Agapemone

English

Etymology

Irregular formation from Hellenistic Ancient Greek ἀγάπη (agápē, “love”) and μονή (monḗ, “abode”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /aɡəˈpiːm(ə)ni/, /aɡəˈpɛm(ə)ni/

Noun

Agapemone (uncountable)

1. (now historical) The base of a religious sect established in Sussex by the Rev. Henry James Prince in the mid-19th century, or a successor establishment in London, which were associated with free love and polygamy.
   • 2012, Gillian Tindall, “The Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society”, in Literary Review, section 403:

     Four Nottidge sisters fell under the sway of the Agapemone cult, and lived in a commune whose megalomaniac leader forced them to marry his henchmen but forbade consummation of these unions: arguably, they did need rescuing.

2. Any community characterised by mutual love or free love.
   • 1925, Ford Madox Ford, No More Parades (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 397:

     This whole war was an agapemone…. You went to war when you desired to rape innumerable women. It was what war was for…. All these men, crowded in this narrow space….

Derived terms

• Agapemonian
• Agapemonist
• Agapemonite

See also

• Abode of Love
• Princeite

Anagrams

• epagomena