Saturday, April 5, 2008

linguistic anthropology & divorce.

The Yonggam of Melanesia evidently have two terms for the concept of "divorce" : domoni, to relinquish, and dankorare, referring to the separation of two things previously combined. According to an article by Stuart Kirsch that will appear in the September 2008 issue of American Anthropologist, "the [latter] term applies to both persons and things; for example, dankorare can also refer to skinning the bark from a tree."

I don't think you can get more accurate than those two terms: divorce is a giving up of something and a rending of the previously joined. Divorce is both surrender and skinning bark from tree.

Perhaps this is a bit odd to note, but I find the Yonggam linguistic expression of divorce both spot on and lovely.

(Uhh, nota bene: but don't fear for my marriage any time soon.)

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