Turkish Village

Copyright 1965, 1994 Paul Stirling. All rights reserved.

Paul Stirling
CHAPTER EIGHT
KINSHIP

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Page 153

amm' usa§ï emmeti koca, herif aile avrat, horanta kayin kayinpeder, kayinata kayinanne, kayinvalide guvah damat gelin kayinbirader görümce baldiz yenge (see pp. 182 ff.) enishte bacanak elti dünür babalik annelik o§ulluk sü annesi süt kardesi

father's sister's child distant agnate husband wife (S.T. family) wife spouse's kin, especially brother father-in-law mother-in-law bridegroom, son-in-law (S.T.güvey ) bridegroom, son-in-law bride, daughter-in-law spouse's brother husband's sister wife's sister uncle's wife (in S.T. brother's wife; I did not hear it so used in the village) sister's husband; aunt's husband wife's sister's husband husband's brother's wife own child's parents-in-law stepfather stepmother stepson (kïzlïk does not mean stepdaughter) foster mother (wet nurse) foster brother

The system has some minor inconsistencies which seem to lack any obvious social explanation. Yigen , nephew, niece, is the reciprocal of the four distinct terms for parents' siblings. Wife's sister is distinct from husband's sister, yet wife's brother and husband's brother are the same. Terms for grandparents' siblings are not clear, especially terms for mother's father's siblings and for father's mother's siblings.

Even in standard Turkish synonyms for many of the main terms have been borrowed from Persian and Arabic. These terms mostly correspond in meaning to the Turkish terms, and I have no observations on differences of contextual usage. Sometimes they have slightly different meanings. Evlad , for example, is used for child or children without specifying sex.

The village system in the main reflects the standard Turkish system, but differs not only in dialect but also significantly in usage. The number of synonyms in current use struck me as

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