Oldest
Elder or elder is a historical and even current name for a certain informal or formal position of a person in a social context (for example, in hierarchies or administrations ), resulting from age , experience , wisdom derived or years of service. Depending on the context, an elder can be given a leadership position, or a special hearing in decisions, or specified special responsibilities (compare seniority : priority of people of older age). In the western world , respect for the elder or elder can be found, for example, as the age president , site elder , official elder or doyen (“dean, elder”).
Examples
There was the village elder as the head of a village community (compare village schoolboy ), in the gerontocracy of the Spartan Gerusia the Geronten ("the old man"). The Latin word senate literally means “council of elders”.
Noble families and noble houses know the seniority principle , the majorat (elder right) or the primogenitur (first-born succession order) with regard to the elders .
In the ecclesiastical field, the designation of the "church elder" ( presbyter ) has been preserved. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , there is the priesthood office of elder.
The Aborigines in Australia have male and female elders ("elders") who are the most experienced and wisest in leading the Aboriginal tribes . With the Indians of North America, the elders (Elders) are considered the guardians of cultural knowledge; the knowledge of several such elders was brought together in 1990 in the book Wisdomkeepers ("Wisdom Preserver ").
See also
- oldest person (overview)
- Altvordere (ancestors)