| As you traverse
your family tree, up one side to an ancestor, then down another path, you
will meet your cousins on the way down. Any cousin who is an equal number
of generations from the common ancestor as you are is a congruent cousin*
of the 5th, or 6th,
or whatever, degree. Let's say you have selected a 5th
congruent cousin. All the cousins further down her side of the tree are
also your 5th cousins, successively, one,
two, three, and so on—generations removed.
In general, two people who are cousins define their relationship this
way: Each counts the number of generations, starting with his parent, to
the common ancestor. Subtract one. The lower of the two numbers defines
the degree of cousinship. The absolute (unsigned) difference between the
numbers is the number of generations removed.
Why subtract one? Because siblings and uncles/aunts are special sorts
of cousins (0th!) that we have separate
names for. In Shakespeare's time, the term cousin was commonly used
for those relations as well as what we call cousins. Some cultures have
separate names for other relations. For example, Scandinavians have separate
relation names for each of their grandparents: mother's mother (Swedish:
mormor),
mother's father (morfar), father's mother (farmor) and father's
father (farfar). This extends in like manner to grandparents of
further remove (farmormor), although these names are less commonly
used—or so I've been told. |
| *After
a considerable search for a term describing this relationship, and finding
none, I have coined the term "congruent cousins" to mean cousins in the
same generation. |
| A 0thcousin
is a sibling, uncle or aunt! If 0 generations removed (congruent), s/he
is a sibling, otherwise an uncle or aunt. |
|
