Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Phratry
/ˈfreɪtri/noun
A kinship group intermediate between clan and tribe, especially in ancient Athens.
The Greek roots
φρατρία
phratría
brotherhood, kin group
φράτηρ
phrátēr
clansman, member of a brotherhood
Literally: “a brotherhood”
The story of the word
φράτηρ is the same ancient word as Latin frater and English brother, but Greek had already given the family sense to ἀδελφός, so φράτηρ was left to carry the ritual and civic meaning. It mattered: an Athenian child was presented to the father's phratry at the Apatouria festival, and that presentation was the practical proof of legitimate birth, which meant citizenship. Anthropologists borrowed the term in the nineteenth century for similar units elsewhere.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
fraternitybrotherfriar
In a sentence
Without a phratry to vouch for him, his claim to citizenship went nowhere.