no. 1 (1909): 9-59.

Pedersen, Holger. 1893. Die idg. Form des Wortes für “Schwiegertochter”. Beiträger zur Kunde der indogermanischen Sprachen, 18, 293-298.

Szemerényi 1977. Studies in the kinship terminology ... in Acta Iranica 16 (pp. 1-240), also available online dlib.nyu.edu/ancientworld/books/brill_awdl000004/1

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