polygeneticadj.
/ˌpɒlɪdʒᵻˈnɛtɪk/, U.S. /ˈˌpɑlidʒəˈnɛdɪk/ I. Technical uses.
1. Ethnology. Designating or relating to the view that the different races of humankind arose independently of one another. Cf. multiregional adj. 2. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [adjective] > descent from independent ancestors
polygenous1860
polygenetic1861
polygenesic1864
polyphyletic1875
multigeneric1923
1861 F. M. Müller Lect. Sci. Lang. (ed. 2) viii. 344 Professor Pott, the most distinguished advocate of the polygenetic dogma, has pleaded the necessity of admitting more than one beginning for the human race and for language.
1912 Amer. Anthropologist 14 168 He takes a rather polygenetic view of human origins.
1971 G. H. Daniels Sci. in Amer. Society i. 13 Belief in an antipodal race was equivalent to belief in the polygenetic origin of mankind—that is to say, there must have been two Gardens of Eden.
1997 Nature 27 Mar. 350/2 Most polygenetic theories formulated after Darwin posited some type of orthogenetic impetus driving the evolution of these isolated races in the same general direction.
2. Linguistics. Of language generally, or a language or group of languages specifically: deriving from a number of independent sources; having more than one antecedent. Also: of or relating to the theory of polygenesis.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > [adjective] > terms relating to language change or development
primitive1687
inorganic1861
polygenetic1863
anomalistic1881
sandhi1888
language contact1911
processual1918
neo-linguistic1937
superstrate1958
adstrate1963
adstratal1968
1862 F. M. Müller Lect. Sci. Lang. (ed. 2) vii. 344 (note) Professor Pott, the most distinguished advocate of the polygenetic dogma, has pleaded the necessity of admitting more than one beginning for the human race and for language.]
1863 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 443 Whether we accept the monogenetic doctrine of Müller, or the polygenetic doctrine of Renan.
1979 Amer. Speech 1976 51 85 It had a polygenetic origin as a spontaneous reaction by Finnish immigrants to their new linguistic environment.
2001 R. Chaudenson & S. S. Mufwene Creolization iii. 36 I pose three kinds of questions... 1. What is the dominant genetic relationship between languages? 2. Is it monogenetic or polygenetic?
3. Geology.
a. Having more than one origin; comprising parts formed in different ways or by different geological processes; (also) designating or relating to such an origin.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > [adjective] > mono- or polygenetic
unigenous1799
monogenetic1873
polygenetic1873
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > formation of features > [adjective] > manner
undigenous1799
exogenous1845
monogenetic1873
polygenetic1873
exogenetic1914
exogenic1942
palaeogeomorphic1945
1873 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 105 429 A composite or polygenetic range or chain, made up of two or more monogenetic ranges combined.
1889 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 137 431 The present topography..is an uncompleted advance in a second cycle of development, with recent complications by glacial action and slight changes of level. Like mountains of repeated growth, this topography may be called ‘polygenetic’.
1920 A. W. Grabau Textbk. Geol. xviii. 567 Most clastic rocks are of multiple parentage—they are polygenetic—though some are of single parentage, or monogenetic.
1954 J. F. Kirkaldy Gen. Princ. Geol. xiii. 178 A boulder bed composed of angular material will usually be polygenetic, i.e. will contain different kinds of rocks derived from several sources.
1975 Nature 27 Mar. 369/2 Coasts and mountains are treated separately as polygenetic landscapes.
1990 Jrnl. Petrol. 31 705 Podiform chromites in ophiolites may have a polygenetic origin.
b. Of a volcano: that has erupted several times.
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the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > volcano > [adjective] > type of volcano
active1771
live1827
polygenetic1959
1903 A. Geikie Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 4) I. 322 A volcano formed in this way he terms monogene; while where it has been built up by the gradual accumulations of successive eruptions he calls it polygene.]
1959 A. A. G. Schieferdecker Geol. Nomencl. 239 Polygenetic volcano, formed by several volcanic outbursts.
1962 E. A. Vincent tr. A. Rittmann Volcanoes iii. 114 In the case of the great polygenetic volcanoes, the old topography is completely buried.
1997 Science 24 Jan. 497/1 How large polygenetic volcanoes evolve by means of flank collapse.
4. Chiefly Medicine = polygenic adj.2
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > genetic components > [adjective] > gene
genic1915
intragenic1937
intergenic1941
trigenic1941
polygenetic1955
monogenetic1975
multigenic1981
xenogenic-
1955 Jrnl. Chronic Dis. 1 93 Kallmann has presented evidence indicating that polygenetic factors may in part contribute to the development of a senile psychosis.
1968 Jrnl. Psychiatric Res. 6 Suppl. No. 1 407 To call it ‘polygenetic inheritance’ is not necessarily to say very much since in the end every attribute ultimately must be polygenetic.
1987 S. Broman et al. Retardation in Young Children xi. 278 For the large group of black children in this IQ range, among whom there was also little evidence for polygenetic transmission, this figure was even lower.
2000 Arch. Sexual Behavior 29 1 The survival of a human predisposition for homosexuality can be explained by sexual orientation being a polygenetic trait that is influenced by a number of genes.
II. General uses.
5. Resulting from a number of origins, sources, etc.; involving a number of causes.
ΚΠ
1900 [see polygenetically adv. at Derivatives].
1909 Philos. Rev. 18 570 Religious ideas are a product of a fusion between elements diverse in nature and polygenetic in origin.
1950 W. Durant Age of Faith xiv. 343 Civilization is polygenetic—it is the co-operative product of many peoples, ranks, and faiths.
2001 Time Mag. (Nexis) 15 Oct. 90 ‘I think film is the most democratic art form.’ It's also, in her hands, one of the most polygenetic, drawing from sources East and West, new and old.
Derivatives
polygeˈnetically adv. in a polygenetic manner; by means of polygenesis.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [adverb] > descent from independent ancestors
polyphyletically1887
polygenetically1900
1900 E. R. Lankester Treat. Zool. III. 158 Eucladocrinus..was evolved polygenetically by modification of the arms.
1952 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 139 182 Internal host factors concerned in limiting infection, in particular those which are polygenetically determined.
1960 D. G. MacRae in P. Mason Man, Race, & Darwin vii. 82 Polygenetically originated races fight blindly.
1991 Jrnl. Mental Deficiency Res. 35 244 If intelligence were inherited polygenetically, the frequency of chromosomal changes among the mildly mentally retarded would be almost the same as in the general population.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1861