Fathers‐in‐law

The various terms used to denote a father-in-law in Indo-European languages are often linked to the Proto-Indo-European root *swekuros (Latin: socer, Greek: hekuros); these words may be construed, in relation to the Greek kurios (“master”), as meaning “his own master” (in relation to the bride) or “the master of the joint family” (Benveniste 1969: 249–51; Szemerenyi 1977: 63–7). Keywords: family; kinship and social organization