levirate
English
Etymology
From Latin lēvir (“husband's brother, brother-in-law”) (from Proto-Indo-European *daiwos (“one's brother-in-law”)) + -ate
Adjective
levirate (not comparable)
Usage notes
- This adjective is used almost exclusively as part of the phrase levirate marriage.
Translations
Noun
levirate (plural levirates)
- (countable) A marriage between a widow and her deceased husband's brother or, sometimes, heir.
- (anthropology) The institution of levirate marriage.
- 1894, Edward Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage, second ed., Macmillan and Co., page 510,
- And it is, he says, impossible not to believe that the Levirate—that is, the practice of marrying a dead brother's widow—is derived from polyandry.
- 1986, John S. Scullion, translator, Genesis 37-50: A Continental Commentary by Claus Westermann, Fortress Press, ISBN 080069502X, page 52,
- It is only a secondary purpose of the levirate that the property of the deceased passes on to the one who is heir to his name, and is probably a later accretion.
- 2006, Gary P. Ferraro, Cultural Anthropology: An Applied Perspective, Thomson Wadsworth, ISBN 0495030392, page 219,
- The levirate is found in patrilineal societies in which the bride marries into her husband's family while essentially severing her ties with her original family.
- 1894, Edward Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage, second ed., Macmillan and Co., page 510,