Why philadelphia is called the city of brotherly love?

[James Carter]

It’s a literal translation of the city’s name from Greek. φίλος (philos) is ‘Love’ and ἀδελφός (adelphos) is ‘brother[ly]’. When those two morphemes are combined, with some linguistic machinations, one ends with Philadelphia, ‘the city of brotherly love’. It was probably an appealing, significant and purposeful name to a Quaker such as William Penn.

[Robert Grave]

It’s translated from Greek – “Philadelphia, which is Greek for “brotherly love,” derived from the Ancient Greek terms φίλος phílos (beloved, dear) and ἀδελφός adelphós (brother, brotherly)”

Nowadays, it’s sometimes invoked with a sense of irony, which can be bitter.

[Mary Campbell]

But, for real, I think the brotherly love thing is just sarcasm. Like calling a bald guy curly.

[Patricia Marsh]

Remember the city was founded by Quakers, so the “we’re all brothers” thing was very real at the time.

[Irinushka Belova]

Youtube Channel Philadelphia The great experiment. Great documentary on history of the city

[Kevin O’Neill]

Real good question. Maybe Philadelphia is Native American for “idiots will never figure out what this word means” (SATIRE)

[Bonita Peel]

And the city’s motto is “Philadelphia Maneto”, or “let brotherly love endure”.