Heritage
I am a 9th generation Canadian, an English citizen, and a proud monarchist. I've spent lots of time looking into my family's history, most significantly our loyalist beginnings in New Brunswick. There is a sense of profundity when it comes to maintaining continuity with my fathers, and the fathers of this beautiful country in which we live. Canada is one of the best countries in the world by many metrics, and I'm proud to call it home.
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January 3, 2026 17:30
Having recently been married, I started looking into the definitions and etymology of different terms used to describe what is often today lumped under the word "family". In this process, I put together a four-level system of duty to help us as we work through how we interact with our respective "families".
The first duty is to one's family, from the Latin "famulus", or "household", an equivalent to the Old English "hiw-scipe". Traditionally these words wouldn't have described everyone related to you by blood, but only those who lived under your roof. The Latin root word "famulus" actually means servant, and one's "family" would have included the servants living in the same house. When I left my parents' house, even though we are still related, I am no longer part of their family or household. Instead, I have taken a wife, and we have started our own new family in a new house. Under my definition, my mother, say, could once again become part of my family, if my father passes and she comes to live under my roof.
The second duty is to one's "kin", from the Old English word "cynn", meaning "race, kind, or lineage", and it includes those you are related to by blood. Even though I am no longer under my parents' roof, I am still part of their kin, and have a duty to help them in times of need. My children will be kin with my parents and siblings, though my wife is excluded.
My wife is, however, included in my clan, and I am included in hers. I am using this Celtic-rooted word a little outside of it's traditional usage, but that's okay because it's my system and I can do what I like. I am using it to describe kin including those who marry into it. My wife is part of my kin's clan, but my mother-in-law isn't. After my blood or kin, my next duty is to my wife's clan, her kin, as well as my sister/brother-in-laws if my siblings get married.
The final layer is relatives (Latin: relativus) or folk, which traditionally didn't necessarily imply blood, only that you existed in relation to them; my neighbors, for example, could be considered related to me, or my folk. My parents aren't part of my wife's clan, but they are "related" to my wife's parents.
So, to recap, one's primary duty is to one's family (those under the same roof), then to one's kin (those related by blood), then to one's clan (those related through vows), and finally to one's relatives (those related through anything).