Kin sb.1. World English Historical Dictionary

Kin sb.1. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1901, rev. 2025. Kin sb.1 Forms: 1 cyn(n, cinn, 1–6 kyn(n; 2–3 cun, 3–4 kun; 2 cen-, 2–4 ken(ne; 4–6 kynne, Sc. kine, kyne, 5–7 kinne, 3– kin. [Com. Teut.: OE. cyn(n, neuter, = OFris. kin, ken, kon, OS. kunni (MDu. kunne, konne, Du. kunne), OHG. chunni (MHG. künne, kunne), ON. kyn (Da., Sw. kön), Goth. kuni:—OTeut. *kunjom, from the weak grade of the ablaut-series kin-, kan-, kun- = Aryan gen-, gon-, gn-, ‘to produce, engender, beget,’ whence also Gr. γένος, γόνος, γίγνομαι, L. genus, gignĕre, etc. Cf. KEN v.2

1   In the Teutonic word, as in Latin genus and Greek γένος, three main senses appear, (1) race or stock, (2) class or kind, (3) gender or sex; the last, found in OE. and early ME., but not later, is the only sense in mod. Du., Da. and Sw.]

2   I.  Family, race, blood-relations.

3   1.  A group of persons descended from a common ancestor, and so connected by blood-relationship; a family, stock, clan; † in OE. also, people, nation, tribe (freq. with defining genitive, as Israela, Caldea cyn); = KIND sb. 11, KINDRED 2. Now rare.

4 c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter lxxvii[i]. 8. Ne sien swe swe fedras heara, cyn ðuerh and bitur.

5 c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., xiv. 84. ʓe sint acoren kynn Gode.

6 a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Exod., 265 (Gr.). Mid yrmðum Israhela cyn.

7 c. 1000.  O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 449. Of Iotum comon Cantwara … & þæt cyn on West Sexum þe man nu ʓit hæt Iutna cynn.

8 a. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 227. Þa wes hweðere an meȝie cynn [Ælfric I. 24 mæʓð] þe nefer ne abeah to nane deofel ȝyld and þes cenne [Ælfric mæʓðe] god sælde and ȝesette ae.

9 1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 9137. So þat of þulke kunne þer nas þo no fere.

10 c. 1369.  Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 438. By tho figuris mowe al ken … rekene and novmbre.

11 1604.  Rowlands, Looke to It, 11. You that deny the stocke from whence you came, Thrusting your selfe into some Gentle kin.

12 1879.  W. E. Hearn, Aryan Househ., xii. 280. By the natural expansion of the Household kins are formed; and these kins in turn form within themselves smaller bodies of nearer kinsmen, intermediate … between the Household and the entire kin.

13   † b.  The family or descendants of a specified ancestor; offspring, progeny, posterity; = KIND sb. 11 b, KINDRED 2 b. Obs.

14 c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. iii. 7. Cynn ætterna [L. progenies viperarum].

15 971.  Blickl. Hom., 23. Hie wæron of Dauides cynnes strynde.

16 c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., II. 190. Ðin cynn [L. semen tuum] sceal ælðeodiʓ wunian on oðrum earde.

17 c. 1200.  Ormin, 9837. We sinndenn Abrahamess kinn & Abrahamess chilldre.

18 c. 1320.  Cast. Love, 179. Alle the kynne that of hym come Shulde have the same dome.

19 1567.  Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 8. Than pray … That ȝe may be of Isackis kin.

20   † c.  The group of persons formed by each stage of descent in a family or clan; a generation; = KIND sb. 11 c, KINDRED 2 c. Obs.

21 c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter lxxxiv. 6. Ne aðene ðu eorre ðin from cynne in cynn.

22 c. 1000.  Ags. Ps. (Th.), lxxvii. 7. Þæt hi heora bearnum budun … and cinn oðrum cyðden.

23 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 11401 (Cott.). Þis writte was gett fra kin to kin. Ibid., 1464 (Gött.). Iaraeth Þat was þe fift kin fra seth.

