Kin terminology and the study of kinship: A case study on the Greek island of Syros (1750–1820)

Abstract

This historical–anthropological study of kinship on the Greek island of Syros examines kin terminology as an indicator of relationships. These terms have been traced in a series of notarial acts dating from 1750 to 1820. Departing from the case study, certain elements of the system of kin terminology have been placed in a broader territorial and cultural context. The aim of this comparative analysis is to achieve a deeper understanding of kinship on the microlevel of the case study. From a methodological point of view, this article points out the need for interdisciplinary research on kinship. History, social anthropology, and ethnology could be possible partners in such an approach.

Keywords:

• Kinship
• Syros
• Relationship

Notes

1 For more information on the issues briefly mentioned in this introduction, see Karachristos (1998).

2 Mitterauer (2000) has pointed out the limitations of an approach focused solely on an analysis of kin terminology. Yet in the same article, he also showed the usefulness of analyzing kin terminology, especially for long-term analysis of kinship systems.

3 See Bender (1970), Firth (1957), Fortes (1953), Fox (1967), Leach (1973), Scheffler (1966, 1981), and Verdon (1980) for discussions on unilinear and bilateral, cognatic kinship systems. Goody (1989, pp. 240–255) and Guerreau-Jalabert (1989, p. 73) indicate the necessity of distinguishing between ascendants and descendants. See also Kaser (1995, p. 167f); and for Greece, Alexakis (1975, pp. 49–80, 1980, 1983, pp. 227–240), Andromedas (1957, pp. 1086–1088), Du Boulay (1984, pp. 533–556), Friedl (1962, pp. 70–74), and Hertzfeld (1983, pp. 157–166).

4 On the functioning of such networks in the everyday life of a Greek locality, see Friedl (1962, pp. 70–74). For contrasting examples from ancestral-oriented, agnatic cultures of the Balkans, see Kaser (1995, pp. 176–233).

5 The term has the same meaning in sources about the islands of Paros (Visvizis, 1958, p. 172), Naxos (Visvizis, 1951, p. 15; Siphoniou-Karapa et al., 1990, pp. 145, 252), and Mykonos (Tourtoglou, 1980–1981, p. 38), the regions of Trace (Alexakis, 1975, p. 57) and Mani (Alexakis, 1980, p. 238), and also among Greeks from the Black Sea region (Alexakis, 1983, p. 235). On Naxos the female form of the word kioura also meant mother (Siphoniou-Karapa et al., 1990, p. 434).

6 For a local example of a bilateral kinship system, see Kioussopoulou (1990, p. 147). Her study refers to Epirus during the 13th century.

7 Vasilika is located in Boetia in central Greece (see Friedl, 1962, pp. 58–64). Trace is a region in northeastern Greece on the border with Bulgaria and Turkey (Alexakis, 1975, pp. 52–55).

8 The Arvanites were a separate population group who spoke a different language (Alexakis, n.d., pp. 161–189).

9 For the Byzantine period, see Kioussopoulou (1990, p. 147) and Patlagean (1966). For the 20th century, see Alexakis (n.d., p. 223) and Andromedas (1957, pp. 1086–1087). Also see the index for the periods of Ottoman and Venetian rule.

10 Taes, as well as other terms in the local kinship terminology, were derived Turkish (see Alexakis, 1983, p. 237).

11 Alexakis explains this phenomenon by the influence of the Latin term nepos, which also meant nephew and grandson. For household formation among the Vlachs, see Caftanzoglou (1994).

12 In Vasilika, division of the family property took place after the death of the father (see Friedl, 1962, pp. 60–64). Among Saracatsans, it occurred even before his death (Campbell, 1964, p. 57). Even in societies with clans, the complex household was not the only possible form of organization. In Mani, brothers remained in the paternal household 2–10 years after they married (Alexakis, 1980, p. 195). Marriages among the Arvanites in southeastern Attica during the period 1850–1940 were not strictly patrilocal. We can find cases in which married daughters lived together with their parents and married brothers (Alexakis, 1992, p. 585).

13 Only the terms batzanakis and synyphada are exceptions to this rule because in both cases individuals described by these terms belonged to the same sex.

14 Such texts include Nomokanon by Malaxos, the legal handbook by Manouil Xanthinos; Vaktiria Archiereon, a book by the Arhimandrit Iakovos; and Pidalion, the well-known book by Nikodimos Agioritis.

15 Mitterauer (1990, p. 63) analyzed the epiklerate in the context of other endogamous marriages that were known in the eastern Mediterranean basin.