Quote:
Originally posted by meheron
Fraternity comes from the Latin word fraternitas, that describes a feeling of love between two brothers. Its abstract interpretation is basically deep friendship between people, male or female.
|
Hmmmm. Well, while it is certainly to be hoped that the Latin word
fraternitas describes a feeling of love between brothers, that's not quite what it means. It simply means "brotherhood," from the Latin
frater, "brother." It came into Middle English as
fraternite, and originally was used primarily to refer to groups of laymen organized for religious or charitable purposes. "Sorority" takes the Latin
soror, which means "sister," and applies the same suffix (
itas, "ity") as "fraternity."