62 SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



brothers and sisters of Ego are brought into a common class, and the term nepdci, 

 nephew, indicates the relationship ; and lastly, the children of these several uncles 

 and aunts are generalized into one class, and the common term serkku, and another, 

 orpdnd, cousin, were used to express this relationship. Such an amount of classi- 

 fication, and following so closely in the direction of the lloman, suggests a pre- 

 sumption of influence from that source. But it is difficult to see how it can be 

 sustained. ' At the same time there is a striking similarity, not to say affinity, 

 between several of the Finnish terms of consanguinity, and the corresponding 

 terms in the Aryan dialects : for example, sisar, sister ; tytar, daughter ; pol7ca, 

 son ; nepdd, nephew ; tdte, aunt ; seta, parental uncle ; and eno, paternal aunt. The 

 terms for collateral consanguine! may have been borrowed from Aryan sources, 

 which is not improbable, but this could not be affirmed of sisar, tytar, and pmka. 

 What the explanation of these affinities may be, I am unable to state. As the 

 Turanian system has not yet been presented, it cannot be contrasted with that 

 here shown. It may be premised, however, that the Finn system does not contain 

 a single characteristic of the Turanian, the two former being the reverse of each 

 other in every respect, as will appear in the sequel. 



From what has been seen of the gradual development of special terms in the 

 Aryan languages, and of the modification, by means of them, of the descriptive 

 form ; and from what now appears on the face of the Finnish system, it is a reason- 

 able, if not a necessary inference, that the latter was also originally descriptive, 

 and that the special terms for collateral consanguine! were of comparatively modern 

 introduction. This view will be materially strengthened- by the present condition 

 of the Esthonian form. 



2. Esthonians. The system of relationship of the Esthonians was furnished by 

 Charles A. Leas, Esq., United States Consul at Revel, Russia. It is the more 

 valuable and interesting from the fact that this people are rude and uncultivated, 

 and still possess their native language, usages, and customs, although surrounded 

 by Slavonic and German populations. 1 It is, therefore, presumptively nearer to the 



1 From the instructive letter of Mr. Leas, which accompanied the schedule, the following extracts 

 are taken. " The Esthonians who inhabit this province, and who for the past seven hundred years 

 have constituted its peasantry, were found a comparatively wild and uncultivated people by the 

 German Knights, when they invaded and took possession of the country, A.D. 1219. This people 

 were at that time divided into a number of tribes, each being governed by a chief. At that period 

 they had, to some extent, abandoned their nomadic life, and a portion of them had commenced the 

 cultivation of the land, by making farms ; but they have preserved no traditions, nor have they the 

 slightest conception as to their origin, or from whence they came. And although they have lived 

 among a highly intelligent and cultivated people (the Germans) for the past six hundred years, they 

 have persistently and obstinately refused to adopt or learn their language, habits, customs, or dress ; 

 but to this day have preserved with tenacity the language, habits, customs, and even dress of their 

 fathers, living in the same condition substantially in which they were found in 1219. No traditions 

 are known or related among them which throw any light upon their origin or ancient history ; nor 

 have the Germans preserved any knowledge of their civil organization or mode of government, beyond 

 the simple fact that they were divided into tribes, and that these tribes were governed by chiefs. 

 From 1219 to about fifty years ago, this people were held as slaves by the German nobility; and 

 they now constitute the peasantry of that province. Until lately they had no written language ; and 



