gentilism

Noun

gentilism (countable and uncountable, plural gentilisms)

1. heathenism; paganism; the worship of pagan gods
   • when a king was converted from Gentilism to Christianism, he did by that very submission to the bishop that converted him, submit to the bishop’s government and became one of his sheep; which right therefore he could not have over any nation that was not Christian.a. 1680 (date written), Thomas Hobbes, “Behemoth: The History of the Causes of the Civil Wars of England, and of the Counsels and Artifices by which They were Carried on from the Year 1640 to the...
2. a heathenish practice.
   • In Scotland (especially among the Highlanders) the woemen doe make a Curtsey to the New-moon. I have known one in England doe it, and our English woemen in the Country doe retain (some of them) a touch of this Gentilisme still.1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 36
   • He wrote to Timothy to put him on his guard against it; and styles the gentilisms, "profane vain babblings; and oppositions of science falsely so called" (1Tim 6:20).1848, John Thomas, Elpis Israel, Chapter 2
3. tribal feeling; devotion to one's gens or clan.
   • The organization of tribes for the purpose of the free administration of affairs was turned into an organization for plundering and oppressing their neighbors. The organs of gentilism changed from servants of the public will to independent organs of rule oppressing their own people. This could not...1909, Friedrich Engels, translated by Ernest Untermann, “Chapter 9”, in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State