Surely,direct descendantis the worst genealogy terminology; after all, indirect descendants are not.
Surely, direct descendant
is the worst genealogy terminology; after all, indirect descendants are not.
The use of the adjective direct
with descendant
suggests that there is such a thing as
an indirect descendant, and that is a ludicrous notion. Really now, someone either is a
descendant or is not a descendant. The word descendant
is all that is needed to describe the nature of the relationship.
There is really no need to add the adjective direct
to it, as the phrase indirect descendant
is most obviously a ridiculous contradiction in terms.
You may not have encountered it being used before, but genealogists actually do use the phrase indirect descendant
or collateral descendant;
they say you are an indirect
descendant of someone if you are not a direct descendant, but you and that
someone do share a common ancestor; for example, when you are a descendant of
one of their siblings.
The phrase indirect descendant seems an oxymoron. It certainly is a
lesser known phrase that tends to create confusion. For that reason alone, it is
probably better to use the much more common word cousin
or the phrase distant cousin
for such a relationship. If you want, you can even specify the relationship more
precisely, by using the phrase cousin n times removed
.
Once you use the phrase indirect descendant
or collateral descendant
for non-descendants, then the word descendant
by itself is
no longer good enough to indicate a real descendant, you have to start using the phrase direct descendant
or lineal descendant
instead.
The reason for this surprising terminology is very simple. We generally think of ancestor and descendant as concepts applying to individuals. That the relationship is direct is implied, as we consider the notion of indirect ancestry to be silly at best.
However, that is not how everyone throughout history understood ancestor and descendant. For many, those words did not apply to individuals, but to entire generations; to them, an uncle is an ancestor, and nieces and nephews are descendant. Everyone your are related to in generations before you is ancestor, and everyone you are related in generations after you is a descendant.
When your concept of ancestor and descendant is the stock
rather the individual, you do need adjectives to distinguish between direct and
indirect ancestry; that explains the phrases direct descendant
and indirect
descendant
.
There is no need to take my word for this explanation. You can look it up in any good English or law dictionary. Here are some selected parts of of the entries for relevant words in the most authoritive English dictionary of all, the Oxford English Dictionary.
1. a. One from whom a person is descended, either by the father or mother; a progenitor, a forefather. (Usually said of those more remote than a grandfather.) Also, of animals, and fig. as ‘spiritual ancestor.’
1297 R. Glouc. 193 Vor þyn auncetres dude al, þat we þe hoteþ do. c1300 Beket 428 Bi the kyng Henries dai, that oure ancestre was. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 166 The lond..that thin ancessour So wele kept biforn. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 182 That her auncestre brake the lawe. c1400 Rom. Rose 391 Tyme, that eldith our auncessours. 1447 O. Bokenham Lyvys of Seyntys 64 Oure aunsetrys us beforn. a1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 4 Stories, the whiche hathe ben wretin bi oure aunsetters. 1475 Bk. Noblesse (1860) 10 Geffrey Plantagenet youre noble auncetour. c1535 Ld. La Warr in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. II. II. 134 There lyethe many of my aunsytorys. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arber) 26 The Trophees and Triumphes of our auncestours. 1596 Bp. Barlow 3 Serm. i. 19 Our auncestors were woont to say. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, IV. iv. 61 When I am sleeping with my Ancestors. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) II. 152 Our auncitors..haue giuen vs counsell. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World II. 284 Hercules..the Ancester of the Macedonian Kings. 1667 Milton P.L. II. 894 Eldest Night and Chaos, ancestors of Nature. 1756 Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Wks. I. 12 We owe an implicit reverence to all the institutions of our ancestors. 1793 Discuss. Trait. Corresp. Bill, The wisdom of our ancestors. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) I. II. i. 106 St. Peter..the spiritual ancestor of the Bishop of Rome. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 315 The ancestors of the gigantic quadrupeds [i.e. dray-horses]..were brought from the marshes of Walcheren. [1881 Evans Leicestersh. Wds. 91 Ancetor var. of ancestor.]
c. Law. A person who precedes another in the course of inheritance, and from whom an inheritance is derived, whether in the direct line of descent or not: correlative to heir. collateral ancestor: see collateral a. 4.
1628 Coke Littleton 380b, If lands had beene giuen to the husband and wife and their heires, and the husband had made a Feoffement to another, to whom a Collaterall Ancester of the wife had released and died. 1651, 1767 [see heir n. 1]. 1768, 1809 [see ancestral a. 1b.] 1959 Jowitt Dict. Eng. Law I. 116/2 Under the law as it stood before the Law of Property Act, 1925, an ancestor meant any person from whom real property was inherited.
1. The relation or condition of ancestors; progenitorship; ancestral lineage or descent. Hence, distinguished or ancient descent.
