Widow or Relict

[Deleted]

Is there any difference between a widow and a relict of a dead husband - or does it perhaps suggest that say, the relict, is more likely to be older than a widow - if you know what I mean?

Lannanta

[Cornish Terrier]

Lannanta - both are very similar and in essence mean that the woman is widowed but there is a slight difference as shown in the following definitions from the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

WIDOW - a woman who has lost her husband by death.

RELICT - a woman who has long survived the death of her husband; a widow.

At what point a 'widow' becomes a 'relict' I do not know!

Bottom line is that in both cases the husband is deceased.

[Deleted]

I came to the conclusion that a widow was a woman who had lost her husband and a relict was somebody who had been left behind. So when she was referred to as the widow and relict then it sort of made some sense.

But what I was grasping for was somebody to say that a relict was likely to be a much older woman indicating that her husband had died in old age as opposed to early in life.

Never mind, it was worth a shot Nigel.

Lannanta

[Cornish Terrier]

Guess it's back to the drawing board then?

With what specific instance(s) in mind were you seeking this information?

If you can outline your thoughts and reasoning I would be interested to discuss it.

CT

[Deleted]

I was actually thinking about James and Mary Quick as per our recent discussions. I was wondering if there was anything in the description of Mary (i.e. widow and relict) that would suggest that she was a young widow thereby suggesting James in his 40s or 50s or an older widow suggesting James in his 60s or 70s.

Lannanta

[Cornish Terrier]

Okay - so it's back to waiting for something to come along that will give us a better chance to identify James.