ABSTRACT
The word ag means both the branch of a tree and a lineage. Hungarian peasants visualize the structure of the lineage as a branching tree and refer to its parts as they refer to a tree’s parts. When the man fathers children, it is said that he “branches out” and that his line is divided into several ag-s. Atyafisag refers to a wider category of consanguinity than ag. While ag embraces blood relatives on the father’s side only, atyafisag includes those on the mother’s side as well. One counts as his atyamfia all consanguineals to the third or fifth degree of collaterally, both uterine and agnate. The expression had designates a group of descendants in the male line, potentially larger than the family but smaller than the ag. Its reference is rather uncertain at Atany and seems to persist as a survival.
