Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A theoretical early state of human society (as postulated by 19th-century anthropologists) which was characterized by the absence of the institution of
marriage in any form, and where women were the common property of their tribe, and the children never knew their fathers. Synonym: "primitive promiscuity". - noun An
ancient Greek custom according to which a man's wife was forbidden to accompany him to many public events, including the banquets orsymposia which made up a large part of Greek social life, and where men sought out the company ofcourtesans orhetaerae instead.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Ancient Greek ἑταῖρος (hetairos, "companion") + -ism.
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Examples
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neoteny commented on the word hetaerism
hetaerism, hetairism
1. the practice of concubinage.
2. a social system characterized by its regarding women as common property. — hetaerist, hetairist, n. — hetaeristic, hetairistic, adj.
The Free Dictionary
he·tae·rism (hi tir′iz′əm)
noun
1. concubinage
2. a system of communal marriage supposed to have been practiced among some early peoples
Etymology: Gr hetairismos < hetairizein, to be a hetaera: see hetaera
Also hetairism he·tai′·rism′ (-tī′riz′əm)
- Webster's New World College Dictionary
August 24, 2009