DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0186
124
C. G. and B. Z. Seligman
in the first person singular possessive—; but though the word hammu is not generally
used in Egypt,28 the root (^5>) is Arabic, and means father-in-law, as it does in Hebrew:
the same word is found in Tigre, and the root is seen in the to-Bedauye u-ha-mo-an, and
appears to be common to the Hamitico-Semitic group of languages. We have not been
able to trace habuba; it is in use over all the Arabic speaking Sudan, and is possibly of
negro origin. It is used in addressing any old woman.
Some of the terms are used more widely than would appear from the study of a single
genealogy: thus a man might call any boy of his own khasm beyt waladi,, ‘my son’, and
the boy would answer yaba, ‘father’, or ya 'ammi (paternal uncle). Again ya 'ammt is
the term of address that a man might apply to any other man to whom he wished to show
respect, and it is noticeable that more respect is implied by the use of 'amm than of db,
for though “father of so-and-so” is a polite way of addressing any one, a man always
addresses his wife’s father as “ 'amm of so-and-so”, to say “yd dbu d-fuldni,” would be
considered to be wanting in respect. The respect that is due to the 'amm in Arabia is
seen by an incident related by Doughty; a lad of the family of the Emir of Jebel Shammar
told the author that he loved his father’s feeble-minded old brother, “yet he did not name
him ’ammy, mine uncle”.29 No doubt among the Kababish 'amm is considered a more
respectful term of address then db; yet a man would sometimes address his 'amm as yaba,
possibly implying more affection than respect. The duties of the 'amm are not clearly
defined; he is, however, expected in a general way to help his ibn 'amm, who looks upon
him as a father.
A man speaks of the members of his own khasm beyt as the children of his paternal
uncle {auldd, 'amm), and though he might speak of the men of his own generation simply
as his brothers, he would never speak of them as the children of his father. When a man
marries a woman from another khasm beyt, his child regards all the men of the previous
generation of his mother’s division as his akhwal (sing, khdl, ‘maternal uncle’), the men of
his own generation he calls akhwdn (brothers) or auldd khalt, ‘ children of my maternal
uncle’, and when any of his mother’s relatives visit the ferik he kills a sheep and entertains
them.
Relationship through the mother is remembered, though as marriage with the bint
'amm is the rule, in the majority of cases both parents belong to the same family. It is
therefore easier to realize the influence of the mother’s relatives in the few cases where
28 It is not given by Spiro, Arabic-English vocabulary of the colloquial Arabic of Egypt, Cairo, 1895, though
it occurs in classical dictionaries, and Captain H. F. S. Amery, English-Arabic vocabulary for the use of officials in
the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Cairo, 1905, gives hamu as mother-in-law, not as father-in-law.
29 C. M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta, Cambridge, 1888, vol. 2, p. 29.
C. G. and B. Z. Seligman
in the first person singular possessive—; but though the word hammu is not generally
used in Egypt,28 the root (^5>) is Arabic, and means father-in-law, as it does in Hebrew:
the same word is found in Tigre, and the root is seen in the to-Bedauye u-ha-mo-an, and
appears to be common to the Hamitico-Semitic group of languages. We have not been
able to trace habuba; it is in use over all the Arabic speaking Sudan, and is possibly of
negro origin. It is used in addressing any old woman.
Some of the terms are used more widely than would appear from the study of a single
genealogy: thus a man might call any boy of his own khasm beyt waladi,, ‘my son’, and
the boy would answer yaba, ‘father’, or ya 'ammi (paternal uncle). Again ya 'ammt is
the term of address that a man might apply to any other man to whom he wished to show
respect, and it is noticeable that more respect is implied by the use of 'amm than of db,
for though “father of so-and-so” is a polite way of addressing any one, a man always
addresses his wife’s father as “ 'amm of so-and-so”, to say “yd dbu d-fuldni,” would be
considered to be wanting in respect. The respect that is due to the 'amm in Arabia is
seen by an incident related by Doughty; a lad of the family of the Emir of Jebel Shammar
told the author that he loved his father’s feeble-minded old brother, “yet he did not name
him ’ammy, mine uncle”.29 No doubt among the Kababish 'amm is considered a more
respectful term of address then db; yet a man would sometimes address his 'amm as yaba,
possibly implying more affection than respect. The duties of the 'amm are not clearly
defined; he is, however, expected in a general way to help his ibn 'amm, who looks upon
him as a father.
A man speaks of the members of his own khasm beyt as the children of his paternal
uncle {auldd, 'amm), and though he might speak of the men of his own generation simply
as his brothers, he would never speak of them as the children of his father. When a man
marries a woman from another khasm beyt, his child regards all the men of the previous
generation of his mother’s division as his akhwal (sing, khdl, ‘maternal uncle’), the men of
his own generation he calls akhwdn (brothers) or auldd khalt, ‘ children of my maternal
uncle’, and when any of his mother’s relatives visit the ferik he kills a sheep and entertains
them.
Relationship through the mother is remembered, though as marriage with the bint
'amm is the rule, in the majority of cases both parents belong to the same family. It is
therefore easier to realize the influence of the mother’s relatives in the few cases where
28 It is not given by Spiro, Arabic-English vocabulary of the colloquial Arabic of Egypt, Cairo, 1895, though
it occurs in classical dictionaries, and Captain H. F. S. Amery, English-Arabic vocabulary for the use of officials in
the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Cairo, 1905, gives hamu as mother-in-law, not as father-in-law.
29 C. M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta, Cambridge, 1888, vol. 2, p. 29.