Teitnir (52) calls the following Kuudr men aia:—Mutevan (52), Punatvan (53), Keitas (55), Tüliners (56), Kiugi (57), Tütners, Etamudri, Madsu, and Koboners (58), Ishkievan (60).
He calls the following anna:—Kuriolv and Ivievan (52), Targners (53), Keinkursi (54), and Mudriners (57). The following are his nòdrved, and are called by him enda:—Kwelthipush and his brothers, Piliar and Piliag (52), Pungusivan, Tevò, Karov and Pòl (53), Pöteners (54), Sinar and Katsog (55), Erai, Kil, Kanokh (56), Onadj and Kwòdrthotz (57), Kishkar and Tormungudr (59). All the sons of these brothers are the mokh of Teitnir.
In the above list Teitnir omitted Tikievan and Tushtkudr (56), who according to the genealogies are his pia or grandfathers, while their sons, though much younger than Teitnir, are his fathers, and are addressed by him as aia.
The other kinship terms are used in the same wide way. If a man’s mother belonged to Kuudr all those Kuudr men would be his mun who were the an, egal, or nòdrved of his mother; and all the children of those men would be his matchuni.
The terms used for the relatives of a wife are also used for the corresponding relatives of a sedvaitazmokh. This is the name of the woman in the Toda institution according to which a woman consorts with one or more men in addition to her husband or husbands (see p. [526]). The man, or mokhthodvaiol, calls the fathers and brothers of the woman paiol, and calls her father mun and her mother mumi.
Relatives are often spoken of by the Todas in a way that defines their relation to the speaker more exactly than is usual in the classificatory system. Thus, a man may call his brother’s son “en nodrvedvain mokh”—“my younger brother’s son”; or he may speak of his wife’s elder sister as “en kotvai akka,” an abbreviation of en kotvai tan akka—“my wife her elder sister.” Similarly, a wife’s younger sister may be called “en kotvai nòdrved.”
It seemed to me that the Todas afford an interesting example of a people who are beginning to modify the classificatory system of kinship in a direction which distinctly approaches the descriptive system. The essential features [[493]]of the system of kinship are those known as classificatory, but the Todas have various means of distinguishing between the near and distant relatives to whom the same kinship term is applied. Two examples of this have already been given; the son of an own sister may be called “my sister’s son,” while the son of a clan sister is called “our sister’s son,” and the own brother of a mother is simply called mun, while in the case of a clan brother of the mother, the name of the man is added. Further, a term which is definitely descriptive may be used in the examples quoted above.
The Todas have reached a stage of mental development in which it seems that they are no longer satisfied with the nomenclature of a purely classificatory system, and have begun to make distinctions in their terminology for near and distant relatives.
Another point of interest about the Toda system is that the two sets of kinship terms—those used in direct address and those used when speaking of a relative—do not correspond closely with one another.
The terms used in direct address are few in number compared with the kinship terms used when speaking of a relative. Brothers of all kinds, matchuni and some paiol (brothers-in-law) are all addressed as anna, egala or enda, according to age. Children, grandchildren, sisters’ sons and sons-in-law are all addressed as ena. If exclusive attention were paid to the kinship terms used in address we should seem to have a kinship system which is almost wholly based on relative ages and generations, all other distinctions being ignored.