LL-L: "Kinship terms" LOWLANDS-L, 18.OCT.1999 (05) [E]

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From: Ted Harding <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
Subject: Is there a word for this?

Folks,

The following is a question I asked years ago to the LINGUIST
list without getting any particularly good reply. It's possible,
however, that lurking in some L-L language is an instance of
what I'm looking for.

The context is the following.

There are words in any language for a variety of biological
relationships between people, e.g. father, son, daughter,
cousin, uncle, niece, half-sister, ... Some of these can
be pretty weak or remote relationships.

There are also words for a variety of legal and/or religious
relationships, e.g. husband, wife, stepson, step-mother,
sister-in-law, mother-in-law, god-child, god-parent, ...

So you might think that if two people have a strong reason
to consider themselves related, even indirectly, there would
be a word for their relationship, especially if their situation
is not uncommon.

However, consider the following. I know of no word for it
in English, yet (especially these days, and at various times
and in various places also in the past, for millennia) it is
a kind of relationship which affects many people. Also, it's far
from being a trivial relationship. Maybe there is a word
in some L-L language?

Man A and woman B are related in that they are the biological
parents of child C. That's it. No other presumption whatever
about whether they're married or in any other way related.
Not even whether they live together or regularly see each other.

So, is there a word for the relationship between A and B?

A is B's what? B is A's what? A and B are whats?

You can invent terms like "co-parent" or whatever. I'm looking
for "natural" terms, such as could be traditionally used in a
community where this sort of situation is present (and it has
never been all that uncommon). And it's surely a strong reason
for them to consider themselves related!

Any offers? In any language? Historically?

Best wishes to all,
Ted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
Date: 19-Oct-99                                       Time: 05:30:38
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