Meanings
plural gaonates · alternative geonate
- JudaismhistoricalThe rank or office of Gaon.
The interlocking relationships between the Geonate and the Exilarchate are perhaps nowhere more evident than in the role played by each institution in selecting or deposing the head of the other — what might be described as a primitive version of the system of checks and balances.
1998, Robert Brody, The Geonim of Babylonia and the Shaping of Medieval Jewish Culture, page 77
Origin
From Gaon + -ate (forming nouns denoting rank or office).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
gaonate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gaonate
“gaonate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gaonate. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gaonate,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gaonate.
Source: gaonate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.