28 SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



of the marriage relationships, unlike our own, which is both rude and barren, was 

 copious and expressive. For the principal affinities special terms were invented, 

 after this language became distinct, and it contributed materially to the perfection 

 of the system. It contains even more radical terms for the marriage relationships 

 than for that of blood. Our English system betrays its poverty by the use of 

 such unseemly phrases as father-in-law, son-in-law, brother-in-law, step-father, and 

 step-son, to express some twenty very common and very near relationships, nearly 

 all of which are provided with special terms in the Latin nomenclature. On the other 

 hand, the latter fails to extend to the wives of uncles and nephews, and to the hus- 

 bands of aunts and nieces the corresponding designations, which the principal 

 European nations have done. The absence of terms for these relatives is the only 

 blemish upon the Latin system. The wife of the paternal uncle, for example, was 

 described as patrui uxor, and the husband of the paternal aunt as amitce vir. A 

 reason against the use of the principal terms existed in their fixed signification, 

 which would render their use in the English manner a misnomer. 



In the Latin nomenclature, as given in the table, there are thirteen radical 

 terms for blood kindred and fourteen for marriage relatives. These, by augmen- 

 tation to express the different grades of what is radically the same relationship, 

 and by inflection for gender, yield twenty-five additional terms, making together 

 fifty-two special terms for the recognized relationships. In this respect it is the 

 most opulent of all the nomenclatures of relationship of the Aryan nations, except 

 the Grecian. 



