What is "gens"

Gens \Gens\ (j[e^]nz), n.; pl. Gentes (j[e^]n"t[=e]z). [L. See Gentle, a.] (Rom. Hist.)

1. A clan or family connection, embracing several families of the same stock, who had a common name and certain common religious rites; a subdivision of the Roman curia or tribe.

2. (Ethnol.) A minor subdivision of a tribe, among American aborigines. It includes those who have a common descent, and bear the same totem.

1847, in reference to ancient Rome, "tribe, clan, house (of families having a name and certain religious rites in common and a presumed common origin)," from Latin gens (genitive gentis) "race, clan, nation" (see genus).

Etymology 1 abbr. generations Etymology 2

n. 1 (context historical English) A legally defined unit of Roman society, being a collection of people related by birth, marriage or adoption, but allowing a greater amount of time between members and their common ancestor than is commonly implied by the term (term related English). 2 (context anthropology English) A tribal subgroup whose members are characterized by having the same descent, usually along the male line.

1. n. family based on male descent; "he had no sons and there was no one to carry on his name" [syn: name]

2. [also: gentes (pl)]

In ancient Rome, a gens ( or ), plural gentes, was a family consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps (plural stirpes). The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the period of the Roman Republic. Much of an individual's social standing depended on the gens to which he belonged. Certain gentes were considered patrician, others plebeian, while some had both patrician and plebeian branches. The importance of membership in a gens declined considerably in imperial times.

In animal behaviour, a gens (pl. gentes) or host race is a host-specific lineage of a brood parasite species. Brood parasites such as cuckoos, which use multiple host species to raise their chicks, evolve different gentes, each one specific to its host species. This specialisation allows the parasites to lay eggs that mimic those of their hosts, which in turn reduces the chances of the eggs being rejected by the hosts.

The exact mechanisms of the evolution and maintenance of gens is still a matter of some research. However, it is believed that in common cuckoos, gens-specific properties are sex-linked and lie on the W chromosome of the female. Male cuckoos, which like all male birds have no W chromosome, are able to mate with females of any gens, and thereby maintain the cuckoo as one species. This is not the case in other brood parasites, such as cowbirds, in which both the male and female imprint on their preferred host. This leads to speciation, such as the indigo bird, which is suggested by the fact they have a more recent evolutionary origin than their hosts.

A gens was a family in Ancient Rome in which all of the members typically bore the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor.

Gens can also refer to:

• Gens (anthropology), a group of people related through their female or male ancestor

• Gens (behaviour), a specific lineage of animals sharing a specific behavioral trait, inherited from a common ancestor

• GENS assembler from HiSoft Devpac by HiSoft Systems, an assembler and editor for ZX Spectrum
• Gens (emulator), an emulator of the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis video game console

• Gens (band), Italian musical group formed in 1967
• Saint Gens (1104–1127), hermit
• Véronique Gens (born 1966), French soprano singer
• Xavier Gens (born 1975), French film director

Gens was used by Lewis H. Morgan (in Ancient Society) and Friedrich Engels (in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State), among others, to refer to a group of people who were related through their female ancestor (which was the basis of mother right). Confusingly, it is also used to refer to groups of people who are related through their male ancestor by other anthropology writers.

Gens, also spelled as I Gens, was an Italian pop band best known for the songs "In fondo al viale" and "Per chi".