... and Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority. ;)

AEPhi has always been a sorority, never a women's fraternity.

Delta Zeta has always been a "sorority". The following passage, regarding the circumstances surrounding our founding, is taken from our pledge manual:

Though obviously these girls didn't know much of the women's Greek-Letter groups on other Ohio campuses, they did know that word, "sorority" which had been coined for the name of Gamma Phi Beta, when it was formed some years earlier at Syracuse University.

aephialum and KillarneyRose,
Thanks for that! :)

hey trojangirl-

well, according to this entry, sororitas means sisterhood, not sister. ;)

i have to ask my best friend, who just got her masters in medieval history and speaks latin as well, what the difference between traditional latin and medieval latin is. according to that entry, sororitas is medieval and only based on the original latin. so i think i am right that sororitas is not an actual latin case term. i will find out though!

take care

the diff between classical Latin and Medieval Latin is essentially the same as old english and Modern English (or any other language). One has evolved from the other, but there is change in vocab (including new vocab), orthography and pronunciation. So sororitas came from soror, thus the sister link is still there.

There are a lot of Latin terms that we use today that came from Medieval Latin, not classical.....most ppl don't care unless you're studying it


Officio mirifice fungimur!

CutiePie2000, don't worry about opening a can of worms. If something is secret, we'll just tell you it's secret. And if we ask something about Delta Gamma that's secret, just tell us the same. :) I'm a journalist, so I find this discussion of the origins of words very interesting.

Here's a question...I remember going through recruitment at Alpha Delta Pi and hearing that they were one of the first sororities/women's organizations/whatever (I know there are several organizations claiming to be "first" but that's beside the point). If they were founded before the word "sorority" came into use, why are they called a sorority?

Ok...here goes!
 

Ah...it depends on what criteria you are looking at.

The ADPi argument:
The Adelphean Society (now known Alpha Delta Pi) was founded on May 15, 1851, but they did not adopt the name Alpha Delta Pi until later, after 1900. So, arguably, going on the year 1851, Alpha Delta Pi is the first sorority (even though they were originally called Adelphean).

The Pi Beta Phi argument:
I.C. Sororsis was founded on April 27, 1867, and they change the name to Pi Beta Phi in 1888. This is BEFORE the Adelphean to Alpha Delta Pi name change. So, it could be argued that Pi Beta Phi was the first org to take a Greek letter name.

The Kappa Alpha Theta argument:
Kappa Alpha Theta is founded on January 27, 1870. This is AFTER the Adelphean and I.C. Sororis' foundings, but BEFORE their respective name changes. Kappa Alpha Theta was called Kappa Alpha Theta from Day One; no name changed involved. So I suppose they could be the first Greek letter org too, since they used a Greek letter name first. They are called Kappa Alpha Theta Fraternity

The Gamma Phi Beta argument for being the first "sorority":
Gamma Phi Beta was founded on November 11, 1874, but they did not adopt the term "sorority" until 8 years later, in 1882. They adopted the term "sorority" first, so arguably, they can be considered the first "sorority". They were able to first hand knowledge of this word "sorority" first, because they were at Syracuse University [where Frank Smalley was...the man who invented the word].

The Sigma Kappa argument for being the first "sorority":
Sigma Kappa was founded November 9, 1874, so it cannot be argued that Sigma Kappa, is indeed older than Gamma Phi Beta. However, Sigma Kappa was not calling themselves Sigma Kappa Sorority at this point, it was just Sigma Kappa, or maybe Sigma Kappa Society. Sigma Kappa is technically older than Gamma Phi Beta, going on dates of founding, so I guess they could say that they are the oldest "sorority", but Gamma Phi Beta actually adopted the term "sorority" first.

As for your why question, apparently Professor Frank Smalley commented to the Gamma Phi's: "I presume that you young women are now members of a sorority." I guess they liked it and took on the term?!


Phew! :D

Re: Re: Thanks
 

Okay this is great information. I'm really into what is being said here.

This Phratria, I'm getting all over the net that this is a word meaning clan, or of the same family.

