family man

looked up "family" in the online etymological dictionary. this is what it said...


family
c.1400, "servants of a household," from L. familia "household," including relatives and servants, from famulus "servant," of unknown origin. The classical L. sense recorded in Eng. from 1545; the main modern sense of "those connected by blood" (whether living together or not) is first attested 1667. Replaced O.E. hiwscipe. Buzzword family values first recorded 1966. Phrase in a family way "pregnant" is from 1796. Family circle is 1809; family man, one devoted to wife and children, is 1856 (earlier it meant "thief," 1788, from family in slang sense of "the fraternity of thieves").

it's interesting how "family" originates more from notions of a "household" (that is, a location that centers a group) and "servanthood." there is no real notion of blood relation contained in the term until about 1667. furthermore, note how "family man" earlier meant a "thief."

i like, particularly, the latter connotation. family sometimes is an uneasy "fraternity of thieves," with shifting alliances, and eyes at the back of the head. certainly, it shouldn't be, but it oftentimes is, particularly when one least expects it to be so.

i prefer to be a naive "servant of the household," or rather, i cannot help but be so...