Universal #1181
Legacy number: 1181
| Number | 1177 |
| Original | There are contrasting transfer patterns for thumbs and big toes on the one hand and the remaining digits on the other: Whereas the former are likely to be built on kin-terms of an older, ascending generation (e.g. ‘mother of the hand/foot’), the remaining fingers and toes tend to be derived from expressions involving terms for offspring or other younger relatives (e.g. ‘child of the hand/foot’) |
| Standardized | When terms for thumbs, big toes and remaining digits are derived from kin-terms, thumbs and big toes are likely to be built on kin-terms of an older, ascending generation and the remaining fingers and toes tend to be derived from terms for offspring or other younger relatives. |
| Keywords | body parts, kinship term |
| Domain | lexicon |
| Type | target < source |
| Status | diachronic |
| Quality | statistical |
| Basis | 118 languages of worldwide distribution |
| Source | Brown & Witkowski 1981, Wilkins 1993, Wilkins 1996, reviewed in Heine 1997: 132 |
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