Blood Is Thicker Than Water
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Blood is thicker than water is a
proverb A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbial ...
in English meaning that familial bonds will always be stronger than other relationships. The oldest record of this saying can be traced back in the 12th century in German.


History

A similar
proverb A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbial ...
in German first appeared in a different form in the medieval German beast epic ''Reinhart Fuchs'' (c. 1180; English: ''
Reynard the Fox Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, ...
'') by
Heinrich der Glîchezære Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...
. The 13th-century Heidelberg manuscript reads in part, "ouch hoer ich sagen, das sippe blůt von wazzere niht verdirbet" (lines 265–66). In English it reads, "I also hear it said that kin-blood is not spoiled by water." Jacob Grimm suggests that this saying, which is not read anywhere else, means that the bonds of family blood are not erased by the waters of baptism, and so the raven Diezelin will have inherited his father's outlook despite having been christened. In 1412, the English priest
John Lydgate John Lydgate of Bury (c. 1370 – c. 1451) was an English monk and poet, born in Lidgate, near Haverhill, Suffolk, England. Lydgate's poetic output is prodigious, amounting, at a conservative count, to about 145,000 lines. He explored and estab ...
observed in ''
Troy Book ''Troy Book'' is a Middle English poem by John Lydgate relating the history of Troy from its foundation through to the end of the Trojan War. It is in five books, comprising 30,117 lines in ten-syllable couplets. The poem's major source is Gu ...
'', "For naturelly blod wil ay of kynde / Draw unto blod, wher he may it fynde." William Jenkyn referenced the proverb in its modern form in a 1652 sermon: "Blood is thicker (we say) then 'sic''water; and truly the blood of Christ beautifying any of our friends and children, should make us prefer them before those, between whom and us there’s only a watery relation of nature." The proverb appears frequently in the literary works of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Scottish authors. In John Moore's '' Zeluco'' (1789), a character assures another in a letter that there is little danger in him forgetting his old friends "and far less my blood relations; for surely blood is thicker than water." In Christian Isobel Johnstone’s Scottish romance, ''Clan-Albin: A National Tale'' (1815), the character Flora is considered "of mixed blood at best," but a distant relative observes that “blood is thicker than water… and all the water in the Monzievar could not wash our blood from her’s." The phrase or some variation appears several times in
Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...
's work, including ''Marmion'' (1808), ''Rob Roy'' (1817), and '' Guy Mannering'' (1815): "Wheel — Blud's thicker than water — she's welcome to the cheeses.". The proverb appears in English reformer
Thomas Hughes Thomas Hughes (20 October 182222 March 1896) was an English lawyer, judge, politician and author. He is most famous for his novel '' Tom Brown's School Days'' (1857), a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended ...
's ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (1857). The phrase was first attested in the United States in the ''Journal of Athabasca Department'' (1821). On June 25, 1859,
U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
Commodore
Josiah Tattnall III Commodore Josiah Tattnall (November 9, 1795 – June 14, 1871) was an officer in the United States Navy during the War of 1812, the Second Barbary War and the Mexican–American War. He later served in the Confederate Navy during the American C ...
, in command of the U.S. Squadron in Far Eastern waters, made this adage a part of U.S. history when explaining why he had given aid to the British squadron in an attack on
Taku Forts The Taku Forts or Dagu Forts, also called the Peiho Forts are forts located by the Hai River (Peiho River) estuary in the Binhai New Area, Tianjin, in northeastern China. They are located southeast of the Tianjin urban center. History The ...
at the mouth of the Pei Ho River, thereby abandoning the strict American policy of neutrality that had been adopted in the Second Opium War after the
Battle of the Barrier Forts The Battle of the Barrier Forts (also known as the Battle of the Pearl River Forts) was fought between American and Chinese forces in the Pearl River, Guangdong, China in November 1856 during the Second Opium War. The United States Navy launched ...
.


Other interpretations

The use of the word "blood" to refer to kin or familial relations has roots dating back to Greek and Roman traditions. This usage of the term was seen in the English-speaking world from the late 1300s. In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century uses of the proverb, "blood" could be a metaphor for national or clan affiliations rather than biological kinship. For instance, in ''Clan-Albin'', the characters are debating whether the small and soft Flora has pure enough clan ties to marry into the Craig-gillian family, who prefer "Amazonian daughters." The notion of a "national" affiliation could also be interpreted quite broadly as in the Tattnall example above, in which an American commodore came to the aid of the British Navy. A nineteenth-century British contributor to ''
Notes and Queries ''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to "English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inner ...
'' determined that Americans were still bound to Britain by "education and descent": "The thrill of grief and indignation with which the news of President Garfield's assassination was received in England, and the sympathy which his long agony called forth, could have been awakened by no alien. 'Blood is thicker than water,' and the frequently heard remark, 'He is not a foreigner, he is an American,' shows that this is generally acknowledged." H.C. Trumbull contrasts the expression with a comparison of blood and milk in the Arab world: More recently,
Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...
's ''Ninth Philosopher's Song'' (1920) approached the proverb differently, stating, "Blood, as all men know, than water's thicker / But water's wider, thank the Lord, than blood." Two modern commentators, author Albert Jack and Messianic Rabbi Richard Pustelniak, claim that the original meaning of the expression was that the ties between people who have made a blood covenant (or have shed blood together in battle) were stronger than ties formed by "the water of the womb", thus "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb". Neither of the authors cite any sources to support their claim.


See also

*
Blood viscosity Hemorheology, also spelled haemorheology (from Greek ‘αἷμα, ''haima'' ' blood' and rheology, from Greek ῥέω ''rhéō'', 'flow' and -λoγία, ''-logia'' 'study of'), or blood rheology, is the study of flow properties of blood and i ...
* List of English-language idioms *
Loyalty Loyalty, in general use, is a devotion and faithfulness to a nation, cause, philosophy, country, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only anothe ...
** Appeal to loyalty *
Kin selection Kin selection is the evolutionary strategy that favours the reproductive success of an organism's relatives, even when at a cost to the organism's own survival and reproduction. Kin altruism can look like altruistic behaviour whose evolution ...


References

{{Reflist English proverbs Family