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Origin and history of opsigamy

opsigamy(n.)

"marriage late in life," 1824, from Greek opse "late" (related to opiso "backward," opisthen "behind," from opi, a variant of epi "on it, at it;" see epi-) + -gamy "marriage."

also from 1824

Entries linking to opsigamy

epi-

before vowels reduced to ep-, before aspirated vowels eph-, word-forming element meaning "on, upon, above," also "in addition to; toward, among," from Greek epi "upon, at, close upon (in space or time), on the occasion of, in addition," also "after," from PIE *epi, *opi "near, at, against" (source also of Sanskrit api "also, besides;" Avestan aipi "also, to, toward;" Armenian ev "also, and;" Latin ob "toward, against, in the way of;" Oscan op, Greek opi- "behind;" Hittite appizzis "younger;" Lithuanian ap- "about, near;" Old Church Slavonic ob "on"). A productive prefix in Greek; also used in modern scientific compounds (such as epicenter).

-gamy

word-forming element meaning "marriage" in anthropology and "fertilization" in biology, from Greek -gamia, from gamos "marriage" (see gamete).

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