polygamia

Forms

polygamia f (genitive polygamiae); first declension^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πολυγαμία (polugamía, “polygamy”),^[1][2][4][5] from πολύγαμος (polúgamos, “often married”), a compound of πολύς (polús, “many”) and γάμος (gámos, “marriage”).^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Jerome, in the preface to his commentary on Jeremiah,^[4][1][2] for the state of a person who has or has had several spouses.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Jerome the word stands at the bottom of a scale: virginity is preferred to marriage, marriage to a second marriage (digamia), and that to polygamia.^[4] It remained a learned and ecclesiastical word.^[7][8] The medieval chronicler Matthew Paris wrote that Lamech first introduced polygamy and was rejected by God for it.^[9] English borrowed it in the 1590s as polygamy.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it in the preface to his commentary on Jeremiah.^[4][1][5]
• 1590s – English borrows it as polygamy.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of having or having had several spouses, polygamy.^[4][1][7][9]

Related words

• digamia
• English polygamy

Usage notes

The TLL defines it by the number of spouses, not of wives;^[4] Jerome's context is successive marriages, which he ranks after digamia.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
2. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ VoLat: Vocabolario della Lingua Latina (2018), Milan: Hoepli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press