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Concubine vs Hetaera - What's the difference?

concubine | hetaera |

As nouns the difference between concubine and hetaera

is that concubine is a woman who lives with a man, but who is not a wife while hetaera is a mistress, especially a highly cultivated courtesan in ancient Greece.

concubine

English

(concubinage)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A woman who lives with a man, but who is not a wife.
  • A slave-girl for sexual service prominent in all ancient cultures.
  • Signifies a relationship where the male is the dominant partner, socially and economically
  • A woman attached to a man solely for reproduction, and who cares for the resulting children without any romantic relationship.
  • a woman residing in a harem and kept, as by a sultan or emperor, for sexual purposes.
  • A woman kept by a man who is high in hierarchial society in addition to his wives, e.g in the imperial harem or within a household.

    • Derived terms

    * concubinage

    See also

    * harem * polygamy * co-wife * seraglio

    References

    * Random House Unabridged Dictionary ----

    hetaera

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (historical) A mistress, especially a highly cultivated courtesan in ancient Greece.
  • * 1957 , Lawrence Durrell, Justine :
    • But of course our friend is only a shallow twentieth-century reproduction of the great hetairae of the past, the type to which she belongs without knowing it, Lais, Charis and the rest...
  • * 1971 , Gottfried Benn & E. B. Ashton, Primal vision: selected writings?
    • Woman is dethroned as the primary and supreme sex, debased into inseminable hetaera .
  • * 1980 , Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers
    • Christ appeared, only to reveal himself as the naked god Pan. Ballet of hetaerae and houris, choreography by Italo Castaldi.

    Related terms

    * (l)