MORE than the markets, it seems the brothers have to come to terms with each other, because the past days' news hint that the clash in the Ambani clan may head to the courtroom. Brother is "a male who has the same parents as another or one parent in common with another," explains Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. In Concise Oxford English Dictionary brother comes just after `brothel creepers' (soft-soled sued shoes) and means "a man or boy in relation to other sons and daughters of his parents." Brother can mean a member of the same group as you. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother," is a call from King Henry V. "Let us unite, brothers and fight this unjust law!" is a simpler example from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Big Brother means a person (like Bush) or organisation (such as the WTO) exercising total control over people's lives. (First recorded in 1949, in George Orwell's novel 1984.) Blood Brother is one who has sworn to treat another as a brother after some ceremonial `blood mingling', and that is quite bloody. Children who share one parent but not another are `half-brothers' or `half-sisters' and they may surface any time, please note. "Children who do not share parents, but whose parents are married, are called `step-brothers' or `step-sisters,'" is how Wikipedia explains. Most brothers may be brothers-german, sharing both parents.

Brotherhood is a feeling of closeness or kinship, or the relationship between brothers. However, if you lift the hood, there may be surprises. Archaic plural of brother is brethren. Brother also refers to a member of a religious order of men. Brother-in-law can be confusing, because he can be your spouse's brother, sister's or sister-in-law's husband. "In Arabic, Urdu, Swahili, etc., brother-in-law, when addressed to a male who is not a brother-in-law, is an extreme insult, with implications of `I slept with your sister,'" is a caution from www.etymonline.com. The `law', they say, is Canon Law of 13th century; it defined degrees of relationship within which marriage is taboo. "Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: it is thy brother's nakedness," advises Old Testament. Also, "Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again."

Online Etymology Dictionary explains the origin of the word as from "O.E. bro{frac34}or, from P.Gmc. brothar, from PIE base bhrater (cf. Gk. phratér `a brother,' L. frater `a brother,' O.Ir. brathir, Sanskrit bhrátár — `a brother,' Goth. bró{frac34}ar `a brother,' O.Prus. brati `brother,' O.C.S. bratru." The slang usage, to address one another, is just about a century old. "Colloquial shortening bro is attested from 1666." Friar and fratricide are also from the same Latin root frater. Professionals such as accountants love to use the word fraternity, meaning a body of men associated by common interest; and fraternise means to sympathise as brothers, or cultivate friendship with enemy troops. Before you fraternise with this fraternise, remember an odd fact — that during the Second World War armed forces used the word to mean `have sex with women from enemy countries'.

Greek word adelphos means brother; literal translation is `from the same womb,' perhaps "related to dolphin," wonders www.etymonline.com. Philadelphia means in Greek, `brotherly love', and before Uncle Sam, there was Brother Jonathan to personify the Americans. Bubba or buddy is brother, in slang, though the latter is traced to be a variant of booty fellow who shares plunder! Disturbingly, again, bully originally meant sweetheart, boy or girl, and also brother, though the word has a harassing meaning now!

"We came into the world like brother and brother; and now let's go hand in hand, not one before another," is a line from The Comedy of Errors. "Welcome, good brother. What do you think the hour?" a quote from Timon of Athens that elicits a straight response from Philotus, "Labouring for nine." The Tempest, literally, is that you, brother mine, "entertain'd ambition," and you can't say, "Your brother is but young and tender," as the Bard writes in As You Like It. "Unless a brother should a brother dare," as in King Henry IV, news story is as bland as dog bites man. "O my dear brother... Never come such division `tween our souls!" sounds like a Bollywood dialogue, but is from Julius Caesar. A line from Titus Andronicus as a tip: "And, for our father's sake and mother's care, now let me show a brother's love to thee."

Or, is it adieu to adelphos?

(ComingToTerms@TheHindu.co.in)

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