In the
lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of an individual's
sibling or
sibling-in-law. A niece is female and a nephew is male, and they would call their parents' siblings
aunt or
uncle. The gender-neutral term nibling has been used in place of the common terms, especially in specialist literature.[1]
As aunt/uncle and niece/nephew are separated by one generation, they are an example of a
second-degree relationship. They are 25%
related by blood, unless related by marriage.
Lexicology
The word nephew is derived from the
French word neveu which is derived from the
Latinnepos.[2] The term nepotism, meaning familial loyalty, is derived from this Latin term.[3]Niece entered
Middle English from the
Old French word nece, which also derives from Latin nepotem.[4] The word nibling, derived from sibling, is a
neologism suggested by
Samuel Martin in 1951 as a cover term for "nephew or niece"; it is not common outside of specialist literature.[1] Sometimes in discussions involving analytic material or in abstract literature, terms such as male nibling and female nibling are preferred to describe nephews and nieces respectively.[5] Terms such as nibling are also sometimes viewed as a gender-neutral alternative to terms which may be viewed as perpetuating the overgenderization of the English language.[6]
Traditionally, a nephew was the logical recipient of his uncle's
inheritance if the latter did not have a successor. A nephew might have more rights of inheritance than the uncle's daughter.[11][12]
In social environments that lacked a stable home or environments such as refugee situations, uncles and fathers would equally be assigned responsibility for their sons and nephews.[13]
Among parents, some cultures have assigned equal status in their social status to daughters and nieces. This is, for instance, the case in Indian communities in
Mauritius,[14] and the Thai
Nakhon Phanom Province, where the transfer of cultural knowledge such as weaving was distributed equally among daughters, nieces and nieces-in-law by the Tai So community,[15] and some
Garifuna people that would transmit languages to their nieces.[16] In some proselytizing communities the term niece was informally extended to include non-related younger female community members as a form of endearment.[17] Among some tribes in Manus Province of Papua New Guinea, women's roles as sisters, daughters and nieces may have taken precedence over their marital status in social importance.[18]
Additional terms
A grandnephew or grandniece is the grandson or granddaughter of one's sibling.[19] Also called great-nephew / great-niece.[20]
A half-niece or half-nephew is the child of one's half-sibling,
related by 12.5%.[21][22]
In some cultures and family traditions, it is common to refer to
cousins with one or more removals to a newer generation using some form of the word niece or nephew. For more information see
cousin.
References
^
abConklin, Harold C. (1964). "Ethnogenealogical method". In Ward Hunt Goodenough (ed.). Explorations in Cultural Anthropology: Essays in Honor of George Peter Murdock. McGraw-Hill. p.
35.
^Meakins, Felicity (2016). Loss and Renewal: Australian Languages Since Colonisation. p. 91.
^"niece, n.". OED Online. Oxford University Press. June 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
^Keen, Ian. "Definitions of kin." Journal of Anthropological Research 41.1 (1985): 62-90.
^Hill, Jane H., and Kenneth C. Hill. "Culture Influencing Language: Plurals of Hopi Kin Terms in Comparative Uto‐Aztecan Perspective." Journal of linguistic Anthropology 7.2 (1997): 166-180.
^Atlani, Laàtitia; Rousseau, C…Cile (2000). "The Politics of Culture in Humanitarian Aid to Women Refugees Who Have Experienced Sexual Violence". Transcultural Psychiatry. 37 (3). McGill University: 435–449.
doi:
10.1177/136346150003700309.
S2CID146534532.
^Gustaffson, Berit (1999). Traditions and Modernities in Gender Roles: Transformations in Kinship and Marriage Among the M'Buke from Manus Province. p. 7.