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- DictionaryPa·ter·fa·mil·i·as/ˌpädərfəˈmilēəs/
noun
- 1. the male head of a family or household: "at the meal, the story of the Passover is told by the paterfamilias"
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- Pater familias
Legal and factual head of ancient Roman household, owner of all goods and slaves, solely male
The pater familias, also written as paterfamilias, was the head of a Roman family. The pater familias was the oldest living male in a household, and could legally exercise autocratic authority over his extended family. The term is Latin for "father of the family" or the "owner of the family estate". The form is archaic in Latin, preserving the old genitive ending in -ās (see Latin declension), whe... Wikipedia
