alternative plural of brother (q.v.); predominant c. 1200-1600s, but surviving only in religious usage and not now used in reference to male children of the same parents. The title was used by primitive Christians (Acts xviii, etc.) and so was taken by various Protestant sects, such as the Dunkers.
bhrāter-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning “brother.”
It forms all or part of: br’er; brethren; brother; bully (n.); confrere; fraternal; fraternity; fraternize; fratricide; friar; friary; pal.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit bhrátár-, Old Persian brata, Greek phratér, Latin frater, Old Irish brathir, Welsh brawd, Lithuanian broterėlis, Old Prussian brati, Old Church Slavonic bratru, Czech bratr, Polish brat, Russian bratŭ, Kurdish bera; Old English broþor, Old Norse broðir, German Bruder, Gothic bróþar.
popular name of a German-American Anabaptist sect, 1756, from (Pennsylvania) German Tunker, from tunken, dunken “to dip, soak” (see dunk (v.)). So called because they practice adult baptism by triple immersion. The proper name is Brethren.
1550s (n.) “native or inhabitant of Moravia;” 1610s (adj.) “of or pertaining to Moravia or its people,” from Moravia. From 1746, in reference to the Protestant sect (United Brethren) founded by Count Zinzendorf in the former German state of Moravia. It traces its origin to John Huss. Related: Moravianism.
1640s (n.); 1690s (adj.), in reference to followers or doctrines of Faustus Socinus, Latinized name of Fausto Sozzini (1539-1604), Italian anti-trinitarian theologian who held Christ to be human, if divinely endowed, and the Holy Spirit to be divine energy, not a person. He broke with the Church and organized the Polish Brethren.
early 14c., Menour, “a Franciscan,” from Latin Fratres Minores “lesser brethren,” name chosen by the order’s founder, St. Francis, for the sake of humility; see minor (adj.). From c. 1400 as “minor premise of a syllogism.” From 1610s as “person of either sex who is under legal age for the performance of certain acts” (Latin used minores (plural) for “the young”). Musical sense is from 1797 (see the adjective). Academic meaning “secondary subject of study, subject of study with fewer credits than a major” is from 1890; as a verb in this sense by 1905.
“tree of the genus Acer,” c. 1300, mapel, from Old English mapultreow “maple tree,” also mapolder, mapuldre, related to Old Norse möpurr, Old Saxon mapulder, Middle Low German mapeldorn, from Proto-Germanic *maplo-. There also was a Proto-Germanic *matlo- (source also of Old High German mazzaltra, German maszholder), but the connection and origins are mysterious.
Native to northern temperate regions, some of the species are valued for their wood, some for their sugar, some as shade or ornamental trees. The forms in -le are from c. 1400. Formerly with adjectival form mapelin (early 15c.; Old English mapuldern). Maple syrup attested from 1824, American English (earlier maple molasses, 1804). The maple leaf is mentioned as the emblem of Canada from 1850 (an 1843 Canadian source says it “has been adopted as an emblem by our French Canadian brethren”).
“a clergyman,” 1620s (also in early use as an adjective), from Church Latin clericus “clergyman, priest,” noun use of adjective meaning “priestly, belonging to the clerus;” from Ecclesiastical Greek klērikos “pertaining to an inheritance,” but in Greek Christian jargon by 2c., “of the clergy, belonging to the clergy,” as opposed to the laity; from klēros “a lot, allotment; piece of land; heritage, inheritance,” originally “a shard or wood chip used in casting lots,” related to klan “to break” (see clastic).
Klēros was used by early Greek Christians for matters relating to ministry, based on Deuteronomy xviii.2 reference to Levites as temple assistants: “Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the Lord is their inheritance” (klēros being used as a translation of Hebrew nahalah “inheritance, lot”). Or else it is from the use of the word in Acts i:17. A word taken up in English after clerk (n.) shifted to its modern meaning.
city in Pennsylvania between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, from Greek, taken by William Penn to mean “brotherly love,” from philos “loving” (see philo-) + adelphos “brother” (see Adelphi). Related: Philadelphian.
Also the name recalls that of the ancient city in Lydia, mentioned in the New Testament, which was so called in honor of Attalos II Philadelphos, 2c B.C.E. king of Pergamon, who founded it. His title is said to have meant “loving the brethren” or to be a reference to his affection for his brother Eumenes, whom he succeeded.
Philadelphia lawyer “clever, shrewd attorney” is attested from 1788 in London, said originally to have been applied to Andrew Hamilton, who obtained the famous acquittal of J.P. Zenger in New York on libel charges in 1735.
[C]ricket and coaching were after all popular in their day in places besides Philadelphia. It was merely that Philadelphia kept on with them longer than most places. This is a perennial Philadelphia trick, and gives to Philadelphia a sort of perpetual feeling of loss. Philadelphians are always just now getting rid of things that are picturesque, like those gas lamps on the streets, only because everybody else got rid of them long ago. [Nathaniel Burt, “The Perennial Philadelphians,” 1963]
Violence is Life 