Where does the word cousin come from?

There are two theories about the origin of "Jiangxi Cousin": First, Hunan people think that their ancestors are related to Jiangxi people, so they call Jiangxi people "Jiangxi Cousin"; Second, the ancestors of Jiangxi believed in geomantic omen, so they often took their watches (compasses) with them in order to get directions easily, so they called Jiangxi people "old watches".

In addition, some immigrants from Jiangxi to other provinces from Ming and Qing dynasties to modern times have always maintained the title of "old cousin", such as Hunan, northern Fujian and southwestern Anhui.

Textual research on the origin of Jiangxi old watches;

1. Appellations between Hakkas.

Originated in the Hakka area in southern Jiangxi, Cantonese people who moved from eastern Guangdong called the locals "old cousins" (because both of them are Hakkas), and later spread to the whole of Jiangxi, becoming another name for "fellow villagers".

Zhu Yuanzhang was saved and called in the name of his cousin.

According to legend, Zhu Yuanzhang was killed and rescued in Jiangxi when he was not an emperor. In order to repay the kindness of Jiangxi people, he promised that if he won the world, Jiangxi people could directly find him in the name of his cousin.

3. Religious totem belief.

Can be traced back to the totem era. The old "table" refers to wood, such as "Twelve Years of Gong Xuan": "Tomorrow, to show it, it will be under the wood." Du Note: "Table refers to wood."

However, the excavation of Wucheng site in Qingjiang River reveals that there are "hundreds of column holes of different sizes, mostly arranged in rows or staggered" in the laterite altar in Shang Dynasty. This is obviously the primitive fetishism totem pole belief of Dongyi ethnic group in the Jianghuai valley and the extension area of the south of the Yangtze River.

From the middle of Shang Dynasty to the end of Warring States Period, Lao Biao was recorded in writing. Therefore, "Lao Biao" is the vernacular expression of totem list, and it is the memory residue of totem impression of Jiangxi ethnic group.

Women are relatives of each other after marriage.

In villages named after surnames in Jiangxi, such as "Wang Jiacun, Li Jiacun, Zhangjiabao, etc.", most of the men in the villages are of the same surname, and there is an ancestral hall in the village, while women have the custom of marrying far away, which leads to more distant cousins in neighboring villages, and outsiders jokingly call them "Jiangxi cousins".