Definition of patriclan

English Dictionary - With Multi-Lingual Search

patriclan
noun

A group which claims common ancestery through the male line, but cannot prove the lineage.

- 1979 "By 1770, the Xhosa branch of the Nguni-speakers were organised at three levels: patrilineages, consisting the descendants of a known common ancestor; patriclans, composed of a number of lineages, all claiming descent from a putative common ancestor; and chiefdoms which were political units, each occupying a certian area under a chief. The shaping of South African Society 1652 - 1820. Eds. Richard Elphic & Hermann Giliommee. Longman p. 294.
- patriclan: a group that claims but cannot brace their descent through the male line from a common male ancestor. Source: Anthromorphemics. http://www.webref.org/anthropology/p/patriclan.htm

Etymology: pater: father + Gaelic clann: offspring; descendants.

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