So, one Latin word for brother is germanus. (Sister = germana.) The others, of course, are frater and soror.

We get our derivative “germane” from this, but also “German.”

That’s right, the Romans looked at the Germanic tribes and just started calling them “the brothers.” I guess they must all have looked alike to them. And probably they were all actually related to each other.

Meanwhile, the Spanish Celts were speaking their adorable pidgin Latin, so we get the Spanish hermano/hermana.

There are fewer words in this world than it first appears, actually.