Monday, November 16, 2009

What is a sister-wife?


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Why: When Donny Osmond ran down to Marie in the audience of "Dancing with the Stars," Joel on "The Soup" said something like:
"What do you think? Huh? Huh? Marie and I have a relationship that makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it? Huh? Makes you wanna rock back and forth in a fetal position in a hot shower, huh? Here's a whole new meaning to the term 'sister-wife,' huh?"
Answer: It has evolved over time. Today: "A co-wife (in general)"
  • 2008, Miriam Koktvedgaard Zeitzen, Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, page 97:
    The concept of 'sisterhood' was popularly applied to the official organizations for Mormon women, and Mormon co-wives were and are still known as 'sister-wives'
  • 2006, Xiaoxiaosheng, trans. David Tod Roy, The plum in the golden vase, or, Chin P'ing Mei, page 21:
    Yüeh-niang and her sister-wives, all dressed in formal gowns, came out from inside to greet them and ushered them into the rear reception hall
Source: Wiktionary

The More You Know: But in the days of yore:
  1. A woman who is simultaneously sister and wife to her husband:
    • 1743, trans. Philip Francis, “Odes”, in Horace, volume III, iii, page 64:
      My Grecians shall victorious prove, By me led on to War, the Sister-Wife of Jove.
    • 1853, Henry N. Humphreys, The coin collector's manual, page 118:
      Ptolemy VII married Cleopatra the sister-wife of his predecessor.
    • 1974, Joseph Fontenrose, Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins‎, page 257:
      Anat as sister-wife of Baal, Isis as mother of Horos and sister-wife of Osiris, Hera as sister-wife of Zeus
  2. In a polygamous marriage, a woman who is simultaneously the sister and co-wife of another. (Biblical) Moses prohibited that a man should marry two sisters.
    • 1853, quoted in Robert Cox, Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, page 194:
      Enmities between sister-wives will [be,] from their having known each other too intimately all their lives, more unmannerly than where they are strangers to each other

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