The Patriline is the pedigree from a person up through their male-only ancestors. That is their father, his father, his father, and so on. This corresponds to the line that passes the Y chromosome virtually unchanged each generation. And in western Europeans, is mostly how the surname is passed down each generation. Hence why the focus of surname studies such as this one on testing male-line, yDNA. While the term includes both sexes of the starting person, the focus with yDNA testing is to only look at the male or son as a start.
Similarly, the Matriline is the pedigree from a person up through their female-only ancestors. That is a mother, her mother, and so on. This corresponds to the line that passes the mitochondria DNA virtually unchanged each generation. Note that both male and female children receive the mitochondria from their mother and can be tested for it. But only the daughters will then pass it on to their children.
Patrilineal and Matrilineal are adjectives describing this same concept. They are the original terms introduced around the start of the 20th century.
Patriline and Matriline are newer nouns. Possibly introduced by the genealogical community in the last 50 years or so. You historically will not find these nouns in the dictionary. But what we more exclusively use here.
These lines represent a very small part of a persons ancestry. Ten generations back, the Patriline and Matriline only include 2 of the 1024 grandparents (or lines) you have back that far. But these lines have historically, in most Western Europeans, been important and thus often the best recorded or traced. At least for the Patriline. Genetic Genealogy thus marries the yDNA and mtDNA testing with this ancestral line focus. And gives a starting thread from which to develop and expand other ancestral lines.
It is important to distinguish that branch studies from an EKA include all descendants from that ancestor and not just a patriline. And from an EKA down through their descendants, there are usually many patrilines down to present day individuals. But an individual only has a single patriline going up through their ancestors.
Similarly, the Matriline is the pedigree from a person up through their female-only ancestors. That is a mother, her mother, and so on. This corresponds to the line that passes the mitochondria DNA virtually unchanged each generation. Note that both male and female children receive the mitochondria from their mother and can be tested for it. But only the daughters will then pass it on to their children.
Patrilineal and Matrilineal are adjectives describing this same concept. They are the original terms introduced around the start of the 20th century.
Patriline and Matriline are newer nouns. Possibly introduced by the genealogical community in the last 50 years or so. You historically will not find these nouns in the dictionary. But what we more exclusively use here.
These lines represent a very small part of a persons ancestry. Ten generations back, the Patriline and Matriline only include 2 of the 1024 grandparents (or lines) you have back that far. But these lines have historically, in most Western Europeans, been important and thus often the best recorded or traced. At least for the Patriline. Genetic Genealogy thus marries the yDNA and mtDNA testing with this ancestral line focus. And gives a starting thread from which to develop and expand other ancestral lines.
It is important to distinguish that branch studies from an EKA include all descendants from that ancestor and not just a patriline. And from an EKA down through their descendants, there are usually many patrilines down to present day individuals. But an individual only has a single patriline going up through their ancestors.