I.C. Sorosis
 

I saw in another thread the term I.C. Sorosis, To describe a womens fraternity. What is this term Sorosis. I'm wondering could this be where the term sorority came from?

Re: I.C. Sorosis
 

I.C. Sorosis was the "first name" of what we know today as Pi Beta Phi; in 1888 the name was changed from I. C. Sorosis to Pi Beta Phi. (As for what the I.C. means...I don't know! Maybe some Pi Phis on this board can help us out).



I consulted a dictionary (a rather old one belonging to my Mom) and this is what it had to say:

sorosis come from Greek, "soros" - a heap.
1. Botany - A collective fruit formed by the union of many flowers into a fleshy of pulpy mass, as in the mulberry and pinesapple.
2. U.S.- A women's club.

IC Sorosis was the orriginal name of Pi Beta Phi. I am ashamed to admit I don't know the exact meaning of sorosis. My best guess is it comes from the latin Sororitas, meaning sisterhood. I do know that the word sorority was coined around 1900 by a college proffesor for Gamma Phi Beta. All of the Organizations before that time were formed as women's fraternities.

As for the meaning of IC... umm... I plead the 5th...


TG

I have been led to believe that the true meaning of the I.C. has never been determined, as it was never recorded in the early history of I.C. Sororis or Pi Beta Phi.

...and even some later on were still womens fraternities! (ie- PHI SIGMA SIGMA :) - Founded 1913!)

Like Trojangirl, I plead the fifth as to the meaning of IC.:D :D :D :D

You're right....lots came after who are called Fraternity...another one is Alpha Gamma Delta.

Actually, Gamma Phi Beta was never a "fraternity"...before it became a "sorority", it was called a "society", same with Sigma Kappa.

What does I.C. mean? :D Hee, Hee! :D I, too, plead the 5th. :p

From the Pi Beta Phi national website:

"The Founders didn't leave specific documents about why they chose the arrow [for the badge] -- there's as much speculation about it as there is about the meaning of I.C. "

Don't believe everything you read, Peachy! ;) I distinctly remember being told what I.C. stands for during my initiation. The founders didn't say why they chose the arrow as our badge, though, but I'm very glad they picked it. It's a lovely symbol. I look at it as always going forward, onward and upward.

As an interesting side note, when I was an active, one of the women on our AAC was named Peachy. Yes, that is her real name. She said her parents wanted her to have a sense of humor. And it turns out we even graduated from the same high school. She has lovely red hair, just like my lovely mother.

I don't know why the founders chose an arrow but I assure you that I know what IC means!:D

Do you think that I.C. still has the exact same meaning it originally had? I only ask because some meanings change with time. And I have been to some historical seminars in my own fraternity that showed how some things have changed in meaning over the years.

Yes, it means the same thing today as it did in 1867.

What she said!

I.C.?
 

Hmm...I guess I'm a horrible Pi Phi! I don't ever remember hearing what I.C. stood for during Initiation, but then again it's possible that I missed it. It's definitely something to listen for next time! :D

I also agree that I love the arrow! There is something majestic about it.

PPL,
Erin

Erin, you probably missed it because you were concentrating so hard on finding out what our letters mean. No matter the sorority, I think in the backs of our minds, we're all thinking, "Just tell me what the letters stand for!"

Hmm, looks like it's time for me to call my big or someone...I should have paid better attention during Initiation!

It wasn't that I was concentrating on what our letters mean.... it was the total lack of sleep from the night before and worry I was gonna fall down from lack of sleep!

TG

I remember hearing the meaning of IC during initiation Erin...so I know you've heard it! :D I love our arrows...they are such a unique sorority mascot! :)

Jess

I swear to heaven, y'all, after you've watched about 40 women being individually initiated, the meaning will forever be burned into your brain. So will every other word. It will echo in your dreams for many nights!

I just skipped to the end of this thread. I didint feel comfortable reading this. I know none of us would post things we shouldnt, but I dont like even being near the subject. Just makes me uncomfortable. I just dont feel right reading someones posted thoughts on what they were thinking going through initiation. I think those are private things, best shared only with other members of your bond.

but thats just me...

