Misplaced Pages

Ancestor: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 12:31, 28 January 2022 editBruce1ee (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers268,039 edits Reverted good faith edits by 41.164.57.53 (talk): Already stated in the articleTags: Twinkle Undo← Previous edit Revision as of 08:21, 2 May 2022 edit undoMarxistshayar (talk | contribs)5 edits Added citation to a journal article for ancestor worshipTag: Visual editNext edit →
Line 10: Line 10:
Assuming that all of an individual's ancestors are otherwise unrelated to each other, that individual has 2<sup>''n''</sup> ancestors in the ''n''th generation before her/him and a total of 2<sup>''g''+1</sup>&nbsp;−&nbsp;2 ancestors in the ''g'' generations before him/her. In practice, however, it is clear that most ancestors of humans (and any other species) are multiply related (see ]). Consider ''n''&nbsp;=&nbsp;40: the human species is more than 40 generations old, yet the number 2<sup>40</sup>, approximately 10<sup>12</sup> or one trillion, dwarfs the ]. Assuming that all of an individual's ancestors are otherwise unrelated to each other, that individual has 2<sup>''n''</sup> ancestors in the ''n''th generation before her/him and a total of 2<sup>''g''+1</sup>&nbsp;−&nbsp;2 ancestors in the ''g'' generations before him/her. In practice, however, it is clear that most ancestors of humans (and any other species) are multiply related (see ]). Consider ''n''&nbsp;=&nbsp;40: the human species is more than 40 generations old, yet the number 2<sup>40</sup>, approximately 10<sup>12</sup> or one trillion, dwarfs the ].


Some cultures confer reverence to ancestors, both living and dead; in contrast, some more youth-oriented cultural contexts display less veneration of elders. In other cultural contexts, some people seek ]{{Explain|reason=|date=November 2020}} from their deceased ancestors; this practice is sometimes known as '']'' or, more accurately, '']''. Some cultures confer reverence to ancestors, both living and dead; in contrast, some more youth-oriented cultural contexts display less veneration of elders. In other cultural contexts, some people seek ]{{Explain|reason=|date=November 2020}} from their deceased ancestors; this practice is sometimes known as '']'' or, more accurately, '']''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hu |first=Anning |date=2016 |title=Ancestor Worship in Contemporary China: An Empirical Investigation |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43709965 |journal=China Review}}</ref>


==See also== ==See also==

Revision as of 08:21, 2 May 2022

Person from whom another person is descended For other uses, see Ancestor (disambiguation).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Ancestor" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). Ancestor is "any person from whom one is descended. In law, the person from whom an estate has been inherited."

Two individuals have a genetic relationship if one is the ancestor of the other or if they share a common ancestor. In evolutionary theory, species which share an evolutionary ancestor are said to be of common descent. However, this concept of ancestry does not apply to some bacteria and other organisms capable of horizontal gene transfer. Some research suggests that the average person has twice as many female ancestors as male ancestors. This might have been due to the past prevalence of polygynous relations and female hypergamy.

Assuming that all of an individual's ancestors are otherwise unrelated to each other, that individual has 2 ancestors in the nth generation before her/him and a total of 2 − 2 ancestors in the g generations before him/her. In practice, however, it is clear that most ancestors of humans (and any other species) are multiply related (see pedigree collapse). Consider n = 40: the human species is more than 40 generations old, yet the number 2, approximately 10 or one trillion, dwarfs the number of humans who have ever lived.

Some cultures confer reverence to ancestors, both living and dead; in contrast, some more youth-oriented cultural contexts display less veneration of elders. In other cultural contexts, some people seek providence from their deceased ancestors; this practice is sometimes known as ancestor worship or, more accurately, ancestor veneration.

See also

Citations

  1. "Thesaurus results for FOREFATHER". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  2. Websters New World Dictionary. Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company.
  3. Tierney, John (5 September 2007). "The Missing Men in Your Family Tree". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  4. Hu, Anning (2016). "Ancestor Worship in Contemporary China: An Empirical Investigation". China Review.

External links

Family
First-degree relatives
Second-degree relatives
Third-degree relatives
Family-in-law
Stepfamily
Kinship terminology
Genealogy
and lineage
Family trees
Relationships
Holidays
Related
Categories: