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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

adelphogamy en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English adelpho- Ancient Greek -γαμία (-gamía)bor. English -gamy English adelphogamy From adelpho- + -gamy.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) Mating between ants descended from the same queen.
    • But she also asked about the civic organization of our state : whether our queens were adopted or whether we insured the continuity of our dynasty by adelphogamy. 1947, Frederick Philip Grove, Consider Her Ways, page 142:
    • […] at other times, and indeed rather frequently, the union of brother and sister, or adelphogamy, as the entomologists call it, is accomplished in the nest itself; for our humble heroines find it easier than we do to modify, in case of need, their fundamental laws, or even to reverse them, adapting themselves to circumstances, and turning these to account. 1958, Maurice Maeterlinck, The Life of the Ant, page 56:
    • But, however true it may be that all of the products of adelphogamy have but a single mother, we cannot ignore the fact that they have divers fathers. 1928, August Forel, The Social World of the Ants, page 407:
  2. (uncountable) A form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more brothers.
    • While there are obscure (and presumptively vestigial) traces of polyandry or adelphogamy, and while an informal polygyny is practiced by the chiefs and older warriors, the formal matings are between one man and one woman, and appear to be permanent. 1898, W. J. McGee, The Seri Indians, page 285:
    • The tradition is quite different from the Han-Chinese, but may have the same origin as the adelphogamy of the Tibetan people, or be a variation of it. 1961, Lin Yueh-hua, translated by Ju-shu Pan, The Lolo of Liang Shan, page 74:
    • Concerning the system of polyandry among the Todas, I gather that a woman may be married to more than one man, provided they are brothers (adelphogamy), and the maximum number of husbands seems to be five. 1894, Edgar Thurston, “Anthropology: Todas of the Nilgiris”, in Madras Government Museum Bulletin, volume 4, number 1, page 6:
  3. (uncountable) Marriage between a brother and a sister.
    • What made Tiye encourage her children to engage in adelphogamy, especially given that Semenkhkara had already become a victim? 2024, Martin Bommas, Tutankhamun: A Biography, unnumbered page:

Relateds

adelphogamous

Translations (4)

ms adelfogami (marriage between a brother and a sister) · el αδελφογαμία (marriage between a brother and a sister) · it adelfogamia (marriage between a brother and a sister) · pt adelfogamia (marriage between a brother and a sister)