[f. Gr. καθ᾽ ἔνα ‘one by one’ + THEISM. Cf. HENOTHEISM.] The form of polytheism characteristic of the Vedic religion, in which each god for the time is considered single and supreme.
1865. Max Müller, Sel. Ess. (1881), II. 137. This surely is not what is commonly understood by polytheism. Yet it would be equally wrong to call it Monotheism. If we must have a name for it I should call it Kathenotheism, or simply Henotheism—i. e. a belief in single gods.
1871. Tylor, Prim. Cult., II. 321.
