| 释义 |
avunculate Anthropology|əˈvʌŋkjʊlət|
[f. L. avuncul-us maternal uncle + -ate1 1 a.]
The special relationship existing in some societies between a maternal uncle and his sister's son; maternal uncles regarded as a collective body.
1920R. H. Lowie Prim. Soc. v. 81 Ethnologists describe under the heading of avunculate the customs regulating in an altogether special way the relations of a nephew to his maternal uncle. Ibid. vii. 171 The Omaha are patrilineal now, but their having the avunculate proves that they once traced descent through the mother, for on no other hypothesis can such a usage be explained. 1927Observer 17 July 6/4 This particular group of Melanesians is almost entirely lacking in the typical institutions of the region, the dual organisation, the avunculate. 1932R. F. Fortune Sorcerers of Dobu i. 62 Dobu practices the avunculate, inheritance from mother's brother to sister's son. 1937Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Feb. 145/1 It is a little surprising to find the mother's brother—in his collective capacity sometimes known as the ‘avunculate’—so much under an obligation to do the honours. |