Arabic-L:LING:In-law word responses

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Tue 21 Jun  2005
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1) Subject:In-law word responses

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1)
Date: 21 Jun  2005
From:Dilworth Parkinson <dil at byu.edu>
Subject:In-law word responses

I would like to thank those who responded to the request for a word  
for the relationship between two mothers-in-law.  A way to imagine it  
would be if two women each walking with a friend encountered each  
other on the street and exchanged greetings.  After passing by, one  
of the friends asks: Who was that, and the response is: She is  
my_________. (meaning she is the mother of my son's wife, or she is  
the mother of my daughter's husband).  Although Hamaat is suggested  
below as a term for this relationship, I can't imagine it being used  
in this context.   Anyway, here are the replies:

byoung at casl.umd.edu
I've done fieldwork in two Arabic-speaking societies and have not come
across a term for this specific relationship.  (I assume that your
questioner has in mind the relationship of compadrazgo in Mexico and the
Spanish-speaking world, in which the mother of the groom addresses the
mother of the bride as "comadre" [co-mother] and also refers to her as
"comadre").  This relationship is not stressed in the Arab world.  My
recollection is that the mother of the groom (ex. Muhammad) addresses
the mother of the bride (ex. Salwa) as /umm salwa/ and is addressed as
/umm muhammad/.  In other words, there is no specific term of address;
to address each other, the speakers use teknonymy.  There is also no
specific term of reference.  Only a general term of reference is used:
/nasiibt-i/ "my female in-law/affine."
Arabic has more terms for affines in the generation of the groom and
bride.  For example, in some Arab societies the groom calls his wife's
sister's husband /`adiil-i/ "my counterpart," a usage which singles out
the relationship between two men that is established through women by
means of two marriages.  But terms of reference for affines in the
ascending generation (i.e. the generation of the groom's parents) are
few.
I'm not a native speaker, however, so maybe someone else will answer and
prove me wrong.  I'd really be interested in hearing from other people,
too.
Best,
Bill Young
Center for Advanced Study of Language
University of Maryland

afraalmussawir at yahoo.com
hi!
your request piqued my interest, so i asked my mom for info -- she's my
iraqi source of info on arabic/iraqi dialect, though she left iraq in
'68 and speaks a recognizably older dialect of baghdadi (adhamiyya)
arabic (hope the arabic comes through):
according to my informant, the respectful term in iraqi arabic is
marat- 3amm مرة عم  (or marat al-3amm
مرة العم) this would be the
term to refer to one's own mother-in-law, one's child's mother-in-law,
and one's child's sister-in-law.  i asked about the generational
implications, but my mom said it's irrelevant: you could be of the same
or older or younger generation, and still use this term.
i think mara مرة is uniquely iraqi dialect for "wife"
but i could be wrong about that.
according to this same informant (my mom), the term used in egypt (and
quite possibly in syria) for mother-in-law (i.e. Hamaah
حماة) is only used in iraq to refer to one's
sister-in-law.
best of luck with this inquiry!
afra

aguilar at um.es
Yes, the word is hamât.
victoria
[to which I, Dil, responded: hamaah means mother in law.  That is the  
relationship between a  person and his/her spouse's mother.  The  
question was a word for the  relationship between the mother of one  
and the mother of the other][to which Victoria responded:]
And the word is hamaah too. They say hamawat (the two mother in  
law).  if there is another word i don't know it. We use "suegra" and  
"consuegra" in spanish, but in arabic I think is the same word.
victoria

Michael.Schub at trincoll.edu
fyi:  see attached.  these words are borrowed from Hebrew, cognate to  
Ar. root  kh-t-n, for "father/son-in-law;
circumcision (sic!)."  All best wishes, and  
gratitude,                                         Mike Schub
P.S. from Google search for "in-law  
terms."                                             --ms
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970912

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End of Arabic-L:  21 Jun  2005