A description of Egyptian kinship terminology of the Middle Kingdom, c. 2000-1650 B.C.

Willems, Harco

doi:10.1163/22134379-90003459

Cited by 19 publications

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“…Bierbrier (1980) followed Robbins's attempt with a study titled "Terms of Relationship at Deir El-Medinah," in which he concluded that terms of Relationship in the Tombs-reliefs and stelae usually do indicate an actual relationship rather than a vague affinity, but the terms may have a wider meaning than hitherto been supposed. (p. 7) Willems (1983) was the next to embark on a systematic study of ancient Egyptian kinship with his article "A Description of Egyptian Kinship Terminology of the Middle Kingdom, c.2000-1650 The aim of Willems's study was to fill the gap in the previous studies of ancient Egyptian kinship by providing formal rules governing ancient Egyptian terms. His data are drawn strictly from Middle Kingdom stelae, which, he says, exhibit a strong "maternal bias."…”

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“…Robbins (1993) and Bierbrier (1980) draw no conclusion on the type of kinship system used by the ancient Egyptians in their work. Although Fattovich sees it as Kariera, Jensen describes it as Hawaiian, and Willems (1983) describes it as a Maygar system with intergeneration extension rules, Franke determines the system to be both symmetrical and bilateral (Helck & Westendorf, 1986, pp. 1031-1035.…”

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Problems in Egyptology

Allen

2000

Journal of Black Studies

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Egyptologists have produced vast amounts of data on various aspects of the ancient Egyptian society. This information has primarily been developed from ancient Egypt's archaeological and textual records. Egyptologists believe that the data (archaeological and textual records) provide the answers to any questions surrounding ancient Egyptian society; they need only to be translated or excavated (Trigger, 1993, p. 2).1 Because Egyptology is a combination of archaeology, philology, and linguistics, the interpretation of these data has been of great interest to other disciplines.From the archaeological and textual records, numerous studies have been produced on certain aspects of ancient Egyptian society, marriage, family, women, sexual life, and customs. But these studies deal with kinship in an allusive manner. In 1927, Murray published an article titled "Genealogies of the Middle Kingdom" in the journal Ancient Egypt. This article is often cited to give credibility to the popular albeit erroneous assumption that ancient Egypt (pharaonic) was rampant with consanguineous marriages, that is, brother-sister and father-daughter.Indeed, what this article illustrated was Murray's unfamiliarity with the indigenous meaning of ancient Egyptian kinship terms. Consequently, Murray (1927) disposes of the idea that kinship terms such as snt (sister) and hmt (wife) may have different cultural connotations than those of Europe. Murray states emphatically, It is often argued that the terms of relationship were not as strictly applied as at the present day, and that when a woman is said to be a "sister of a man," the word may mean "wife's sister," "brother's 139

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Problems in Egyptology

Allen

2000

Journal of Black Studies

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A Companion to Ancient Egypt

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Kinship and Family in Ancient Egypt

Olabarria

2020

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ANTHROPOLOGY, ARCHAEOLOGY AND EGYPTOLOGYIn the preface of Egyptology and the Social Sciences, Kent Weeks (1979: v) wrote: we consider extremely encouraging the fact that Egyptologists are now, after half a century of reluctance, beginning to approach such fields as anthropology for ideas, while anthropologists are also beginning to realize that, beneath Egyptology's staid and sometimes formidable exterior, there lies a wealth of data of great value for their studies.In the almost forty years since that publication, the dialogue he hinted at has not been as lively as he anticipated. Many authors have successfully incorporated theoretical models from the social sciences into Egyptology (Baines 2011: 576-8), but very few of those proposals have been followed by engaged discussions in the literature. 1 Whether this is due to discomfort with rapidly changing disciplines (Weeks 1979: 21) or to mistrust of studies that go beyond a narrowly evidential basis (Baines 2011: 575), many Egyptologists remain reluctant to integrate theoretical approaches into their work. In contrast, in this book I advocate that a productive dialogue between Egyptology, anthropology and archaeology is not only possible but necessary. The rich dataset provided by Egyptology could be invaluable for anthropologists and archaeologists, while the methods and theoretical approaches of the latter disciplines may offer fresh insights into Egyptian material.

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A description of Egyptian kinship terminology of the Middle Kingdom, c. 2000-1650 B.C.

Cited by 19 publications

References 3 publications

Problems in Egyptology

Problems in Egyptology

Bibliography

Kinship and Family in Ancient Egypt

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