Namus

Nāmūs is an Arabic word describing an ethical category in Middle Eastern patriarchal character. Often literally translated as "virtue", it is now more popularly used in a strong gender-specific context of relations within a family described in terms of honor, attention, respect/respectability, and modesty. The Arabic word "nāmūs" (ناموس) may mean "law", "custom" or "honor" and is ultimately derived from the Ancient Greek word "nómos" (νόμος), meaning "law, custom". Namus has been translated into English from the Turkish language with different meanings. Honor is used to mean namus in the English language translation of Filiz Kardam's 2005 paper on namus cinayetleri (literally namus murders, used mainly in newspapers), but, as Nüket Kardam has written, chastity is a more accurate translation than honor. This is built into the legal system which permits reduced sentences for honor killings. According to researcher Robert Ermers honor means moral reputation. When individuals have a good moral reputation, people in their community are likely to include them. Thus namus means sexual moral reputation. When people possess namus, their friends, neighbors and other community members, believe that they are sexually trustworthy and of integrity. This is a precondition for being included. When, however, an individual's honour is damaged, e.g. by means of slander, libel, or their own factual moral transgression, this moral reputation is likely to be damaged, with social death as a consequence, which can also extend to family members. The Turkish language has multiple words to describe related concepts of honor including namus, onur and şeref. Though namus is often understood as feminine sexual virtue or chastity, this definition is only part of current use. The official definition of namus from the dictionary Foundation of Turkish Language is "the attachment of a society to moral rules". The notion of namus is related to sexually deviant behavior and not limited to women: men who are known as rapists are also known as namussuz, as are families that do not respond to rape of a family member.