Inherited fromProto-Indo-European*snusós, remade into anu-stem likely by influence ofsocrus, -ūs(“mother in law”).[1] The first-u- is unexpected, as original*-u- before-r- arising from*-s- would have been expected to lower to*-o- (cf.serō <*sish₁-). The expected outcome is nevertheless reflected in most Romance descendants (eg.Spanishnuera,Italiannuora, etc.),[2] although they could be secondary, and shifted from the attested-u- by influence of other female kinship terms such assocrus orsoror(“sister”).[3] The variant ending in-a, also found in Romance descendants but attested already in the Appendix Probi, while also conceivably secondary,[3] reflects aProto-Indo-European*snus-éh₂ also reflected inProto-Germanic*snuzō,Proto-Slavic*snъxà andSanskritस्नुषा(snuṣā́).
^De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “norus, -ūs”, inEtymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill,→ISBN,page420
^Sihler, Andrew L. (1995),New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press,→ISBN, page38
“nurus”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879),A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“nurus”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891),An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
"nurus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