24   † d.  Genealogy, descent; = KIND sb. 11 d, KINDRED 2 d. Obs.

25 c. 892.  O. E. Chron. (Parker MS.), an. 716. Eawa [wæs] Pybing, þæs cyn is beforan awriten.

26 c. 1200.  Ormin, 2059. Ne talde þeȝȝ nohht teȝȝre kinn … Bi wimmenn,… & all forrþi wass Cristess kinn … Bi Josæp reccnedd.

27 a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 464. Ȝef þu wult cnawen my cun, ich am kinges dohter.

28 c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 14975. Of Ethelbright haue I told þe kyn.

29   2.  Ancestral stock or race; family. Usually without article and with descriptive adj. or sb., esp. in phr. (come) of good (noble, etc.) kin; = KIND sb. 12, KINDRED 3. Obs. exc. dial.

30 c. 1100.  O. E. Chron. (MS. D), an. 1067. Of ʓeleaffullan & æðelan cynne heo wæs asprungon.

31 c. 1200.  Vices & Virtues, 7. Ȝif hie bieð of heiȝe kenne.

32 c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., 1233. Þe riȝte name; & of wat kyn þou ert y come; tel me al þat soþe.

33 c. 1440.  Gesta Rom., II. xci. 416 (Add. MS.). Some are prowde, that they come of noble kynne, and sayne they are Gentilmen.

34 1591.  Spenser, Teares Muses, 345. Some one perhaps of gentle kin.

35 1856.  Ballantine, Poems, 206 (E. D. D.). He comes o’ gude kin.

36   b.  By or of kin, by birth or descent. rare.

37 c. 1400.  Chaucer’s Melib., ¶ 601 (Harl.). A free man by kyn [6 texts kynde] or burthe.

38 c. 1450.  Bk. Curtasye, 13, in Babees Bk., 299. Yf he be gentylmon of kyn, The porter wille lede the to hym.

39 c. 1470.  Golagros & Gaw., 191. I am your cousing of kyn.

40 1898.  Crockett, Standard Bearer, 76 (E. D. D.). She was gentle of kin and breeding.

41   3.  The group of persons who are related to one; one’s kindred, kinsfolk, or relatives, collectively. (Now the chief sense.) a. with possess. pron. (rarely the).

42 c. 875.  Sax. Gen., in O. E. Texts, 179. Ða wæs agan … ccc ond xcvi wintra ðæs ðe his cynn ærest westseaxna lond on walum ʓeeodon.

43 971.  Blickl. Hom., 175. For hwon wæron ʓyt swa treowlease, oþþe incer cynn.

44 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 35. Ga to þine feder burinesse oðer þer eni of þine cunne lið in.

45 1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 253. Al þe kun þat him iseiȝ adde of him ioye.

46 1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. I. 166. Vn-kuynde to heare kun and to alle cristene.

47 1413.  Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), IV. xxiii. 69. I mett in the weye moche dyuerse peple … my frendes and my kyn and also many other.

48 1550.  Crowley, Last Trump, 296. Thy chyld, nor any other of thy kynne.

49 1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., I. v. 123. One of thy kin has a most weake Pia-mater.

50 1700.  Dryden, Theodore & Honoria, 421 (J.). That father, mother, and the kin beside, Were overborne by fury of the tide.

51 1742.  Young, Nt. Th., IV. 543. Nor are our brothers thoughtless of their kin, Yet absent.

52 1807.  Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 737. His kin supposed him dead.

53 1891.  Blakiston, in Colleges Oxford (1891), 329. Sir Thomas Pope … did not saddle [Trinity College] with any of the preferences for founder’s-kin which proved fertile in litigation elsewhere.

54   b.  Without article or pronoun. Now rare, exc. in kith and (or) kin: see KITH.

55 c. 1250.  Hymn to God, 30, in Trin. Coll. Hom., App. 259. Fader forȝif vs … Al swo we doð … to freômede & kunne.