1330 R. Brunne Chron. 14 What þorgh lowe of lond, & olde auncestrie, Wan he þe regne of Westsex. c1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 62 His purpos was for to bistowe hire hye In to som worthy blood of Auncetrye [v.r. -trie, -terye, -cestrie]. c1400 Destr. Troy xv. 6319 þe proud kyng, was full pure ryche, Of aunsetre old. c1425 Wyntoun Cron. IX. xxvii. 45 Mychty lordis of ancestry. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge (1848) 10 Blessed Saynt Werburge..Descended by auncetry and title famous. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. V. iv. 139 Now, by the honor of my Ancestry. 1697 Dryden Æneid XI. 82 A Son, whose Death disgraced his Ancestry. a1719 Addison (J.) Title and ancestry render a good man more illustrious. 1836 Hor. Smith Tin Trum. I. 28 They who on length of ancestry enlarge
2. collect. The persons who stand to us in the above relation; the line or body of ancestors. (Cf. the similar passage from abst. to concrete in tenantry, chivalry, gentry, majesty, knighthood, peerage.)
1330 R. Brunne Chron. 81 His auncestrie whilom when left it orgh folis. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 423/3 Thys place is belongyng to me by myn owne herytage comyng fro myn auncestrye. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. 27 Theyr patrymony, Whiche was to them lefte by theyr olde auncestry. c1625 R. James in Shaks. Cent. Praise 164 You are descended of Noble Auncestrie. 1780 Cowper Table Talk 372 Our ancestry, a gallant Christian race. 1825 Bro. Jonathan III. 419 A powerful nation, whose large ancestry had peopled..all that part of the earth.
A. adj.
4. Descended from the same stock, but in a different line; pertaining to those so descended. Opposed to lineal. collateral ancestor: a brother or sister of a parent, grandparent, or other lineal ancestor.
1375 Barbour Bruce I. 56 He..That..cummyn wes of the neist male, And in branch collaterale. c1425 Wyntoun Cron. VIII. Prol. 14 Qwhen þe succession lynealle Endit, þe collateralle Ressawit..þe Crowne. 1531 Dial. on Laws Eng. II. l. (1638) 154 A warranty of an ancestor collateral to the disseisee. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. II. vi. §39 King Edward dying Childlesse..left the Land at a Losse for an Heir in a direct Line, & opened a Door to the Ambition of Collaterall Pretenders. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 81 The heirs of a man's body, by which only his lineal descendants were admitted, in exclusion of collateral heirs. a1847 Barham Ingol. Leg., Spectre of Tappington, The property passed..to a collateral branch of the family.
B. n.
5. A collateral kinsman.
1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 699 All collaterals, viz. Uncles, Aunts, Brothers and Sisters. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1778) II. VII. 281 Collaterals of mature age or distinguished merit were often preferred to those..nearer the throne in direct descent. 1811 Morritt Let. 28 Dec. in Lockhart Scott, A greedy collateral who inherited the estate.
b. A collateral line of descent. rare.
1698 Sidney Disc. Govt. i. §15 (1704) 28 All the Sons of Shem and Japhet, and their Descendants in the Collaterals, were to be prefer'd before him [Ham].
A. adj.
2. Descending or originating from an ancestor; also fig. (See descend v. 8.)
1594 Parsons Confer. Success. II. viii. 184 Of the right discendant line of K. John. a1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 26 His Son..descendent and extracted from his loines. 1725 Pope Odyssey II. 313 Were not wise sons descendent [ed. 1758 descendant] of the wise. 1857 Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art ii. (1868) 112 The best and greatest of descendant souls.
B. n.
1. One who ‘descends’ or is descended from an ancestor (See descend v. 8.); issue, offspring (in any degree near or remote): a. of persons.
1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 85 All the descendents of Beatrice. 1623 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 86 Their Servants, Children, and Descendens. a1729 S. Clarke On the Evidences Prop. 14 (R.) Abraham's descendents according to the flesh. 1794 Southey Poems, Retrospect, The last descendant of his race. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 54 A descendant of the conquering Franks. 1875 Poste Gaius 265 From the rules of caducity ascendants and descendants of the testator to the third degree were excepted.
b. of animals and plants.
1866 Darwin Orig. Spec. Hist. Sk. 13 The existing forms of life are the descendants by true generation of pre-existing forms. 1867 H. Spencer Princ. Biol. II. vi. 431 The descendants of a wheat plant..will have become numerous.
c. fig. and transf.
1869 Farrar Fam. Speech ii. (1873) 74 The Gothic language is absolutely dead..it has left no direct descendants. 1871 A. R. Wallace Nat. Select. viii. 295 Are not improved Steam Engines or Clocks the lineal descendants of some existing Steam Engine or Clock? 1894 Chr. World 23 Aug. 629/2 The descendants of the Puritansthe Nonconformists of to-day.