1)PHRATRIA
Subdivision of the phyle. In Attica, the four Ionic phylae each held three phratriae. Each phrtria held 30 families. After Cleisthenes, phratries remained signifiacant religiously.
http://ancienthistory.about.com/libr...l_phratria.htm

2)Phrater
The everyday word for brother in Greek is adelphos, not phrater. It comes from delphus, a Greek word for the womb. It meant a blood brother, one who was a brother by birth from the same mother. The use of adelphos in Greek led to the female equivalent, adelphi for sister. The word phrater devolved to designate those who were members of a phratria, a brotherhood under a social relationship in which the members understood themselves to be descended from the same remote father.
http://www.world-destiny.org/a19htl.htm

3)phratry
Pronunciation: 'frA-trE
Inflected Form(s): plural phratries
Etymology: Greek phratria, from phratEr member of the same clan, member of a phratry -- more at BROTHER
Date: 1833
1 : a kinship group forming a subdivision of a Greek phyle
2 : a tribal subdivision; specifically : an exogamous group typically comprising several totemic clans
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionar...ary&va=phratry

Now with this information, It makes me wonder about the part in your definition with the "people with common interest". It sounds better that way for the word to fit the usage. It has drawn me to ask more intriquing questions: 1) Could it be that within the usage of the word "Fraternity" for women, that phratry was found after the fact and extra meaning may have been placed on the word for sort of a retro fit? 2) Why would other organizations go to another completely different word? 3)Why not use the word Phratrie? 4) Could a new organization develop and use the term Phratrie, instead of Fraternity or Sorority? Or 5)would the term Phratrie, fit better as decriptions of pledge groups within a Fraternity or Sorority?

Sorry for the brain pain, but with so many knowledgable people out there, I know it'll be great to read your responses.

Re: Ok...here goes!
 

Pi Phi never claimed to be the first women's fraternity, but the first NATIONAL women's fraternity.

TG

Re: Re: Re: Thanks
 

I don't know the answer to any of your questions.
Maybe there is a Professor in the Greek Studies Dept. at your school who can help you. (at my school, it was called Classical Studies).

Wow, this is a really interesting thread. People always ask me why we're a fraternity and not a sorority, and now I have a good answer for them. Thanks to everyone who did all of this research! :)

Re: Re: Re: Thanks
 

JayBEE, there seems to be some confusion here. The English word "fraternity" is derived from Latin frater by way of Middle English, not from Greek (except perhaps indirectly, to the extent that the Latin frater is itself related to Greek). Here is the etymology my dictionary gives:

"FRATERNITY: [ME fraternity < L fraternitas. See FRATERNAL]

FRATERNAL: [< L fratern(us) (see FRATER + -AL)]

FRATER: n. a brother, as in a religious or fraternal order; comrade. [< L: BROTHER]

As this etymology implies the word "fraternity" (or the form "confraternity") has been around much longer than GLO's. Various religious and masonic groups have long used the term.

FWIW.

Hey Jaybee,
I forgot to mention this one women's organization called "Phrateres" (pronunced Fra-Tair-Eez).
They only have one chapter left now, at UBC in Canada.
http://www.ams.ubc.ca/clubs/phrateres/index.html

They used to have chapters at U of Arizona (UA chapter was co-ed, actually),
http://clubs.asua.arizona.edu/~phraterp/geninfo.html
(it folded not too long ago)
and I think there were chapters (now closed) at OSU, UVictoria, UW, UCLA (that's going way way back).
I think Seattle might even have an alumnae group..not entirely sure.

It was kind of like a sorority/service organization, in that there was pledging with pledge pins and also initiation (with an initiated members' pin). You did mixers with the fraternities, philanthropy stuff, participated in Intramurals, etc. It was like a club though, in that if you wanted to join, you just signed up and paid your money and you were a member, whereas sorority membership is by mutual selection and by invitation. Also, membership was cheaper, so if women found the costs of sorority membership prohibitive (and did not want to go the payment plan route), sometimes Phratere was a more cost-effective alternative.

We didn't get into the history that much, but I do recall that Phrateres was founded in the 1920's at UCLA by Dean Helen Matthew Laughlinson. My understand is that in the "olden days" sometimes sorority women were members of BOTH their GLO and Phrateres. For the most part though, women were either a Phratere or a GLO member (due to time constraints, etc.).
I think that's about all I can remember, but I think of something else, I shall post again.

BTW: I was a Phratere, and became an alumna initaite of Delta Gamma later.

P.S. Those who weren't Phrateres, never knew how to pronounce/spell us. Once I came back to my dorm room and there was a message on my wipe-off board that said, "Call Jenny about the philanthropy project for Terry's". ;)