I decided to re-read the page on Proto-Eastern, and I noticed something.
The page opines that *mīdor "mother", *pīdor "father" and *sādor "sister" derive from adding a kinship suffix *-dor to babytalk, and conjectures an underlying **bādor for *baredū "brother". Upon second inspection I saw something else - an honorific suffix *-(d)or. My reasoning is that the same ending is seen on *mēdor "noble" and possibly *abor "grandfather" and *sinor "mother-in-law"; it seems reasonable for an honorific suffix to appear on the words for parents, and the honorific on "sister" but not "brother" fits with the degree of matriarchy in Eastern social relations inferred from the existence of a common word for "mother-in-law" but not "father-in-law".
Proto-Eastern thought
- Thomas Winwood
- Lebom
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Re: Proto-Eastern thought
Nice observation!
Inferring matriarchy based on one word may be stretching it, though.
Inferring matriarchy based on one word may be stretching it, though.
- Thomas Winwood
- Lebom
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- Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2002 7:47 am
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Re: Proto-Eastern thought
Well, yes. I wasn't sure how to describe the phenomenon you described succinctly, so I went with an inaccurate blanket term. (On the other hand, based on the text you seem to infer patriarchy from the Obenzayet reflex of *ɣīra and not a lot else... )
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- Avisaru
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Re: Proto-Eastern thought
Possibly it varied - the Proto-Easterners spread out over quite a bit of territory, after all.