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SISTER

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 160 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SISTER , the correlative of See also:

brother (q.v.), a See also:female in her relation to the other See also:children See also:born of the same parents, also one who has acquired such relationship by See also:marriage, a sister-in-See also:law, or by See also:adoption. The O. Eng. word was sweostor; cf. Dutch zuster, Ger. Schwester, Goth. swistar; in M. Eng. this appears as suster; the Scandinavian See also:form appears in Icel. systir, Swed. systor, See also:Dan. systor, and this has curiously taken the See also:place of the true See also:English form suster. Outside Teut. are found See also:Lat. soror for sosor, Skt. svasti; the origin is not known, but it may be related with Skt. svasti, happiness, joy. The Lat. consobrinus, which has given " See also:cousin," is from See also:con-sobrinus, sosbrinus, from the See also:stem of soror, sister. As " brother " and " brethren " are used for the male members of a religious See also:body or community, so also is " sister " for the female members; more particularly it is applied to the members of a female religious See also:order or community, a " sisterhood," in the See also:Roman and other churches, who are de-voted to a religious See also:life, See also:works of charity or See also:mercy, whether See also:bound by irrevocable vows or not.

End of Article: SISTER

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