matelotage means A social practice of same-sex civil union among seafarers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “matelotage” is a great word
MATELOTAGE — [Noun] A formal, contractual civil union, historically among sailors and buccaneers, entailing shared resources and mutual obligations. Borrowed from French matelotage, from matelot ("sailor, seaman") + -age (suffix forming nouns of action or result). Unlike matrimony, a legally and religiously sanctioned union for family, or partnership, a broad term for commercial cooperation, matelotage was a pragmatic and profound bond forged in the absolute isolation of the sea. It is two men pooling their prize-money into a single sea-chest, swearing an oath over a shared knife, and naming each other sole inheritor before a perilous voyage—a transient architecture of affection built where no other institution would anchor.
noun
- A social practice of same-sex civil union among seafarers in the 17th and 18th centuries.
- An instance of such a union.