Knowledge

/

ArcaMax

Today's Word "Primogeniture"

on

Published in Vocabulary

primogeniture \prI-meh-GEN-eh-t(y)Ur of -chUr\ (noun) - The status of having been born first; also the law of inheritance whereby land is inherited by the first-born (son).

"As Jack was always telling his big brother, primogeniture did not give him the right in the house to fossick around in his room when Jack wasn't there."

 

Primo + geniture "birth, begetting." "Primo" is Latin for "first" and derives from Proto-Indo-European per- "through" with a suffix "m". With the suffix "v" it appears in Russian pervyi "first." The same root probably underlies English "far." "Geniture" comes from Latin "genitura" akin to "genesis" with almost the same meaning. The noun derived from the verb geno, genui, genitum "beget, give birth to" akin to Greek gyne "woman" found in "gynecology" and "misogyny." Both these words are devolved from the same Proto-Indo-European root as English "queen."


Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus
 

 

Comics

Kevin Siers Ed Wexler Chip Bok Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee Bob Englehart Al Goodwyn