Word of the Day

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Strange coincidences in naming family members

Isn't it intriguing that French and Japanese, two totally unrelated languages, have words that can both mean father-in-law and stepfather: beau-père in French and 義父 (pronounced gifu) in Japanese? The same thing happens with belle-mère and 義母 (pronounced gibo). In those peoples' mentalities maybe the in-law or the step parent acts a substitute or additional parent and hence receives the same name. One of my Japanese dictionaries offers an interesting explanation for the meaning of 義, which reads (my translation): non-blood-related people are joined by shared children, siblings, etc.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

É, os franças e os japas têm línguas aparentadas em algum ponto =)

o/

*o professor escreveu vasorium mesmo... na inter-rede achei as duas formas, mas confio nos seus conhecimentos de latim - gratias!