Same brother, different mother, same orphanage
But when you’re from a broken home you shouldn’t auction it
Wretch 32, Upon Reflection
“Same brother, different mother, same orphanage” refers to our shared origins. It’s funny, ‘blood is thicker than water’ is one of the most misunderstood phrases: it actually means the opposite of what everyone thinks it does. It doesn’t mean that your relatives are closer than your friends: it means that the connection between your chosen ‘blood brother’ is a more powerful tie than the ‘water’ of a ‘birth brother’. And that’s what I’m saying with that bar. Tottenham was a cradle for our creativity, but it was also a place you had to learn to look after yourself very fast. In order to survive, you create a family of your own choosing as well as the one you were born into.
Wretch 32, Rapthology
The idiom “blood is thicker than water” – I recently found out – is a topic of disagreement among students of knowledge. There are two main meanings that can be derived based on various interpretations and understandings of the root(s). The first interpretation is that blood-relatives are closer and more reliable than friends and the other is the complete opposite.
Let’s explore.
The earliest form of the idiom is believed to have appeared in the 12th century (1180 to be precise) in the works of Medieval-German poet Heinrich der Glîchezære. In his fable “Reinhart Fuchs” which translates to “Reynard the Fox”, he writes: “ouch hoer ich sagen, das sippe blůt von wazzere niht verdirbet”, meaning “I also hear it said, kin-blood is not spoiled by water”.
It is noted, however, that in the 1481 English translation of Reinhart Fuchs by William Caxton the phrase does not appear as above nor in any other similarity bearing form. It is believed that the edition where the phrase appears was edited by one Henry Morley in 1889.
Blood thicker than water
Only in certain cases
You need water to live you learn that in the basics
Styles P (The LOX) – Can I Live
In his “Guy Mannering” of 1815, Sir Walter Scott is noted to have written the phrase “blude’s thicker than water”. It is also found in the 5th edition of John Ray’s “A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs” published around 1813. Almost a century thereafter, it can be found in “A Handbook of Proverbs: Comprising Ray’s Collection of English Proverbs, with his Additions from Foreign Languages” by Henry G. Bohn.
By now we have found some references to the phrase in the past, but no indication towards its meaning. It is, however, believed to mean that ties of kinship are tighter than ties of friendship.
Get it right, blood is thicker than water
Could never shit on my peeps
Crypt The Warchild, The Rage of Angels
The density of blood is a mixture between the density of blood plasma and blood cells. The density of blood plasma is around 1025 kg/m³ and the density of blood cells is around 1125 kg/m³ giving blood an average density of 1060 kg/m³. The density of water, on the other hand, is 1000 kg/m³ indicating that blood is truly (while only slightly) “thicker” than water.
The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb
The second understanding of the idiom is believed to be derived from the above phrase, though I couldn’t find any official reference to this, anywhere.
Some believe that this refers to ties of kinship not changing due to distances created between one another by travelling over the seas. However, the origin of this belief is almost impossible to trace, and those opposed to this origin believe that it is, in fact, a more modern variation of the first definition.
Some people believe in an interpretation of excerpts from the Old Testament where the word “covenant” was used, and others even believe it is derived from the Talmud, but in this case, scholars educated in Talmudic text reject such an interpretation. The excerpts I have taken from The New International Version of The Bible may also be a reason for some people’s belief in the second version of the phrase.
So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD call David’s enemies to account.” And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.
Samuel 20:26-27
Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 26:27-28
There may be a distant connection in where people believed that those who drank with Jesus his “blood of the covenant” established a bond between one another that was instantly stronger than that of siblings who shared the same womb.
Furthermore, in many places around the world, there are forms of rituals and “covenant-making” in which two parties would declare themselves as “blood brothers”. For example, in some parts of the Middle East, two very close friends would often cut their palms and tightly shake each other’s hand so that their blood may mix, as a result advancing their brotherhood into a biological dimension.
In addition to all of the above, there is another interpretation allegedly originating from an Arabic proverb:
Blood is thicker than milk
The density of milk is roughly 1,030 kg/m³ and this is around the same as the density of cow’s milk. However, the proverb refers to the Islamic principle of “milk kinship”.
But hold up, what does that mean?
In the pre-Islamic era and thereafter, there was a common practice of sending off newborn babies with “milk-mothers” (also known as a “wet-nurse”) in order for them to be fed and raised healthily. This was a service provided by women who had recently had children themselves, hence being able to produce milk. By providing this service they would earn a living.
The reasons for a child being sent to live with a milk-mother would be one of many ranging from poverty to being orphaned. When one is suckled by a woman other than their biological mother, they are instantly considered related to their milk-mother and her family. She is considered as his/her mother as would the husband be considered as a father and any children as a “milk-brother” or “milk-sister”.
In his book “The Blood Covenant – A Primitive Rite and its Bearings on Scripture” published in 1893, H.C Trumbull writes:
“We, in the West, are accustomed to say that “blood is thicker than water“; but the Arabs have the idea that blood is thicker than milk, than a mother’s milk. With them, any two children nourished at the same breast are called “milk-brothers,” or “sucking brothers“; and the tie between such is very strong. [..] But the Arabs hold that brothers in the covenant of blood are closer than brothers at a common breast; that those who have tasted each other’s blood are in a surer covenant than those who have tasted the same milk together ; that “blood-lickers,” as the blood-brothers are sometimes called, are more truly one than “milk-brothers,” or “sucking brothers“; that, indeed, blood is thicker than milk, as well as thicker than water.”
The excerpt from Wretch 32’s book Rapthology which I opened with is what inspired me to explore this particular idiom. I couldn’t tell you that I was expecting to learn about it or that I was expecting anything at all. But, as usual, it turns out that we find inspiration in the places we least expect.
I had no idea – like many of you reading this right now – that “blood is thicker than water” would have this many interpretations. I’m not rather sure which interpretation I would intend to use the idiom with and to be honest, I don’t think I would use it at all – I don’t even think I have ever used it, personally.
It might cause some confusion that there are clearly two majorly differing sides, but now that we know the conflicting perspectives, we should be able to identify the intended interpretation based on the context.
I say this all the time and I will keep saying it…
Rap taught me more than school ever did.
Blood is thicker than water. Or is it?
Wash your hands before you eat
Don’t play the game if it ain’t keeps
Be ready for the finals
Better practice what you preach
You ain’t the stand-up type then find a seat
Your blood is thicker than water but both them things leak
Big K.R.I.T., Lions & Lambs
My n***as, y’all triggers in the heartbeat
Blood thicker than water, but we thicker than concrete
So say the word and I’m near
If it’s somewhere not near, I guess I’ll be in the air
Joell Ortiz (Slaughterhouse), All On Me
Kones you my brother, blood ain’t relative
Blood’s thicker than water but you still need water to live
You kept my faith alive when nobody else did
Krept – Brothers
