Ancient society

by Lewis Henry Morgan

In order to appreciate the evidence it will be necessary to examine the details of the system. That of the Seneca-Iroquois will be used as typical on the part of the Ganowánian tribes of America, and that of the Tamil people of South India on the part of the Turanian tribes of Asia. These forms, which are substantially identical through upwards of two hundred relationships of the same person, will be found in a Table at the end of this chapter. In a previous work[469] I have presented in full the system of consanguinity of some seventy American Indian tribes; and among Asiatic tribes and nations that of the Tamil, Telugu, and Canarese people of South India, among all of whom the system, as given in the Table, is now in practical daily use. There are diversities in the systems of the different tribes and nations, but the radical features are constant. All alike salute by kin, but with this difference, that among the Tamil people where the person addressed is younger than the speaker, the term of relationship must be used; but when older the option is given to salute by kin or by the personal name. On the contrary, among the American aborigines, the address must always be by the term of relationship. They use the system in addresses because it is a system of consanguinity and affinity. It was also the means by which each individual in the ancient gentes was able to trace his connection with every member of his gens until monogamy broke up the Turanian system. It will be found, in many cases, that the relationship of the same person to

Ego is different as the sex of Ego is changed. For this reason it was found necessary to state the question twice, once with a male speaking, and again with a female. Notwithstanding the diversities it created, the system is logical throughout. To exhibit its character, it will be necessary to pass through the several lines as was done in the Malayan system. The Seneca-Iroquois will be used.

The relationships of grandfather (Hoc′-sote), and grandmother (Oc′-sote), and of grandson (Ha-yä′-da), and granddaughter (Ka-yä′-da), are the most remote recognized either in the ascending or descending series. Ancestors and descendants above and below these, fall into the same categories respectively.

The relationships of brother and sister are conceived in the twofold form of elder and younger, and not in the abstract; and there are special terms for each, as follow:

Elder Brother,	Ha′-je.	Elder Sister,	Ah′-jē.
Younger Brother,	Ha′-gă.	Younger Sister,	Ka′-gă.

These terms are used by the males and females, and are applied to all such brothers or sisters as are older or younger than the person speaking. In Tamil there are two sets of terms for these relationships, but they are now used indiscriminately by both sexes.

First Collateral Line. With myself a male, and speaking as a Seneca, my brother’s son and daughter are my son and daughter (Ha-ah′-wuk, and Ka-ah′-wuk), each of them calling me father (Hä′-nih). This is the first indicative feature of the system. It places my brother’s children in the same category with my own. They are my children as well as his. My brother’s grandchildren are my grandsons and granddaughters (Ha-yä′-da, and Ka-yä′-da, singular), each of them calling me grandfather (Hoc′-sote). The relationships here given are those recognized and applied; none others are known.

Certain relationships will be distinguished as indicative. They usually control those that precede and follow. When they agree in the systems of different tribes, and even of different families of mankind, as in the Turanian and Ganowánian, they establish their fundamental identity.

In the female branch of this line, myself still a male, my sister’s son and daughter are my nephew and niece (Ha-yă′-wan-da, and Ka-yă′-wan-da), each of them calling me uncle (Hoc-no′-seh). This is a second indicative feature. It restricts the relationships of nephew and niece to the children of a man’s sisters, own or collateral. The children of this nephew and niece are my grandchildren as before, each of them applying to me the proper correlative.