Son-in-law - who is this in the modern world?

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

What true Russian has not heard folk sayings? There are probably few of them. And how many proverbs exist about various family ties, and it is difficult to count. What are the well-known sparkling statements about the relationship between mother-in-law and son-in-law, so widely used by the people in anecdotal situations? For example, “a son-in-law is on the threshold, a mother-in-law by the balls”, “our sons-in-law have a lot of things”, “a mother-in-law milks a mortar for a son-in-law”, “they say that a mother-in-law is hell, and a mother-in-law is a treasure”. As, probably, many have already guessed, today we will talk about a man called "son-in-law", who he is, what is his place in his family.

Relevance of the issue

Despite the apparent simplicity of the term, for some, including our young contemporaries, the word "son-in-law" may seem unfamiliar and incomprehensible in meaning, even despite its widespread use. In order not to get confused in the terminology, as well as to adequately interpret the meaning of what you heard or read about family ties and domestic relations, we offer you a small article for an independent educational program on this issue.

Son-in-law - who is this?

If you pay attention to the pronunciation of the word, then a related single-root term can be considered a verb"know". Etymologically, from many languages, including Old Slavonic, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Slovenian, Czech, the word "son-in-law" has an unambiguous translation. Literally, it means "bride". From ancient Greek, the term is translated as "relative, brother." There are also such unusual words that contain a common root, indicating a certain relationship to the main term, such as, for example, son-in-law, son-in-law, son-in-law, son-in-law, most likely used in the common people or in fiction describing the folk traditions and customs of Russian villages, characterizing originality and originality of the Russian language.

Meaning of term

Returning to the modern semantic load that is assigned to this word, that is, simply, finding out son-in-law is who is related, you can understand that historically this word was called the groom or husband of daughters, sisters or nieces, as well as any man who becomes a relative after marriage. The wife's mom and dad become mother-in-law and father-in-law, respectively, the brother becomes the brother-in-law, and the wife's sister becomes the sister-in-law.

History and customs

Despite modern ideas about family relationships, initially in the old days in Russia, as well as in remote rural outbacks and settlements that still exist to this day, the figure of the son-in-law was considered quite influential and revered.

This is indicated by the literary descriptive sources that have survived and have come down to our times, confirming that even in the usual way of peasant villages there were certain traditions of receiving, treating andrespect for the daughter's husband. Especially if the wife had any flaw in appearance or with a meager wedding dowry. Maybe this is where prejudices about the tense and conflicting relationship between the mother-in-law and her daughter's husband come from.

In our life, you can often meet a son-in-law who came to live with his wife's family. Such a newly-made relative is usually called a primak. However, it is still considered, and practice shows, to maintain good relations, it is better for a young family to live separately. Then mother-in-law and son-in-law will not conflict. Who is this and who are related to each other, we have already found out.

Instead of an epilogue

Everyone, coming into this world, immediately acquires relatives. Associating ourselves with this or that person, we ourselves can choose our family. And often philistine labeling, whether it is mother-in-law or son-in-law (who it is - read above), ridiculing his relationship with other family members, can affect the future trend of his behavioral reactions among relatives.

So above all, always be a good person! Then the son-in-law of the mother-in-law will be the first guest!