The Sister's Son in Early Irish Literature

Abstract

This study of the sister's son in some of the major early Irish narratives, in religious verse, and in the laws(and including linguistic analysis of kindred terminology) shows that the relationship between sister's son and maternal kindred is an important theme in the literature; the relationship can be amicable (and accordingly be greatly beneficial to society) or hostile (and greatly destructive of social order); the sister's son must be integrated into society by means of a solemn contract; and the social good will be served only if the obligations imposed by that contract are duly discharged on both sides. The social role of the sister's son can be summed up in the word goire, and this is reflected in gormac, which came to replace the inherited term nia as the designation of 'sister's son'.