56 c. 1325.  Chron. Eng., 92 (Ritson). Bruyt hade muche folk with him, Bothe fremede and eke kun.

57 c. 1450.  St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 4326. Þai spared nouthir kynn na kyth.

58 a. 1592.  Greene, Jas. IV., V. ii. What was I born to be the scorn of kin?

59 1607.  Shaks., Timon, I. i. 121. One onely Daughter haue I, no Kin else.

60 1836.  W. Irving, Astoria, II. 63. One of those anomalous beings … who seem to have neither kin nor country.

61   c.  Used of a single person: Kinsman, relative; = KINDRED 4 b. arch.

62 c. 1200.  MS. Digby 59, in Opera Symeon Dunelm. (Surtees), I. 190. Sic dicimus vulgariter Nother kyn nor wyn, id est neque cognatum neque amicum.

63 c. 1205.  Lay., 13730. He wes heore cun & heore freond. Ibid., 21462. Hercne me Cador; Þu ært min aȝe cun.

64 1382.  Wyclif, Ruth ii. 20. And eft she seith, Oure nyȝ kyn is the man.

65 c. 1475.  Partenay, 6278. Ny kyn he is to king off norway, For of Melusine discended all thay.

66 1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., V. i. 237. Of charity, what kinne are you to me?

67 1790.  Shirrefs, Poems, 78 (E. D. D.). Were he a Laird, he’d be nae kin to me.

68 1864.  Swinburne, Atalanta, 398. O sweetest kin to me in all the world.

69   d.  In predicative use passing into adj. = Related, AKIN (to). Also fig.

70 1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. ii. 120. Like those that are kinne to the King. Ibid. (1601), All’s Well, II. i. 41. My sword and yours are kinne. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., III. iii. 175. One touch of nature makes the whole world kin: That all with one consent praise new borne gaudes.

71 1695.  trans. Colbatch’s New Lt. Chirurg. put out, 37. I do not find it any the least Kin to a Miracle.

72 1726.  G. Roberts, Four Years Voy., 9. It is next kin to an Impossibility … to have their Water brought out of the Country.

73 1788.  Reid, Aristotle’s Log., ii. § 2. 26. They are indeed Kin to each other.

74 1870.  Disraeli, Lothair, I. ix. 59. But we are kin; we have the same blood in our veins.

75   4.  The quality, condition or fact of being related by birth or descent; kinship, relationship, consanguinity. Now rare.

76 a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 190. He … rode in poste to his kynsman,… verefiyng the old proverbe: kynne will crepe, where it maie not go.

77 1628.  Wither, Brit. Rememb., I. 1161. The brother to the brother growes a stranger. There is no kin, but Cousnage.

78 1678.  Butler, Hud., III. i. 1294. ’Cause Grace and Virtue are within Prohibited Degrees of Kin.

79 1700.  Dryden, Pal. & Arc., II. 108. Palamon, Whom Theseus holds in bonds … Without a crime, except his kin to me.

80 1858.  Mrs. Oliphant, Laird of Norlaw, III. 156. The Mistress herself, after that first strange impulse of kin and kindness … relapsed into her usual ways.

81   II.  Class, group, division.

82   † 5.  A large natural group or division of animals or plants, having presumably a common ancestry; the race (of men, fishes, etc.); a race (of plants); = KIND sb. 10. Obs.

83   In OE. freq. as the second element in compounds, as déorcynn, fisccynn, fuʓolcynn, manncynn, wífcynn, etc.

84 971.  Blickl. Hom., 5. Seo æreste modor þyses menniscan cynnes. Ibid., 83. Him biþ beforan andweard eal engla cynn & manna cynn.

85 a. 1000.  Boeth. Metr., xi. 67. Merestream ne dear ofer eorðan sceat eard ʓebrædan fisca cynne.

86 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 97. He walde monna cun on þisse deie isundian.

87 c. 1340.  Cursor M., 22084 (Fairf.). Alle mannis kin he [antechrist] salle for-do.

