Pronounced: SHO-mur nuh-GEE-AH (with a hard g), or sho-MARE nuh-GEE-AH, Origin: Hebrew, the practice of not touching members of the opposite sex outside of marriage.
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Traditional Sources on Sex Outside Marriage
While the Torah does not forbid premarital sex, the rabbis of the talmudic era prohibited it--but one modern authority proposed a sanctioned form of exclusive sexual relationship outside of marriage.