compaternity

English

Etymology

From Latin compaternitas, from compater (“godfather”), from com- + pater (“father”).

Noun

compaternity (usually uncountable, plural compaternities)

1. (obsolete) The relationship of a godfather to a person.
   • 1612, John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued:

     The relation […] of gossipred or compaternity by the cannon law is a spiritual affinity.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “compaternity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)