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These definitions clarify concepts and hopefully cease quaint misconceptions. For example, the Haida Nation would be wrong to be termed as an "Indian Tribe." The Haida are indigenous North Americans and are not from India. The Haida's great nation is survived today by it's descendants and the term tribe has many vague meanings of grouped people, including many European references (see below).
Defined:
moiety
nation
phratry
tribe
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moi·e·ty
n., pl. moi·e·ties.
1. A half.
2. A part, portion, or share.
3. Either of two basic units in cultural anthropology that make up a tribe on the basis of unilateral descent.
[Middle English moite, from Old French meitiet, moitie, from Late Latin mediets, from Latin middle, from medius, middle; see medhyo- in Indo-European Roots.]
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition
Copyright © 1996, 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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moiety \Moi"e*ty\, n.; pl. Moieties. [F. moiti['e], L. medietas, fr. medius middle, half. See Mid, a., and cf. Mediate, Mediety.] 1. One of two equal parts; a half; as, a moiety of an estate, of goods, or of profits; the moiety of a jury, or of a nation. --Shak.
The more beautiful moiety of his majesty's subject. --Addison.
2. An indefinite part; a small part. --Shak.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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moiety n 1: one of two (approximately) equal parts [syn: mediety] 2: one of two basic subdivisions of a tribe
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
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na·tion (na'shen)
n.
1. A. A relatively large group of people organized under a single, usually independent government; a country.
1. B. The territory occupied by such a group of people: All across the nation, people are voting their representatives out.
2. The government of a sovereign state.
3. A people who share common customs, origins, history, and frequently language; a nationality: "Historically the Ukrainians are an ancient nation which has persisted and survived through terrible calamity" (Robert Conquest).
4. A. A federation or tribe, especially one composed of Native Americans.
4. B. The territory occupied by such a federation or tribe.
[Middle English nacioun, from Old French nation, from Latin natio , nation-, from natus, past participle of nasci , to be born. See gene- in Indo-European Roots.]
na'tion·hood' n.
na'tion·less adj.
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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nation \Na"tion\, n. [F. nation, L. natio nation, race, orig., a being born, fr. natus, p. p. of nasci, to be born, for gnatus, gnasci, from the same root as E. kin. [root]44. See Kin kindred, and cf. Cognate, Natal, Native.] 1. (Ethnol.) A part, or division, of the people of the earth, distinguished from the rest by common descent, language, or institutions; a race; a stock.
All nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. --Rev. vii. 9.
2. The body of inhabitants of a country, united under an independent government of their own.
A nation is the unity of a people. --Coleridge.
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation. --F. S. Key.
3. Family; lineage. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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nation n 1: a politically organized body of people under a single government; "the state has elected a new president" [syn: state, country, land, commonwealth, res publica, body politic] 2: the people of a nation or country or a community of persons bound by a common heritage; "a nation of Catholics"; "the whole country worshipped him" [syn: nationality, land, country, a people] 3: the territory occupied by a nation; "he returned to the land of his birth"; "he visited several European countries" [syn: country, state, land] 4: a federation of tribes (especially native American tribes); "the Shawnee nation"
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
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phra·try
n., pl. phra·tries.
1. A kinship group constituting an intermediate division in the primitive structure of the Hellenic tribe or phyle, consisting of several patrilinear clans, and surviving in classical times as a territorial subdivision in the political and military organization of the Athenian state.
2. Anthropology. An exogamous subdivision of the tribe, constituting two or more related clans.
[Greek phratria, from phratr, phratr- fellow member of a clan; see bhrter- in Indo-European Roots.]
phratric adj.
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition
Copyright © 1996, 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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phratry \Phra"try\, n.; pl. Phratries. [Gr. ?, ?.] (Gr. Antiq.) A subdivision of a phyle, or tribe, in Athens.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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phratry n : people descended from a common ancestor; "his family had lived in Masachusetts since the Mayflower" [syn: family, family line, folk, kinfolk, kinsfolk, sept]
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
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tribe
n.
1. A unit of social organization consisting of a number of families, clans, or other groups who share a common ancestry, culture, and leadership.
2. A political, ethnic, or ancestral division of ancient states and cultures, especially:
a. Any of the three divisions of the ancient Romans, namely, the Latin, Sabine, and Etruscan.
b. Any of the 12 divisions of ancient Israel.
c. A phyle of ancient Greece.
3. A group of people sharing an occupation, an interest, or a habit: a tribe of graduate students.
4. Informal. A large family.
5. Biology. A taxonomic category placed between a subfamily and a genus or between a suborder and a family and usually containing several genera.
[Middle English from Old French tribu, from Latin tribus, division of the Roman people, perhaps of Etruscan origin or possibly from tri-, three; see trei- in Indo-European Roots.]
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition
Copyright © 1996, 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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tribe \Tribe\, v. t. To distribute into tribes or classes. [R.]
Our fowl, fish, and quadruped are well tribed. --Abp. Nicolson.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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tribe \Tribe\, n. [L. tribus, originally, a third part of the Roman people, afterwards, a division of the people, a tribe; of uncertain origin: cf. F. tribu.] 1. A family, race, or series of generations, descending from the same progenitor, and kept distinct, as in the case of the twelve tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of Jacob. ``The Lion of the tribe of Juda.'' --Rev. v. 5.
2. (Bot.) A number of species or genera having certain structural characteristics in common; as, a tribe of plants; a tribe of animals.
Note: By many recent naturalists, tribe has been used for a group of animals or plants intermediate between order and genus.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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tribe n 1: a social division of (usually preliterate) people [syn: folk] 2: a federation (as of American Indians) [syn: federation of tribes] 3: (biology) a taxonomic category between a genus and a subfamily 4: group of people related by blood or marriage [syn: kin, kin group, kinship group, kindred, clan]
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
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