ABSTRACT
The study of kinship systems has been central in the development of anthropological theory. The principles by which it is organized frame experience. The kinship terminology plays a crucial role in understanding how a kinship system is organized. Comparative studies of kinship by anthropologists in the nineteenth century assumed that kinship terminologies could be freely translated from one language to another. Mahnowski's position on meaning and its extension in the use of kinship terms is directly relevant to his approach to translation. He sees kinship terms from the point of view of the order in which a child learns terms. The structural characteristics of the kinship terminology and the nature of the marriage rule have internal logics of their own, thereby providing important clues for the translation of these terms.
