Wikipedia's first sentence called it “practice of a woman marrying one of her husband 's sons or brothers after her husband's death”. Today it says “type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his widowed sister-in-law”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Type of marriage”. It now reads “Obligatory marriage between a widow and a brother of the deceased”.
Found by software in Wikipedia's own edit history. Not yet read by hand. The quoted words are Wikipedia's.
Compared with the live article on 2026-08-04.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Levirate marriage is the practice of a woman marrying one of her husband 's sons or brothers after her husband's death , in order to continue his line.1 Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage outside the clan was forbidden. Groups that have practiced levirate marriage include the Israelites , the Xiongnu , the Mongols , and the Tibetans .2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16260193.
The opening as it stood in 2010 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obligated to marry his brother's widow, and the widow is obligated to marry her deceased husband's brother.Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage, i.e. that outside the clan, was forbidden.It is or was known in many societies around the world.The practice is similar to widow inheritance , where, for example, the deceased husband's kin can dictate whom the widow may marry.The term is a derivative of the Latin word levir , meaning "husband's brother".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 369106429.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Schneider Heinrich Schurtz Marilyn Strathern Related articles Alliance theory Matrilineal / matrilocal societies Feminist anthropology Sex and Repression in Savage Society Social Bonding and Nurture Kinship "The Traffic in Women" Social anthropology Cultural anthropology v t e Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow, and the widow is obliged to marry her deceased husband's brother. Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage (i.e. marriage outside the clan) was forbidden. It has been known in many societies around the world. The practice is similar to widow inheritance , where, for example, the deceased husband's kin can dictate whom the widow may marry. The term is a derivative of the Latin word levir meaning "husband's brother".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667990187.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Schneider Heinrich Schurtz Marilyn Strathern Related articles Alliance theory Matrilineal / matrilocal societies Feminist anthropology Sex and Repression in Savage Society Social Bonding and Nurture Kinship "The Traffic in Women" Social anthropology Cultural anthropology v t e Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow. The term levirate is a derivative of the Latin word levir , meaning "husband's brother". Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage (i.e. marriage outside the clan) was forbidden. It has been known in many societies around the world.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962596136.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Type of marriage Not to be confused with Levite . Schneider Heinrich Schurtz Marilyn Strathern Related articles Alliance theory Matrilineal / matrilocal societies Feminist anthropology Sex and Repression in Savage Society Social Bonding and Nurture Kinship "The Traffic in Women" Social anthropology Cultural anthropology v t e Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow. Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage (i.e. marriage outside the clan) is forbidden.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1174416789. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “practice of a woman marrying one of her husband 's sons or brothers after her husband's death”. Today it says “type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his widowed sister-in-law”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Type of marriage”. It now reads “Obligatory marriage between a widow and a brother of the deceased”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
practice of a woman marrying one of her husband 's sons or brothers after her husband's death
Now
type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his widowed sister-in-law
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.