Archive for the ‘Having or Being a Family?’ Category
Household, kin and family
Is a ‘family’ something we have, or something we are part of? The Latin familia was a noun formed from famulus, a servant – whence also the witch’s ‘familiar’. It meant, not a relationship of kinship but one of ownership. A Roman’s familia was thus his household staff of slaves – it was something that [...]
A house divided
‘When therefore the wife was enraged against her husband, the sons against their father, the servants without cause against their master,’ asks a twelfth-century English writer, ‘might you not say with ample justification that a man is at war with himself?’ Well, yes, if the wife, sons and servants are considered to be a part [...]
My house, my car, my family
It is educational to listen carefully to the way people talk about ‘having’ a family. Because in the ordinary sense of the verb ‘to have’, the object that you have is not part of you. If you have a house, a car, a boat, a dog and a family, these are separate from you, and [...]
