Brewer's: Nephew

(French neveu, Latin nepos). Both in Latin and in archaic English the word means a grandchild, or descendant. Hence, in 1 Tim. v. 4, we read- “If a woman have children or nephews [grandchildren].” Propertius has it, “Me inter seros laudabit Roma nepotes [posterity].”

Niece (Latin neptis also means a granddaughter or female descendant. (See Nepotism.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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