Quote:
Originally posted by matthewg:
Hi everybody,
are you really sure that the word "fraternity" is not derived from the latin word "frater" which means "brother", or the french word "fraternite' ", which means brotherly love???
Maybe the male greeks could help here....
[This message has been edited by matthewg (edited February 10, 2001).]
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You are right, but brother does not always mean only men! I know that's how we use it nowadays, but in the past a lot of words were asexual or multisexual. Or often, they were unisexual only because women weren't allowed to participate in that particluar activity. I think the point is the word does not so much refer to what the sex of the person is who feels it, but what the actual (fraternal) feeling is or the genetic relationship between the two people.
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