"si como"?

"si como"?
 

I have this passage and translators tell me the "si como" translates as "but as", which does seem to make sense here. However, I can't find any other examples of the phrase "si como" being used this way, but all the other uses don't seem to fit. Is this an actual way of saying "but as", or does it mean something else here?


"Por lo que esa mujer debía ser alguna pariente de mi abuelo. En esos días no me convencí a identificarla como hermana, si como pariente, pero no fui capaz de concretar de quién se trataba con total seguridad. Lo único de lo que tenía certezas era de que esa muchacha me era una completa desconocida, pese a que pudiera llevar parte de su sangre en mis venas."

I think in this sentence, the verb to be is implied, como si fuera pariente which translates to as if (como si /as if si como if as) she were a relative

I agree with Poli that the author omitted the verb, but the spelling should be "sí como pariente". The idea would be: "I did not identified the woman as a sister, but as a relative, I did". :)

To reiterate what the other two have said, in this case it is "sí" (meaning "yes") instead of "si" (meaning "if").