INTESTACY

intestacy, and inheritance). "kin" is frequently associated with "kith" in the phrase "kith and kin," now used as an emphasized form of "kin" for family relatives. it properly means one's "country and kin," or one's "friends and kin." kith (o.e. _cyððe_ and _cyð_, native land, acquaintances) comes from the stem of _cunnan_, to know, and thus means the land or people one knows familiarly. the suffix -_kin_, chiefly surviving in english surnames, seems to have been early used as a diminutive ending to certain christian names in flanders and holland. the termination is represented by the diminutive -_chen_ in german, as in _kindchen_, _hauschen_, &c. many english words, such as "pumpkin," "firkin," seem to have no diminutive significance, and may have been assimilated from earlier forms, e.g. "pumpkin" from "pumpion."