I'm looking for a word to signify the ancestor from which a family tree is derived. They would be the first, from whom all other family members are descended. Does such a word exist? I imagine, given the long history of creating family trees, that someone at some point decided on a word other than 'the first guy'.
7 Answers
I've seen the word "proband" used in genealogy as the person of interest when either all descendants of the person, or all ancestors of the person are being studied.
This term is also used in genetics as the person being studied who has a trait of interest that may be passed to any descendant, and may have come from any ancestor.
See also What is the name of a "role" in a family tree? on Genealogy and Family History Stack Exchange.
The word that popped into my own head was progenitor, which the OED gives as sense 1 the following:
A person from whom another person, a family, or a race, is descended; an ancestor, a forefather.
One advantage of progenitor over forefather is that it works for either sex. Well, in my opinion, at least, it does. The words progenitress, progenitrice, and progenitrix do exist and would in theory be available for an ancestral female, just as ancestress would. But I’m not sure that the explicitly female versions of these words get much currency these days.
Found it — the term is the apical ancestor. See Wikipedia for details.
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Which brings to mind apex predator, where a rather different sort of tree is involved.– tchrist ♦Commented Jul 12, 2014 at 14:41
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apical progenerator? might be good but I doubt anyone will know what the hell it means! apical.... tendencies. apical protuberances. apical tropisms. just playing.– JelilaCommented Jul 27, 2021 at 13:18
I think forefather is the word you are looking for:
- the founder of a family; "keep the faith of our forefathers"
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That's the idea, but I would consider that any male along the entire depth of a family tree line could be called a forefather (are there 'foremothers'?). I was hoping for an word to signify the role.– EamonnCommented Jul 12, 2014 at 11:23
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For that matter, plenty of lines have founders as noted in your quote. Commented Jul 12, 2014 at 11:23
It takes a man and a woman to have a family. If I am drawing up a family tree, I ought to include both.
As to the point in time to start is not a easy question to answer as it is arbitrarily defined.
I would stick with progenitor for both the man and the woman. Leaving out the woman makes it politically incorrect.
As to blood line, which is easy back to the progenitor(man).
Antecedent
Antecedent means 'something that happened before or is the cause of what's going on now', and antecedents can be used to mean 'ancestors'.
Using 'primal antecedent' or 'primary antecedent' could work. Or 'original antecedent'. To refer to the very first ancestor.
Antecedent
someone or something existing or happening before, especially as the cause or origin of something existing or happening later:
Charles Babbage's mechanical calculating engines were the antecedents of the modern computer.
Many people feel a great curiosity to find out about their antecedents. (note: meaning - ancestors)
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/antecedent
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Can you site an example where this word is used to refer to people and not objects? Seems kind of dehumanizing to me in the OP's context. [Oops...just clicked on your link. There is one there! ...Good answer +1 Commented Jul 27, 2021 at 13:26
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It is commonly used to refer to ancestors. It is not limited to objects yes the the link does specifically state that. Thanks! ☺️✨– JelilaCommented Jul 27, 2021 at 13:45
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"Patriarch" or "matriarch" also might be of use.
answered Jul 12, 2014 at 22:46
Egofor a family tree starting from me and working backwards). I'm going the other way - say, what was Adam to the children of Cain and Abel, etc.