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#103219 05/13/03 07:23 PM
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When someone's spouse dies, they become a widow or widower. When someone's parents die, they become an orphan. Is there no specific word in English to describe a person whose child or children have died?


#103220 05/13/03 10:15 PM
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They are bereaved, but I haven't seen it used as a noun.
I was also going to mention "bereft" but it's not in my dictionary, to my surprise. I must go look it up.


#103221 05/13/03 10:28 PM
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I guess I wasn't clear enough with my question. I meant a *specific* word that applies *only* to parents who've lost a child or children.

No one but a child who's lost their parents is an orphan.
No one but a man/woman who's lost their spouse is a widower/widow.
Anyone who's lost anyone they cared about is bereaved. It's not a special word just for parents who've lost a child.



#103222 05/13/03 11:59 PM
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I meant a *specific* word that applies *only* to parents who've lost a child or children.

You'd *think that would go without saying, but Noooo.

I think the problem is that it is only recently that the condition has been other than essentially universal. No special term was felt to be needed to describe the condition that was so common for most of the period of development of the English language.


#103223 05/14/03 12:12 AM
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That thought crossed my mind (the ubiquity of child death in the past) but becoming a widow has always been quite common and orphans have always been common.

If the commonality for something were a factor in whether it were named or not, we wouldn't have words like "breathing" or "dying."

I suspect that there is no word in the English language for "person whose child has died" but it puzzles me all the same. There *should* be such a word *because* it is such a common occurence.

Another thought that crossed my mind was that perhaps there is no word for it because people avoid discussing the topic. But I don't think Western society was always so tight-lipped about child death as it is now. Perhaps there is no word for it because childhood death was so much more expected than other deaths. The death of a spouse or one's parents are common but were less expected than the death of a child. (Today those expectations are reversed.)

There are other things that are highly expected that don't have names. We have the word "virgin" but there is no single word (that I know of) for a non-virgin because it's expected that we will all become one some day.

Now that childhood death is less expected, perhaps someone should coin a word for a bereaved parent. It seems too important a life experience to not be named.



#103224 05/14/03 01:35 AM
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I know it's not the answer to the question but I think it's interesting in a tangential way, so I'm going to tell you all anyway.

In Indonesian there are two words for someone who has lost a parent: yatim for someone who has lost their father, and piatu for someone who has lost their mother. Orphan is yatim piatu.

Bingley


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#103225 05/14/03 10:28 AM
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Perhaps there is no word for it because childhood death was so much more expected than other deaths.

This may get to the nub of the matter better than my somewhat glib suggestion. Also being a widow, widower or orphan made a significant difference in one's life style. When a woman was economically dependent on having a man in her life and a man was just as dependent, for other reasons, in having a woman in his, noting that one was without the husband or wife was an important consideration. For a child to have no parents is still an important consideration. If all of one's children have died and the woman is past the age for bearing more, then there is only the matter of inheritance, and I'm sure there's a legal term for that.


#103226 05/14/03 12:28 PM
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if there was/is an word-- it would apply to queen anne.

having ones children's die was a common enough occurance, but not one of the 14 (or some other godawful number) of queen's anne's children survived..

if some obsure word does exist-- look to a biography of her!


#103227 05/14/03 07:06 PM
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"I know it's not the answer to the question but I think it's interesting in a tangential way, so I'm going to tell you all anyway.

In Indonesian there are two words for someone who has lost a parent: yatim for someone who has lost their father..."

Interestingly, in Urdu, 'yateem' (or 'yatim') means an orphan too... though it isn't specific to a child who has lost his/her father.


#103228 05/14/03 09:57 PM
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re:Now that childhood death is less expected, perhaps someone should coin a word for a bereaved parent. It seems too important a life experience to not be named.

a few year ago, a young man i knew died(aged 34) of a ceribal hemorage how doyou spell anyorism?

his family was very religious jews, but unlike a normal 7 day period of morning, there was only a short time for sitting shivis.

the period of morning for the death of child is short, by law and custom. if he had been married, his wife would have been "the chief morner", not his parents. and he would have died as father or husband.. but since he was unmarried, he was considered a child still...

it was upsetting all round.. his death, everything...
your right Magdalene, things have changed... but it doesn't happen often enough for there to be a word for it.. and i doubt one will be coined.


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