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1. Significance and terminologyThe phrase nuclear family (French  famille nucléaire, German  Kernfamille) is a technical term in family sociology and historical demography. It denotes both afamily unit consisting of parents and children within a larger genealogical context and, by extension, a “nuclear family household,” a household collective consisting solely of parents and children. Since the 1970s, German-speaking scholars have deliberately used the term  Kernfamilie (“nuclear family”) instead of the earlier standard term  Kleinfamilie (“small family”).Th…

1. Term and concept As a scholarly term, the phrase  Ganzes Haus (literally “whole house/household”) goes back to the cultural scientist and conservative social critic W.H. Riehl (1823–1897) [10. 164]. Riehl interpreted the two-generation nuclear family as a symptom of the decline of modern civilization and distinguished it from the earlier term  Haus (Eng. household, French  maisonnée, Ital . casa), where not only several generations of blood relatives but also farmhands (Servants in husbandry) and other lodgers lived and worked together under a …

1. DefinitionYouth (Latin  iuventus; German Jugend; French  jeunesse; Dutch  jeugd; Swedish  ungdom), which in many European languages is a polysemic substantive derived from the corresponding adjective meaning “young,” denotes: (1) the period of youth as a stage of life or a phase in an individual’s  curriculum vitae, (2) the property of being young, youthfulness, and (3) the social group of a society’s young people (Society [community]) [4. 2360]. Many European languages (such as Russian) have different terms or substantive forms for these meanings.The natural physical an…

The German noun  Geheimnis (secret, mystery) first appears in the 16th century. Its only MHG precursors were the adjectival form geheim (secret) and the noun  Heimlichkeit (secrecy). The term  Geheimnis owes its popularity to the Bible translation of Martin Luther, who was looking for a noun equivalent to Greek  mystḗrion and Latin  secretum. From this original religious context, the word spread quickly to the political sphere, but soon (as its use in many compounds illustrates) pervaded other areas of social life (e.g. family secrets, se…

1. Legal frameworkThe canon law of the Catholic Church severely restricted the contraction of marriage (Marriage, contraction of) between relatives (Kinship).  Marriage was originally prohibited up to the seventh degree of kinship, but this limitation was reduced to the fourth degree at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 (see Incest 2.), albeit with a stricter calculation of degrees. In principle this regulation of Catholic canon law is still in force.The canon law prohibiting marriage within certain degrees of kinship included in-laws. Marriage to the relative…

1. DefinitionThe term  infanticide (Latin  infanticidium) denotes the culpable, usually intentional killing of a child by its mother, father, or both parents. It can involve active violence, neglect, or abandonment of a newborn child [3. 353]. In Europe, however, as a rule it concerns primarily the killing of a newborn illegitimate child (Illegitimacy) at or immediately after childbirth (neonaticide) by its mother. For this narrower definition of the crime, German scholars usually use the term  Kindsmord (“child murder, infanticide”); the 17th- and 18th-century so…

1. Catholic doctrineSince the 16th century, the German word  Trauung (ecclesiastical Latin  copulatio) has been used for “the solemn ecclesiastical ceremony of marriage,” that is, “the blessing of bride and groom by the priest performed publicly in the church before the altar, through the exchange of wedding rings.” The substantive is derived from the verb  anvertrauen, “entrust, commit,” which had been used since the 13th century for betrothal and matrimony, and at the beginning of the early modern period was narrowed to the wedding ceremony performed by the priest [1. 1349 f.…

A foundling hospital (Latin  hospitium expositorum, German Findelhaus, French  hôpital des enfants trouvés) is an institution that takes in abandoned children (so-called foundlings). In ancient Greek and Roman society, the exposure of sickly, excess, or unwanted newborns was the father’s decision; in early Christianity, it was condemned by the church, and beginning the late 4th century it was also prohibited by imperial law. When an infant was abandoned in a church, however, the crime was not punished. Care for such infants fell within the range of functions of monasteries [6]. B…

Marriage brokering could be accomplished through private contacts or operated as a professional business. Neither Church nor State in Europe ever raised any objections to private marriage brokering through parents or relatives, but professional brokering was continually subject to a degree of criticism on theological, legal, and moral grounds. The boundaries between private and professional marriage brokering are sometimes difficult to discern, however, since in many regions it was customary to compensate even private arrangements when they resulted in a marriage.Private m…

The phrase  parental love can mean both the love of parents for their children and the love of children for their parents [3]. In all cultures, both meanings have powerful religious and moral overtones; in the European context, since antiquity they have been the object of religious and educational reflection. Like the term  parents, the term  parental love was initially little used in the first centuries of the early modern period. People spoke instead of the love of mother and father. It is clear, however, that both parents could and should equ…

To historians of the family, the term “family life cycle” refers to the fact that families pass through different phases, entailing specific respective tasks, forms, and functions in family coexistence, in connection with the life cycles of family members. In the contemporary European family, a general distinction is made between a phase in which a couple has children and brings them up, and a later phase determined by cohabitation with the adolescent children, followed by an “empty nest” phase,…

1. Definition and distribution Kiltgang is a term, particularly prevalent in the Alemannic dialect region, for a nocturnal courting custom among young men (Marital choice). The word kilt, already attested in OHG, originally denoted the late evening, later coming to refer to staying up late at night or working late at night. The verbs kilten and  kelten, in Alsace, for instance, had a general reference to the custom of meeting after the working day to work or socialize in the Lichtstube or  Spinnstube, that is, for a tradition that involved girls and, in some regions, also adults [1. 70…

