RE: tribes

From: Richard, Jeff <jeff.richard_at_...>
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 16:56:41 -0800


John:

>"Clan" is a very versatile and vague label, and can cover a
multitude of

>sins *esp* when people translate it between languages. The Tarshite
word for

>"family", which in reality most closely resembles a Sartarite
bloodline, may

>get translated into Sartarite as "clan", because that is its
equivalent

>functional label. (One of the possible explanations for Illaro
Blacktooth's

>tagline).

This is a very important point. I've been doing quite a bit of work recently looking at the modern Talastari, and I'm hypothesizing that they have yet another conception of "clan," based around allegiance to locally powerful "chieftains" or "lords" - who themselves belong to prestigious bloodlines. Chieftains are still "elected" - carls can transfer allegiance to different chiefs, and a chief with no carls is no chief. A chief, of course, is anyone who could provide protection to sufficient carls to be recognized as a chief. Still called a clan, of course.

Herman Wolfram's "The History of the Goths" trans. by Thomas Dunlap (UC Press 1988) refers to the Gothic conception of "tribe" as being around a "gens" while lacking "patriae". Very interesting book and I highly recommend it as a source of ideas.

Its application to non-Heortling Orlanthi is it provides some interesting ideas for detaching the "clan" from the "tula" - something that I think might be necessary for Talastari living near Dorastor - e.g., the Bilingi (I can't call them the "Bilini" - sounds too much like Paul Belini from Kids in the Hall fame).

        Jeff

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