[Xmca-l] Re: kinship

[James Ma]

Just to add an etymological aspect that you might be interested to know
(this is because Chines is logographical).

According to the Chinese Oracle, family 家 has two parts: the upper
part 宀 refers
to "room"; the lower part 豕 refers to "pig". In the ancient times, people
raised pigs in their houses, so having pigs in a house was a hallmark of
living. In modern Chinese, family also indicates "relationship", e.g. 亲如一家
as close as a family.

James


*_____________________________________*

*James Ma*  *https://oxford.academia.edu/JamesMa
<https://oxford.academia.edu/JamesMa>   *


On 7 January 2018 at 21:30, David Kellogg <dkellogg60@gmail.com> wrote:

> In Chinese and in Korean, the word "family" is related to housing rather
> than to kinship. In European languages it is the other way around. This
> does suggest something semantic, no?
>
> David Kellogg
>
> Recent Article in *Mind, Culture, and Activity* 24 (4) 'Metaphoric,
> Metonymic, Eclectic, or Dialectic? A Commentary on “Neoformation: A
> Dialectical Approach to Developmental Change”'
>
> Free e-print available (for a short time only) at
>
> http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/YAWPBtmPM8knMCNg6sS6/full
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 6:22 AM, Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Martin,
> > Well that is a difficult question to answer without knowing what you mean
> > by "family"?
> > What in the world do you mean by "family"?
> > -greg
> >
> > On Sun, Jan 7, 2018 at 12:59 PM, Martin Packer <mpacker@cantab.net>
> wrote:
> >
> > > I am struggling with the way ‘family’ and ‘kinship’ have been defined,
> or
> > > not defined, in psychology and anthropology. One question that has
> > occurred
> > > to me is whether a word equivalent to ‘family’ exists in every
> language.
> > > When I Google this, Google responds ‘Ask Siri’…  :(
> > >
> > > Anyone have an idea?
> > >
> > > Martin
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
> > Assistant Professor
> > Department of Anthropology
> > 880 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
> > Brigham Young University
> > Provo, UT 84602
> > WEBSITE: greg.a.thompson.byu.edu
> > http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
> >
>


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