38 



ON THE CLASSIFICATION 



not change the characteristic inclination which it manifests 

 in the expression of the different degrees of consanguinity, 

 though the terms themselves may be changed and modified 

 repeatedly. The concrete or abstract words of relationship 

 are merely a reflection of the concrete or abstract character 

 of the people and its language, and this character is not 

 affected even if such terms vary according to peculiar 

 idiosyncrasies. Concrete languages as Finnish may, as has 

 just been mentioned, adopt abstract expressions instead of 

 their own concrete terms ; but a research into the history 

 of such formations will soon betray their foreign origin, and 

 reveal the cause of the presence of the foreign element. 

 Abstract languages will never discard their abstract 

 tendency ; special terms may change, but the principle 

 which they represent remains intact. 



The terms duhitri and bhratri, daughter and brother, 

 were not, we may be sure, the words first used to denote the 

 relationship of daughter and brother among the people whose 

 language developed itself later into Sanskrit, but they are 

 at all events the representatives of previous abstract terms. 

 Abstract languages are able to form, and form indeed at 

 times, concrete terms ; but the presence of original abstract 

 expressions decides the question. Moreover it is a curious 

 fact that highly developed abstract idioms, especially when 

 they have reached the analytic stage, e. g., English, betray 

 an inclination towards concrete formations and an aversion 

 to grammatical terminations ; but such seeming aberrations 

 do not destroy the innate leaning towards abstractness, 

 though they may be quoted as an instance of the truth of 

 the old proverb les extremes se touchent. 



Taking then the words denoting kinship as expressions 

 which most accurately mark the character of a language, as 

 it reappears again and again in the various grammatical 

 and syntactical formations, they will serve as a guide in 



