RE Patriarchy/Matriarchy

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The definition Denise O'Brien provided for 'patriarchy', which
she presumably derived from Lerner's book, "system...under Roman Law
giving male head of household absolute legal and economic power over
dependents, male and female" is, I am reasonably certain, a definition
under (ancient) Roman Law of 'patria potestas.' If Lerner indeed
confuses patriarchy and patria potestas in the opening paragraphs of her
book, this would not seem to be a very strong recommendation for what
follows. The etymologists among you can correct me if I'm
wrong, but I believe patriarchy is derived from Greek, not Latin.

Phil Young
Anthropology
Univ. of Oregon

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