Abstract The use of the word cousin as a term of address for non-relatives in late-medieval and Renaissance English is well documented in letters between monarchs, but weak for other social groups in the standard dictionaries, with one example each in the Oxford English Dictionary and the Middle English Dictionary. As it is difficult to establish for earlier periods whether people were blood relations, an investigation of cousin as a term of address needs to establish the relationship between addressor and addressee, as far as possible, from independent historical sources. This study is based on the use of the term cousin in letters, as this often provides precise information on the relationships of correspondents. This investigation documents the use of cousin from the thirteenth to the early-sixteenth century in all literate ranks of society and concludes that the royal use of cousin constitutes a relic of an earlier more widespread use.

中文翻译：

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亲情还是友情？

摘要 在中世纪晚期和文艺复兴时期的英语中，将表亲一词用作非亲属称谓词在君主之间的信件中有详细记载，但在标准词典中对于其他社会群体来说却很薄弱，牛津英语中各有一个例子词典和中古英语词典。由于较早时期难以确定人是否有血缘关系，因此以表亲为称谓的考察，需要尽可能从独立的史料中确立发信人与收信人的关系。这项研究基于在信件中使用“表亲”一词，因为这通常提供有关通讯员关系的准确信息。