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In
genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...
, a progenitor (rarer: primogenitor; or ''Ahnherr'') is the founder (sometimes one that is legendary) of a
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
, line of descent,
gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; : gentes ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same ''nomen gentilicium'' and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens, sometimes identified by a distinct cognomen, was cal ...
, clan,
tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
, noble house, or
ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
.. Ebenda
''Ahnherr:''
"Stammvater eines Geschlechts".
Genealogy (commonly known as family history) understands a progenitor to be the earliest recorded
ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...
of a consanguineous family group of descendants. Progenitors are sometimes used to describe the status of a genealogical research project, or in order to compare the availability of genealogical data in different times and places. Often, progenitors are implied to be patrilineal. If a patrilineal
dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...
is considered, each such dynasty has exactly one progenitor. Aristocratic and dynastic families often look back to an ancestor who is seen as the founder and progenitor of their house (i.e. family line). Even the old Roman legal concept of agnates (
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
for "descendants") was based on the idea of the unbroken family line of a progenitor, but only includes male members of the family, whilst the women were referred to as " cognatic". It is rarely possible to confirm biological parenthood in the case of ancient family lines (see bastardy). In addition, the progenitor is often a distant ancestor, only known as a result of
oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...
. Where people groups and communities rely solely on a patrilinear family line, their common ancestor often became the subject of a legend surrounding the origin of the family. By contrast, families and peoples with a matrilinear history trace themselves back to an original female progenitrix. Matrilinear rules of descent are found in about 200 of the 1300 known
indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
s and
ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
s worldwide, whilst around 600 have patrilineal rules of descent (from father to son).J. Patrick Gray: ''Ethnographic Atlas Codebook.'' In: ''World Cultures.'' Vol. 10, No. 1, 1998, pp. 86-136, here p. 104: Table 43 ''Descent: Major Type'' (one of the few assessments of all 1,267 ethnic groups
pdf file; 2.4 MB; without page nos.
): "584 Patrilineal €¦52 Duolateral €¦160 Matrilineal €¦45 Mixed". Th
''Ethnographic Atlas by George P. Murdock''
contains data sets of 1,300 ethnic groups (as at December 2012 a
''InterSciWiki''
), of which often only samples were assessed.
In the mythological beliefs of the Romans the god of war,
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
, was viewed as the progenitor of the Romans;. which is why the
Mars symbol Planetary symbols are used in astrology and traditionally in astronomy to represent a classical planet (which includes the Sun and the Moon) or one of the modern planets. The classical symbols were also used in alchemy for the seven metals know ...
( ♂, a shield and spear), is used to refer to the male sex. Besides cities and countries, ethnic groups may also have a progenitor (often a god) in their mythologies, for example, the
Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...
look back to
Hellen In Greek mythology, Hellen (; ) is the eponymous progenitor of the Greeks, Hellenes. He is the son of Deucalion (or Zeus) and Pyrrha, and the father of three sons, Dorus, Xuthus, and Aeolus (son of Hellen), Aeolus, by whom he is the ancestor of t ...
as their progenitor. In Indian
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
''Manu'' is the progenitor of all mankind. In the
Abrahamic religions The term Abrahamic religions is used to group together monotheistic religions revering the Biblical figure Abraham, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The religions share doctrinal, historical, and geographic overlap that contrasts them wit ...
,
Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...
,
Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...
,
Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...
and others are described as progenitors (see also Biblical patriarchy). In
archaeogenetics Archaeogenetics is the study of ancient DNA using various molecular genetic methods and DNA resources. This form of genetic analysis can be applied to human, animal, and plant specimens. Ancient DNA can be extracted from various fossilized spec ...
(archaeological genetics), a human Y-chromosomal Adam has been named as the most recent common ancestor from whom all currently living people are descended patrilinearly. This Adam lived in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
at a time variously estimated from 60,000 to 338,000 years ago. And Mitochondrial Eve, the most recent common ancestor in the matrilineal line, is estimated to have lived from 100,000 to 230,000 years ago. (There being no suggestion that these, “Eve†and “Adamâ€, lived at nearby times or places. And there were many other common ancestors in other lines of descent.)


Examples of patrilineal progenitors


See also

* Protoplast, progenitors of mankind in a creation story *
Ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...
* Ahnentafel * Legendary progenitor * Progenitor cell


References

{{Authority control Kinship and descent Genealogy Ancestors