ioo KINDRED GROUP-MARRIAGE 



(3) I will commence my subject by laying before the 

 reader what may be termed the usual interpretation of 

 the chief Aryan words of relationship, such an interpreta- 

 tion as will be found in the writings of Jakob Grimm, 

 Max Miiller, or more recently and completely in Deecke's 

 work, Die deutsclien Verwandschaftsnamen. To the 

 latter book I owe much help in the suggestion of Aryan 

 roots, little or nothing in the matter of interpretation. 

 My interpretation is principally based on the manner 

 in which Old Saxon and Old High German words of 

 relationship and their cognates are glossed in early manu- 

 scripts. Collections of these glosses have been published 

 by Graff and Schmeller. 



The patriarchate assumes a tribal father or family- 

 head ruling a group of human beings, who are more or 

 less completely subjected to his authority. The mission 

 of woman in such a group is a household one, and the wife 

 is often scarcely distinguishable from a cluster of maids 

 and concubines, who assist her in her labours. The 

 daughters of the household are entirely in the power of 

 the father, who sells or gives them away at his pleasure. 

 On the death of the father, either a new tribal father is 

 chosen, who takes the full authority of the old, and in 

 many cases his wives (possibly even if he be the son), or 

 else the group breaks up into new family groups, each 

 headed by a son, among whom the father's property is 

 distributed. The women of the house do not inherit 

 property, but are property, passing from the hands of 

 the father into that of brother or husband. With this 

 rough draft of the patriarchate before us, let us examine 

 how the words of relationship have been interpreted, con- 



