«Brothers» in the Hebrew and Septuagint Bibles

A polissemic study?

Abstract

The Hebrew bible shows up a very large polissemy when treat of words that receive greater proeminence. This is the case of the vocable «brother», which appears in the first place in its sense of «son of the same father and/or mother», can also contain the realities of those who «are close relatives, companios, friends, of the same race or nation and even as a sign of respect and cordiality due to those to whom respect is due». As for the word «sister», althourh it has a narrower spectrum, it also goes beyond the strict connotation. The Greek Bible, called the LXX, shows the diversity of understanding when trying to elucidate some texts where «brother» could be misunderstood. In any case, «brother» has to do with «fraternity, brotherhood», whether throug blood ties or not. What can be clearly seen it that, in none of the texts studied, the vocable «brother», in the Hebrew Bible, has a meaning that is not clear, that is, it was not used for lack of a more appropriate one, but because its linguistic spectrum includes those meanings.