I feel really bad after reading this and every one trying to figure out the meaning of teh arrow and I.C. If some one asked what the meaning of a Kappa tradition, ritual or symbol was i would not tell them...nor should we expect a Pi Phi to tell us the meaning of their secrets..they have been kept a secret for 135 yrs (i believe that is right)..so lets let the Pi Phi secrets stay with those who know them.

Thanks Beth and lifesaver for understanding that some things are just part of our secrets and should only be known by other Pi Phis! I'm sure that Alpha Phi Omega has secrets that should only be known by other Alpha Phi Omegas so please respect us for not sharing! :)

Jess

It just started out b/c JayBee thought that I.C. Sororis was something that applied to all sororities, he had no idea it was a secret thing. I know everyone who reads this realizes that we're not going to spill, and we all understand the importance of fraternal secrecy. The last page and a half have consisted of Pi Phis saying "I know what it means" or "Darn, I wish I knew what it meant."

Re: Re: I.C. Sorosis
 

My apologies for opening the can of words, I didn't realize that it was secret and revealed only during initiation. :o

i don't think sororitas is a latin word. the word soror means "sister" in latin, as frater means "brother". (mater is mom and pater is dad for those of you who are dying to know!!) (yes, i'm a latin geek and almost a major in college!)

sororitas is not even a case in latin. soror, however, is a latin word. ;)

Thanks
 

Actually I was thinking that Sororis may have been an early term for women's organization or something. Thanks for letting me know that "Frater" means brother. But now another curious thing comes into play.

Questions:

1.) Since "Frater" means brother, does any Women's Fraternity call each other brothers?

2.) Did any Woman's Fraternity, use to be a Traditional mens Fraternity that evently changed?

Re: Thanks
 

1. No.

2. No.

My information came from Mirriam Webster dictionary.

Main Entry: so·ror·i·ty
Pronunciation: s&-'ror-&-tE, -'rär-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
Etymology: Medieval Latin sororitas sisterhood, from Latin soror sister
Date: 1900
: a club of women; specifically : a women's student organization (as at a college) that is formed chiefly for social purposes and has a name consisting of Greek letters

So if I am flawed... blame the dictionary!

TG

Re: Thanks
 

Actually I was thinking that Sororis may have been an early term for women's organization or something. Thanks for letting me know that "Frater" means brother. But now another curious thing comes into play.

Questions:

1.) Since "Frater" means brother, does any Women's Fraternity call each other brothers?

2.) Did any Woman's Fraternity, use to be a Traditional mens Fraternity that evently changed?

Ok, I'll bite.....
1) Fraternity comes from the Greek word "phratria", meaning people holding a common interest. So, in that sense, the ladies were taking it from the Greek "Phratria", rather than the Latin "frater" for brother. Also, remember, we are GREEK LETTER ORGS, not ROMAN letter orgs or LATIN letter orgs!

Women's Fraternity NEVER meant "brotherhood". It always meant "people holding a common interest. I suppose if the women had spelt it "phraternity", it would help to clear up the confusion, but it's always been spelled with "f".

Here's a blurb from my National:
Delta Gamma Fraternity is the correct name of the organization. Why isn't Delta Gamma called a sorority officially? At the time of the founding of most of the older women's fraternities, the Greek derivative phratres of phratria, meaning tribes or groups of people with similar interests and backgrounds, was the basis for the title, fraternity. No doubt, because the women's organizations were modeled in many ways after the older men's groups, the women simply used the title fraternity, too.

2). I don't think any NPC orgs that are called "sorority" ever were a fraternity first and then changed their name.
For example, these are the NPC's called "sorority" (that I can think of):
Gamma Phi Beta Sorority
Delta Zeta Sorority
Alpha Delta Pi Sorority
Sigma Kappa Sorority
Kappa Delta Sorority
Sigma Sigma Sigma Sorority

I don't believe that any of them were TheirName Fraternity, and then changed...I think they were all a TheirName Sorority from the beginning, or at least TheirName Society, and then maybe adopted the Sorority part of the name later...I guess you would have to ask one of them? Delta Gamma was a Fraternity from the beginning.

... 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