Gens, [Greek: genos], and gattas in Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit have
alike the primary signification of kin. They contain the same
element as gigno, [Greek: gignouas], and ganaman, in the same
languages, signifying to beget; thus implying in each an immediate
common descent of the members of a gens. A gens, therefore, is a
body of consanguinei descended from the same common ancestor,
distinguished by a gentile name, and bound together by affinities of
blood. It includes a moiety only of such descendants. Where descent
is in the female line, as it was universally in the archaic period,
the gens is composed of a supposed female ancestor and her children,
together with the children of her female descendants, through females,
in perpetuity; and where descent is in the male line--into which it
was changed after the appearance of property in masses--of a
supposed male ancestor and his children, together with the children
of his male descendants, through males, in perpetuity. The family
name among ourselves is a survival of the gentile name, with descent
in the male line, and passing in the same manner. The modern family,
as expressed by its name, is an unorganized gens, with the bond of
kin broken, and its members as widely dispersed as the family name
is found.

Among the nations named, the gens indicated a social organization of
a remarkable character, which had prevailed from an antiquity so
remote that its origin was lost in the obscurity of far distant ages.
It was also the unit of organization of a social and governmental
system, the fundamental basis of ancient society. This organization
was not confined to the Latin, Grecian, and Sanskrit speaking tribes,
with whom it became such a conspicuous institution. It has been
found in other branches of the Aryan family of nations, in the
Semitic, Uralian and Turanian families, among the tribes of Africa