Learn English – Are there any English equivalent for the words Mahram and Namahram

single-word-requeststranslation

In Islamic religious law there are two words:
1- mahram
2- namahram

A woman’s mahram is a person whom she is never permitted to marry because of their close blood relationship (such as her father, grandfather, great-grandfather, her son, grandson, etc.)
and namahram or non-mahram is someone to whom she is not related such as in-laws, strangers, cousins.

Are there English equivalents to these words?

Best Answer

Modern American English has a term for individuals who are related, but distantly enough that marriage is not entirely taboo: kissing cousins. The meaning of this term has evolved over time1, and it is the rare example of a word whose meaning has largely not been updated in most dictionaries, but you can see examples of it used in a way similar to namahram:

NOTE: In most states, second cousins are known as "kissing cousins" and can marry, while first cousins are covered by the incest statute and can't legally marry. (Ralph Warner et al., California Marriage & Divorce Law, 1983, snippet view)

If it weren't for the Delacorte coloring and dainty stature, he'd have thought her a kissing cousin—the relationship close enough to be considered kin, but distant enough to marry without worrying about three-eyed offspring. (Day Leclaire, Shotgun Bridegroom, 1997)

Duncan, the idiot, just smiled at her and said, “It was just a friendly kiss. Though we both took the name McMurray, we're not related by blood. I guess you might say we're just kissing cousins.” (Jodi Thomas, Wild Texas Rose, 2012)

As far as a word for mahram, in the US that would probably just be relative, as we are a very incest-averse culture, in general.


1 "Kissing cousins" apparently originally, back in the nineteenth century, meant people who were closely enough related that they could kiss without scandal; for some reason, this is the definition still reflected in virtually all standard dictionaries. Probably in both meanings of the term it would refer to 2nd-degree cousins or further, and also to non-blood-relations who grew up together or had other close, family-like ties.

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