88   † 6.  A class (of persons, animals or things) having common attributes; a species, sort, kind; = KIND sb. 13. Obs.

89 c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xvii. 21. Ðis soðlice cynn ne bið fordrifen buta ðerh ʓebedd and fæstern.

90 c. 960.  Rule St. Benet (Schröer), i. 9. Feower synt muneca cyn. Ðæt forme is mynstermonna … Oþer cyn is ancrena.

91 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 135. Feole cunne beoð of weldede.

92 a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 1396. Hi beoþ tweire cunne.

93 c. 1450.  St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 488. Many Fysches of kynes sere.

94 1500.  Nottingham Rec., III. 450. Any kinnes of corne bought for merchandise.

95   † b.  In this sense, chiefly in a genitive phrase, dependent upon following sb. Cf. KIND sb. 14.

96   In OE. the genitive might be either sing. or pl., according to sense; e.g., ælces or ʓehwylces cynnes déor, animals of each or every kind, moniʓra cynna scipu, ships of many kinds, þreora cynna treowu, trees of three kinds. In ME., cynnes became kunnes, kynnes, kyns, kins; cynna became kunne, kynne, kyn, kin. For the latter the genitive sing. was often substituted; and conversely, kynne, kin, appeared in the sing., esp. in the north, where it was prob. viewed as an uninflected genitive, as in man son, fader broder, etc. The preceding adjectival word agreeing with kynnes, kins, dropped its genitival s somewhat early; sometimes it was transferred to kinnes, thus alle skynnes (= alles kynnes, alle kynnes), no skynnes, etc. Usually however the two words were at length combined, as in the later forms alkin(s, anykin(s fele-kin(s, manykin(s, nokin(s or nakin(s, otherkin(s, sere-kin(s, swilkin(s, same-kin(s, thiskin(s, whilk-kin (hwilkyn), whatkin(s. Few of these came down to 1500, though in the north whatkin is found in the 16th c., and survives in Sc. and north Eng. as what’n, beside siccan from swilk kin.

97   The reduction of kin to its simple uninflected form may have been assisted by the equivalent use of manere (MANNER) from OFr., which is thus found, as threo maner men = men of three kinds or sorts. In this, at an early period, we find of inserted: an manere of fisce, al maner o suet spices, the syntactical relation between the words being thus reversed, and although this appears to have rarely extended to kin itself, it affected its later representative kind, also sort, species, etc., so that we now say ‘all kinds of things’ = things of all kinds. This may have been facilitated by the fact that in the order of the words (as distinct from their syntactical relation) ‘al kins thinges’ is more closely represented by ‘all kinds of things’ than by ‘things of all kind.’ See KIND, MANNER, SORT, etc., and, for the special combinations of kin with preceding adj., ALKIN, ANY-KYN, etc.

98 a. 900.  O. E. Martyrol., 18 April, 58. Moniʓra cyna wil deor.

99 971.  Blickl. Hom., 63. Þreora cynna syndon morþras.

100 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 51. Þer wunieð fower cunnes wurmes inne. Ibid., 79. Alles cunnes wilde deor.

101 c. 1200.  Ormin, 2260. On alle kinne wise. Ibid., 9759. An kinness neddre … Iss Vipera ȝehatenn.

102 a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 886. Mi muth haveth tweire kunne salve.

103 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 27901 (Cott.). It es funden bodili foure kin maner [v.r. fowrkins maners] of glotony. Ibid. (c. 1340), 12346 (Fairf.). Alle þai … honoured him on þaire kin wise.

104 1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. X. 2. A Castel … I-mad of foure kunne [v.rr. foure skenis, skynnes, kynnes] þinges.

105 c. 1384.  Chaucer, H. Fame, III. 440. Alle skynnes condiciouns.

106 c. 1440.  Gesta Rom., lxi. 254 (Harl.). He shall telle yow what kynne tidynges that he hathe browte. Ibid., lxix. 316 (Harl.). What kynnys treson is þis?

107 15[?].  Sir A. Barton, in Surtees Misc. (1888), 68. Ye wott not what kine a man he is.

