Appendix 3 - ‘Bilaterality’ and the development of English kin terminology

Summary

We have seen that many features thought to be characteristic of modern European kinship have a long history which is not confined to that continent alone. ‘Bilaterality’ was one such feature in question. There has, of course, been some change in Europe over the centuries. Patrilineal clans, where they existed, have mostly disappeared. Bilateral reckoning dominates more exclusively the computation of kin and the type of terminology, though its range of application has certainly narrowed. If we look at the recorded changes in kin terms over time these developments cannot be regarded as initiated by the growth of feudalism, by industrialisation, nor yet by specific ethnic or cultural factors. For when they first come to our attention the kinship systems of the major Eurasian societies already had a strong bilateral component about them, linked to the presence of dowry and to a number of related factors (Goody 1976a). But subsequently Europe saw some significant changes from the types of terminology that were widespread in Eurasia. The critical shifts that led to our present system began long ago and were pan-European. They were introduced at roughly the same time and place as other features of the kinship system we have examined, that is to say, before Vulgar Latin had split into the ancestors of the Romance languages.