1. TerminologyHistorically the German word Eltern (“parents”) is a nominalized comparative of  alt (“old”); it appears in all West Germanic languages as a designation of an individual’s direct progenitors (cf. Eng. one’s “elders”). Eltern is related to Latin  alere (“nourish, raise”) and means roughly “adult” [15. 16 f., 164]. Another European term, which in English takes the form  parents, is derived from Latin  parere (“bear, give birth to”). In the course of time, however, the Latin noun  parentes acquired a broader semantic range, no longer meaning just par…

1. FoundationsCivil marriage refers to a form of marriage that was not based on a religious definition of marriage and was not enacted via religious ceremony. Whereas the Catholic Church saw marriage as a sacrament and the Protestant denominations saw it as symbolizing the ties between Christ and the Church (see Occasional services), civil marriage was based on the idea that marriage represented a private-law contract between two parties. It was contracted before representatives of bourgeois soci…

1. Bedeutung und VerbreitungK. ist eine v. a. im alemannischen Sprachraum geläufige Bezeichnung für einen nächtlichen Werbebrauch junger Männer (Partnerwahl). Das bereits ahdt. belegte Wort kilt bedeutete ursprünglich späte Abendzeit, dann auch das Wachbleiben oder Arbeiten bis in die späte Nacht. Die Verben kilten oder kelten bezeichneten z. B. im Elsass allgemein den Brauch, sich zum Feierabend zu Arbeit und Unterhaltung in der Licht- oder Spinnstube zu treffen, also für eine Tradition, die Mädchen und in manchen Regionen auch Erwachsene einschloss [1. 704].In der Volksku…

1. BegriffsgeschichteDer dt. Begriff H. (vgl. engl. household, franz. ménage) ist erst seit dem 16. Jh. als Substantivierung der Wortverbindung »Haus halten« gängig [4]; etwas früher belegt ist die den verbalen Aspekt stärker betonende »Haushaltung«. Beide wurden bis ins 19. Jh. parallel und im Wesentlichen bedeutungsgleich verwendet. Dabei stand zunächst die Tätigkeit der »führung eines hauswesens« [4] im Vordergrund oder – wie es in Krünitz' Enzyklopädie heißt, die nur »Haushaltung« als Lemma hat – die »Regierung einer häuslichen Gesellschaft, mi…

1. AllgemeinIn allen Kulturen ist die T., das Teilen des Essens in gemeinsamen Mahlzeiten, ein wichtiges Element und Symbol von Gemeinschaftsbildung. Für soziale Institutionen wie Familie, Kloster, Internat, Herrscher-Hof, Zunft und Gilde gehörte daher in der Nz. die T. zum täglichen Ritual der Mitglieder. Die regelmäßige Teilnahme an wenigstens einer gemeinsamen Mahlzeit am Tag galt als wichtiges Charakteristikum für die Zugehörigkeit zu einem Haushalt. Beim Militär hat sich in der Bezeichnung der Kompanie (von lat. companium, »Brotgenossenschaft«) bis heute eine ursp…

1. BegriffM. ist eine gemeinindoeurop.Verwandtschafts-Bezeichnung für den weiblichen Eltern-Teil eines Kindes (Kindheit). Der rechtliche und soziale Status der M.schaft (s. u.) wird in der Regel durch die Geburt eines Kindes begründet, kann aber auch auf dem Rechtsakt der Adoption oder entsprechenden sozialen Praktiken (Pflege-M., Stief-M.) beruhen (Legitimation des Kindes). Mit dem Begriff der M. waren in nzl. europ. Gesellschaften starke emotionale, bes. auf Fürsorge und Schutz (Mütterlichkeit) gerichtete Konnotationen verbunden, die in der christl. Kult…

1. BegriffsgeschichteSprachgeschichtlich handelt es sich bei dem Wort E. um einen substantivierten Komparativ von »alt«, der sich in allen westgerman. Sprachen als Bezeichnung für die direkten Vorfahren findet. E. ist somit verwandt mit lat. alere (»ernähren«, »wachsen lassen«) und bedeutet so viel wie »herangewachsen« [15. 16 f., 164]. Eine andere europ. Bezeichnung für E. leitet sich wie das engl. parents vom lat. parere (»hervorbringen«, »gebären«) ab. Das lat. Substantiv parentes erwarb jedoch im Laufe der Zeit ein breiteres Bedeutungsspektrum und bezeichnet…

1. Katholische EhelehreAls T. (kirchenlat. copulatio) wird seit dem 16. Jh. »der feierliche kirchl. trauact«, also »die zwischen braut und bräutigam von dem priester in der kirchen vor dem altar durch verwechselung der trauringe öffentlich verrichtete einsegnung« bezeichnet. Das Substantiv entwickelte sich aus dem Verb »anvertrauen«, das im mittel- und norddt. Bereich seit dem 13. Jh. auf Verlöbnis und Heirat angewandt und zu Beginn der Nz. auf den Trauakt des Priesters verengt wurde [1. 1349 f.]; [2. 1559].Die Ehe wurde zwar schon im antiken Christentum als eine von G…