patrilineal social fabric. Patrilocality is confirmed by lexical evidence, including the word *-, 'to lead (away)', being the word that denotes a male wedding a female. Rights, possessions, and responsibilities were consequently reckoned to the father, and wives were to reside after marriage near the husband's family, after the payment of a bride-price. The household (*) was generally ruled by the senior male of the family, the * ('master of the household'), and could also consist of his children, grandchildren, and perhaps unrelated slaves or servants. His wife probably also played a complementary role: some evidence suggest that she would have kept her position as the mistress (*) of the household in the event her husband dies, while the eldest son would have become the new master. The Proto-Indo-European expansionist kinship system was likely supported by both marital exogamy (the inclusion of foreign women through marriage) and the exchange of foster children with other families and clans, as suggested by genetic evidence and later attestations from Indo-European-speaking groups. Once established, the family lasted as long as the male stock of its founder endured, and clan or tribal founders were often portrayed as mythical beings stemming from a legendary past in Indo-European traditions. In this form of kinship organization, the individual's genetic distance from the clan's founding ancestor determined his social status. But if he was of exceptional prowess or virtue, the same individual could in his turn gain social prestige among the community and eventually found his own descent-group. In the reconstructed lexicon linking the individual to the clan, * means a 'member of one's own group', 'one who belongs to the community' (in contrast to an outsider). It gave way to the Indo-Iranian (an endonym), and probably to the Celtic ('noble, freeman'), the Hittite ('peer, companion'), and the Germanic ('noble, distinguished'). It is unlikely however that the term had an ethnic connotation, and we do not know if Proto-Indo-European speakers had a term to designate themselves as a group. Another word, *, means 'people', 'freemen' in a more general way. Patron-client Proto-Indo-European had several words for 'leader': * was a general term derived from * ('set in place, arrange'); * meant a ruler who also had religious functions, with the Roman ('king of the sacred') as a heritage of the priestly function of the king; * designated a 'lord' and possessed a feminine equivalent, * (a 'queen'); while the