Agnate means a person related to wholly through males either by blood or by adoption. The agnatic relation may be a male or a female.
Cognate means a person related not wholly through males. Where a person is related to the deceased through one or more females, he or she is called a cognate. Thus son’s daughter’s son or daughter, sister’s son or daughter, mother’s brother’s son, etc. are cognates, whereas one’s father’s brother, or father’s brother’s son or father’s son’s son or father’s son’s daughter are agnates.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
A cognate or agnate may be in ascending or descending line. The following sketches may illustrate the position:
In the above illustration, F, FF, FM, FFF and FFM are the agnates of A in ascending line. MF is not the agnate. F stands for father and M for mother.
In the above illustration S, D, SS and SD are the agnates of A in descending line. DD and DS are cognates of A in descending line. Here S stands for son and D stands for daughter.
In the above illustration MF, MFF and MMF are cognates of A. M stand for mother, MM stands for mother’s mother and MF stands for mother’s father.