1925, coined by Australian anthropologist Raymond A. Dart from Latin australis "southern" (see austral) + Greek pithekos "ape," a loan word from an unknown language. So called because first discovered in South Africa.
of speech communication, "used to establish social relationships rather than to impart information," 1923, coined by Polish-born British anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski (1884-1942) from Greek phatos "spoken, that may be spoken" (from phanai "to speak, say," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say") + -ic.
"the custom among certain tribes which prohibits a man from marrying a woman from his own tribe," 1865, Modern Latin, literally "outside marriage," from exo- "outer, outside" + -gamy. Related: Exogamous (1865). Apparently coined by Scottish anthropologist John Ferguson McLennan (1827-1881) in "Primitive Marriage" (see endogamy).
in reference to a group of related North American native languages, 1915, coined by U.S. anthropologist and linguist Edward Sapir from *-ne, a stem in the languages for "person, people," and Athabaskan Dene "person, people." "The compound term Na-dene thus designates by means of native stems the speakers of the three languages concerned, besides continuing the use of the old term Dene for the Athabaskan branch of the stock" [Sapir].
"of or pertaining to the Scandinavian people or their languages or physical type," 1898, from French nordique (in anthropologist Joseph Deniker's system of race classifications), literally "of or pertaining to the north," from nord "north" (a loan-word from Old English; see north). Perhaps influenced by German Nordisch. As a noun, from 1901. Strictly, the blond peoples who inhabit Scandinavia and the north of Britain. As a type of skiing competition, it is attested by 1949.
Earlier sense was of "doctrine that animal life is produced by an immaterial soul" (1832), from German Animismus, coined c. 1720 by physicist/chemist Georg Ernst Stahl (1660-1734) based on the concept of the anima mundi. Animist is attested from 1819, in Stahl's sense. Related: Animisic.
"marriage within the tribe or group," 1865, from endo- on model of polygamy. Related: Endogamous (1865). Opposed to exogamy. Apparently both were coined by Scottish anthropologist John Ferguson McLennan (1827-1881) in "Primitive Marriage."
To this law, the converse of caste, forbidding marriage within the tribe, Mr. M'Lennan has given the name of exogamy: while, instead of caste, since that word involves notions unconnected with marriage, he has used the correlative word — endogamy. [review in The Lancet, March 25, 1865]
early 14c., "formal act or procedure of religious observance performed according to an established manner," from Latin ritus "custom, usage," especially "a religious observance or ceremony" (source also of Spanish, Italian rito), which perhaps is from PIE root *re- "to reason, count," on the notion of "to count; to observe carefully." Rite of passage (1909), marking the end of one phase and the start of another in an individual life, is translated from French rite de passage, coined by French anthropologist Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957).
