pantagamy
(pænˈtægəmɪ)
[An illiterate formation for pantogamy, f. Gr. παντο- panto- all + -γαµία, from γάµος marriage. (Pantagamy is etymologically, from Gr. ἀγαµία celibacy, ‘universal or total celibacy’.)]
A communistic system of complex marriage, in which all the men and women of a household or community are regarded as married to each other, as formerly practised among the Perfectionists at Oneida Creek in U.S.
| 1852 J. Nichol Amer. Lit. i. 20 The American mind delights in..social and political experiments, as Shakerism, Mormonism, Pantagamy. 1867 Dixon New Amer. II. xxiv. heading, Pantagamy. [Ibid. 256 In the Bible Family living at Oneida Creek, the central domestic fact of the household is the complex marriage of its members to each other, and to all.] 1894 Q. Rev. Oct. 311 Has not Oneida Creek invented ‘Complex Marriage’ or Pantagamy? |