Male Social Roles

Organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another is foundational to societies.   Common interest, beliefs, and these organized patterns of group behavior often produce a community of enduring and cooperative activities.  Standards of living and conduct are part of the factors that help us understand the environment that our ancestors lived within and survived.

The following figure attempts to present the male social structure of pre-industrialized England.  For those of us with Welsh ancestry, the Act of Union [1536] brought two different social groups [Welsh and English] into one environment. This "Union" created many social changes among those of Welsh descent.

The English society was structured around social classes that kept individuals within accepted groups.  In broad terms, these are outline above.  The existing educational structure for the "male child" beginning in "Infancy" to the start of "Adult Life" is shown.  Accepted roles for each social group is shown along the bottom.  From "farm/field" [rural existences], to the royal court of England [high society], the expected social positions are shown.  Our Welsh ancestors were to fit within their assigned male social roles.

Mother Tongue(s)

The words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a considerable group of people is one definition of language.  From the French langue = tongue, and the Latin lingua =  tongue, the word is derived.  Over time, the manner of verbal expression and pronouncing words become fixed among ethic groups producing a distinct language.  The Celtic tongues have their roots as follows:

For the genealogist, understanding these roots helps explain the variety of spellings and pronunciation which often are encountered.  This is especially true when the English (Balto-Slavo-Germanic roots)
crosses the Welsh (Proto-Celtic).  Here, the phonetics (pronouncing words) produce a confusing group of sounds.  For me, the surname JONES is an example.

There is no "J" in the Welsh alphabet.  Their sound "Si" is the closest match.  In the Latin, the letter "I" represents the the sound for "J".  Norman-French would use "Je" which was often written "Ie".   The early record keepers were priest of the Church writing all kinds of word combinations from these groups of mixed languages.  The earliest English records were written in French.  The Church records were written in Latin.  The Welsh language was mixed among the groups.  What a deal!  Sorting through the records of the day can be quite a challenge for the genealogist.

The derivation of the surname JONES is shown above.  It was the transliteration of Welsh into Anglo-Saxon (English) that "phonetically" produced this surname.