of the father," and there is some reason to suppose that this descriptive usage has come into vogue owing to the total inadequacy of the ancient Samoan system to express relationships in which the peoples are now interested.
The wide use of such descriptive terms is also found in many systems of Europe, as in the Celtic languages, in those of Scandinavia, in Lithuanian and Esthonian.[1] A similar mode of denoting relationships is found in Semitic languages and among the Shilluks and Dinkas of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and since it is from these peoples that I have gained my own experience of descriptive terminology, I propose to take them as my examples.
In the Arabic system of relationship used in Egypt many of the terms are descriptive; thus, the father's brother being called 'amm, the father's brother's wife is mirat 'ammi, the father's brother's son ibn 'ammi, and the father's brother's daughter bint 'ammi, and there is a similar usage for the consorts and children of the father's sister and of the brother and sister of the mother.
Similarly, many Shilluk terms suggest a descriptive character, the father's brother being wa, the wife of the father's brother is chiwa, the father's brother's son is uwa, and his daughter is nyuwa. The father's sister being waja, her son and daughter are uwaja and nyuwaja respectively. Similar descriptive terms are used by the Dinkas.
- ↑ See Tables in Morgan's Systems..., pp. 79-127.
