bacë

• baç (South Gheg - Elbasan)
• bac

• Svane suggests a borrowing from Serbo-Croatian baca, a children's pronunciation of braca (“older brother”).
• Meyer and Çabej link it to baç (“head shepherd”) (compare baci).^[1]
• Another possible source is Turkish bacı (“sister”).^[2]
• Orel considers it an inherited word from Proto-Albanian *batja, related to Proto-Slavic *baťa (see Serbo-Croatian baća (“father, brother, ancestor”) and Proto-Slavic *batę (“older brother, daddy”); he argues that the Albanian word was borrowed into Romanian and Megleno-Romanian baci, whence it was borrowed into Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian.^[3]

• IPA^(key): [baːt͡sə]

bacë m (plural baca, definite baca, definite plural bacët)

1. honorific or endearing word for (male) family members; such as older brother, uncle, cousin or another respected, older male
2. honorific or endearing for father (regional)
3. honorific or endearing for an unrelated/foreign older male (cf. english "aunty/uncle")

• baç, tatë, atë, baba, babë, babëlok, babush
• (brother) vëlla
• (uncle) xhaxha, xhaxhillarë, xhaxhallarë, dajë, ungji