phratry

[frey-tree]

noun

plural

phratries 

1. a grouping of clans or other social units within a tribe.

2. (in ancient Greece) a subdivision of a phyle.

phratry

/ ˈfreɪtrɪ /

noun

1. anthropol a group of people within a tribe who have a common ancestor

Other Word Forms

• phratric adjective
• phratral adjective
• phratriac adjective
• phratrial adjective
• subphratry noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of phratry¹

1745–55; < Greek phrātría, equivalent to phrātr-, stem of phrātḗr clansman (akin to brother ) + -ia -y ³

Word History and Origins

Origin of phratry¹

C19: from Greek phratria clan, from phratēr fellow clansman; compare Latin frāter brother

Example Sentences

They were in Crow phratry, they could not, by phratry law, marry in their own phratry, and to marry in Eagle Hawk was to break the old law, “no marriage within the local group name.”

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Very often the bitterest feuds existed between families within the tribe and of the same phratry, although if attacked by a stranger people all would unite for mutual protection.

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The phratries have no social significance, there is no central clan house, no recognised head, no meeting, council or any organisation, nor does the clan as such ever act as a body.

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Traces of this union of immigrants with older inhabitants have been detected in the combination of Zeus Herkeios with Apollo Patro�s as the ancient gods of the phratry.

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Outside the self-sustaining phratry was the stranger, including the wayfarer and the vagrant; and partly merged in these classes was the beggar, the recognized recipient of the alms of the community.

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