ancestor, auncestor, ancestre, ancessoure

[Fr. ancêtre; 0. Fr. an ce our; Sp. & Port. (pl.) ante ce ores; Ital, antece ore. From Lat. antece or = he who goes before antecedo = to go before.] One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father or mother's side. It is distinguished from predece or, one who previously held the office to which one has now succeeded. The Old English term which ancestors displaced when it came into the language was Fore-elders. (Barnes: Early Eng ., p. 104.) "But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors , whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt.."- Lev . xxvi. 45. ăn-çes-tör-i-al, a [Eng. ancestor; -ial.] Ancestral. they wish to adhere to their ancestorial form of a regal government."-Lewis: Early Roman Hist., ch. xi., § 1.