On Oct 18, 7:12*pm, Jerry Friedman wrote:
On Oct 18, 3:30*pm, "GordonD" wrote:





"Don Phillipson" wrote in message

...

"David Hill" wrote in message
...

A cousin of mine lost her daughter to cancer a short while ago.
She raised the following question.
A man who loses his wife is a widower, a woman who loses her husband is a
widow, a child who loses a parent is an orphan. *Why is there no word in
the English language for a parent who loses a child?

Perhaps because before 1900 this was so common: *most
parents lost at least one child to illness, i.e. bereavement was
normal and required no special word.

I'd also suggest that there's no easy way to tell if a family is missing a
child as there is no set number of children they should have. In the other
situations, there is: one spouse or two parents; any fewer and it's clear
something has happened, either a death or a family break-up.

And also because being orphaned as a child and being widowed (in the
old days) made drastic changes in one's social, economic, and legal
position, requiring the help that's mentioned so often in the Bible.
(I don't think it mentions taking care of widowers.)


Wasn't a brother supposed to take care, even marry, the widow of his
deceased brother?