CHAPTER VI.--NOMENCLATURE OF KINSHIP.


Specific kinships are such as "paternal uncle" or "maternal uncle,"
as distinguished from the general term "uncle." The phrase "first
cousin" covers no less than eight specific kinships (four male and
four female), not taking the issue of mixed marriages into account.
Specific kinships are briefly expressed by a nomenclature in which
_fa_, _me_, _bro_, _si_, _son_, _da_, _Hu_, _Wi_, stand respectively
for _father_, _mother_, _brother_, _sister_, _son_, _daughter_,
_Husband_, _Wife_. Each of these syllables is supposed to have the
possessive _'s_ added to it whenever it is followed by another
syllable of the set, or by the word _is_ when it is not. _Example_:
Let the person from whom the kinships are reckoned be called _P_, and
let _Q_ and _R_ be two of _P_'s kinsfolk, described respectively as
_fa bro_ and _me si son_. That means that _P's father's brother_ is
_Q_, and that _P's mother's sister's son_ is _R_. It is a simple and
easily intelligible nomenclature, and replaces intolerable verbiage
in the description of distant kinships. My correspondents used it
freely, and none of them spoke of any difficulty in understanding it.
Its somewhat babyish sound is soon disregarded.

TABLE IV.--ABBREVIATIONS.
______________________________________________________________________
| | |
| Males. | Females. |
|_________________________________|____________________________________|
| | |
| Grandfather, paternal _fa fa_ | Grandmother, paternal _fa me_ |
| " maternal _me fa_ | " maternal _me me_ |