108 1572.  Lament. Lady Sc., 325, in Satir. Poems Reform., xxxiii. Counterfuting hir in all kin things.

109   III.  † 7. Gender; sex; KIND sb. 7. Obs.

110 c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gram., vi. (Z.), 18. Æfter ʓecynde syndon twa cyn on namum … werlic and wiflic.

111 c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., III. 144. Þæt þu meht witan on bearn-eacenum wife hwæþeres cynnes bearn heo cennan sceal.

112 c. 1200.  Ormin, 3056. Till eȝȝþerr kinn onn eorþe, Till weppmann & till wifmannkinn.

113   IV.  Phrases. (from 3, 4.)

114   8.  Of kin = AKIN: Related by blood-ties. Also, Related in character or qualities.

115 1486.  Surtees Misc. (1888), 47. For my sake and othre unto whome he is of kin.

116 1607–12.  Bacon, Ess., Atheisme (Arb.), 338. Man is of Kin to the beastes by his body, and if he be not of kin to God by his spiritt, he is a base and ignoble Creature.

117 1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., IV. xix. 339. Kings, how nearly soever allied, are most of Kinne to their own interest.

118 1741.  Monro, Anat. Bones (ed. 3), 306. The Bones of the toes are much of kin [ed. 1782 a-kin] to those of the Thumb and Fingers.

119 1877.  C. Geikie, Christ, lvi. (1879), 685. You are of kin in heart to the prophet-murderers!

120   b.  Near of kin, closely related. ? Obs.

121 1491.  Act 7 Hen. VII., c. 22. Preamble, They be ner of kyn.

122 1611.  Bible, Ruth ii. 20. The man is neere of kin vnto vs.

123 1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., II. xix. 101. The neerer of kin, is the neerer in affection.

124 1767.  Blackstone, Comm., II. xiv. 219. The uncle is certainly nearer of kin to the common stock, by one degree, than the nephew.

125 1768.  Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. II. xxvi. 564. This probability, being so near of kin to certainty.

126   c.  Next († nearest) of kin, most closely related; chiefly absol. the person (or persons) standing in the nearest degree of blood-relationship to another, and entitled to share in his personal estate in case of intestacy.

127 [1426.  E. E. Wills (E.E.T.S.), 76. My brethren and my sustren and next of my kyn.

128 1540.  Sc. Acts Jas. V., c. 40 (1814), II. 377/2. Þe nearest of þe kin to succeid to þaim sall haue þair gudis.]

129 a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 104 b. The next of kynne to the lord Cawny chalenged the enheritaunce.

130 c. 1600.  K. Leir, in Percy’s Reliques. Being dead, their crowns they left Unto the next of kin.

131 1695.  Sc. Acts Will. III., c. 72. In the Case of a moveable Estate left by a defunct, and falling to his nearest of kin.

132 1827.  Jarman, J. Powell’s Devises, II. 65. For the next of kin it was argued, that the estate was to be sold out and out.

133 1881.  Encycl. Brit., XIII. 198/1. The next of kin must be ascertained according to the rules of consanguinity.

134   fig.  a. 1770.  Jortin, Serm. (1771), IV. ii. 13. As for lying which is next of kin to perjury.

135   V.  9. attrib., as kin-bond, -marriage, -sphere; † kin-rest, a general cessation from labor (with reference to the Jewish sabbatical year).

136 1387–8.  T. Usk, Test. Love, I. v. (Skeat), l. 103. I pray that … this eighteth [yere] mowe to me bothe be kinrest and masseday after the seven werkedays of travayle.

137 1839.  Bailey, Festus, xxii. (1852), 394. Fear The fate of your kin-sphere.

138 1881.  E. B. Tylor, in Academy, 9 April, 265. Exogamy is connected both with wife-capture and with barring kin-marriage.

139 1890.  Gross, Gild Merch., I. 169. When the old kin-bond (the ‘maegth’) dissolved, various new institutions arose.

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