Re: You have a word for it?

William Annis wrote:
>         That's interesting.  In classical Greek, xenos has the same
> meaning.  It seems best to take the meaning as "participant in a
> relationship of xenia."
It reminds me of the difference between, e.g., Japanese _oniisan/otouto_
(big brother/little brother) and English "brother" and the Hawaiian word
(I forget the form) that means "sibling of the opposite sex".
Oniisan/otouto can never be reciprocal.  If A and B are both male, and A
is B's oniisan, than B is A's otouto.  The English "brother" can be
reciprocal.  If A and B are both male, and A is B's brother, than B is
A's brother also.  But if they are opposite sex, than there is no
reciprocal terms.  A is B's brother, but B is A's sister.  But the
Hawaiian word is reciprocal in such a case.  So, Hawaiian, by having
words for "brother", "sister", and "sibling of the opposite sex" allows
reciprocal terms for every combination of siblings, while English has
reciprocal terms for same-sex siblings, and Japanese never has
reciprocal terms for any combination of siblings (well, there are words
like _kyoudai_ "sibling", but those aren't in common use)

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