7. a. The fact of ‘descending’ or being descended from an ancestor or ancestral stock; lineage. Also attrib.
c1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 249 is ilk re barons, orgh descent of blode, Haf right & resons to e coroune. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 230 Which rightfull heire was by descent. c1430 Lydg. Hors, Shepe, & G. 9 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 15 Cryste whiche lynally doune came Be dissent conveyed the pedegrewe Frome the patryarke Abrahame. 1530 Palsgr. 213/1 Descent of lynage, descente. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Fall R. Tresilian v, By discent a gentleman. 1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. 123, I would draw his descent from Hector, or Achilles. 1728 Young Love Fame III. (1757) 104 A Welch descent, which well-paid heralds damn; Or, longer still, a Dutchman's epigram. 1839 J. Yeowell Anc. Brit. Ch. xiii. (1847) 141 A chieftain of imperial descent. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 107 The descent in the female line was not formally denied. 1950 Amer. Anthropologist LII. I. 2 We may differentiate unilineal descent groups from a kinship system proper. 1951 R. Firth Elem. Soc. Org. i. 8 In such a small community less importance is attached to preserving a male descent-name than to marking the establishment of a new social unit. 1957 P. Worsley Trumpet shall Sound i. 18 The framework of Fijian social organisation was a system of agnatic descent-groups. 1958 G. Lienhardt in Middleton & Tait Tribes without Rulers 105 Every tribe contains descent groups from many clans of both categories.
b. transf. of animals and plants; in Biol. extended to origination of species (= EVOLUTION 6c).
1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 192 Many Camells abound here..The Dromodarie and it are of one descent, but varie according to the Countrie. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. (1871) 317 On the theory of descent with modification. 1871 (title), The Descent of Man and Selection in relation to Sex. 1882 Vines Sachs' Bot. 776 Descent determines the specific character of the growth. 1884 J. Fiske Evolutionist xiv. 366 The researches..into the palæontology of the horse have established beyond question the descent of the genus equus from a five-toed mammal not larger than a pig, and somewhat resembling a tapir.
†8. a. A line of descent, lineage, race, stock.
c1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 206 Elizabeth þe gent, fair lady was sche, Tuo sons of þer descent, tuo douhters ladies fre. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. iii. (1628) 63 Of whose descents are since issued the greatest Princes at this present in Germanie. 1618 Chapman Hesiod I. 228 Then form'd our Father Jove a Third Descent, Whose Age was Brazen.
†b. A descendant (lit. and fig.); also, descendants collectively, offspring, issue. Obs.
1475 Bk. Noblesse (1860) 23 The noble actys of the seyd erles of Angew wyth her lynealle dessentys. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 67 Augusta of the Taurines, an ancient descent from the Ligurians. 1615 Chapman Odyss. VI. 22 She went Up to the chamber, where the fair descent Of great Alcinous slept. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 979 Our descent..Which must be born to certain woe, devourd By Death at last.
A. adj.
4. Of relations of time, order, succession, etc., which can be figured or represented by those of space: Straightforward, uninterrupted, immediate. a. gen.
1494 Fabyan Chron. V. lxxvi. 54, I shal..sette theym in suche a direct ordre, that it shalbe apparant to the Reder.
b. Of succession: Proceeding in an unbroken line from father to son, or the converse; lineal, as opposed to collateral; as a direct heir or ancestor.
1548 Hall Chron., Hen. IV, 21b, Edmonde Mortimer..then next and direct heire of England and of Fraunce. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 117 The last King of Portugall, in whom ended the direct masculine line. a1661 Fuller Worthies, Warwicksh. (1662) 126 Sir James Drax, a direct descendant from the Heirs male. 1727-51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Direct, The heirs in a direct line always precede those in the collateral lines.
Not direct.
1. c. Of a succession, title, etc.: Not descending or derived in a straight line.
1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, IV. iii. 105 His Title, the which wee finde Too indirect, for long continuance.
A. adj.
2. a. Of descent, ancestry, consanguinity, inheritance, or succession (hence also of a descendant, ancestor, heir, etc.): That is in the direct line; opposed to collateral.
1426 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 132 Henry the sext, is truly borne heir unto the corone of Fraunce by lynyalle successioun. 1466 Paston Lett. II. 285 They shewed a lineall discent, how their first ancetor, Wulstan, came out of France. a1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 178, I am the..lyneall heyre. 1596 Spenser F.Q. IV. xi. 12 And after them the royall issue came Which of them sprung by lineall descent. 1690 Locke Govt. I. xi. §161 The Prime and Ancient Right of Lineal Succession to any thing. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 172 8 Enriched in the common course of lineal descent. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 203 Lineal consanguinity is that which subsists between persons, of whom one is descended in a direct line from the other. 1817 Moore Lalla R. 1 Abdalla..a lineal descendant from the Great Zingis. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy-Bk. Prop. Law x. 65 Under recent legislation the father and other lineal ancestors are let in in default of lineal heirs. 1871 L. H. Morgan in Smithsonian Contrib. Knowl. No. 218. 11 Every system of consanguinity must be able to ascend and descend in the lineal line through several degrees from any given person. Ibid. 46 If Ego is placed between the father and son the lineal and first collateral lines would become intelligible. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geog. vi. 262 Whether they may not both be the lineal descendants of older and extinct king crabs. 1929 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 84/1 The collateral kin of a generation were merged with the lineal.
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