Re: You have a word for it?

>From: Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
>Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 20:34:00 -0500
>
>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.
A is B' sibling.  B is A's sibling.  There it is in English.

Adam

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)
>
>--
>"There's no such thing as 'cool'.  Everyone's just a big dork or nerd,
>you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." -
>overheard
>ICQ: 18656696
>AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42



So lift the cup of joy and take a big drink.
In spite of it all it's a beautiful world.
-------Suzanne Knutzen



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