The brother of the spouse and the spouse of the brother are called brother-in-law.
We have to go to Latin to be able to find the etymological origin of the term brother-in-law that concerns us now. Specifically, it comes from the word “cognatus”, which is the result of the sum of two components: the prefix “co-”, which can be translated as “with”, and the word “gnatus”, which is equivalent to “born”. .
Brother-in-law is the spouse's brother or the brother's spouse . It is a family bond that a person acquires through the marriage of his or her brother or sister, or if this same person marries and his or her partner has siblings.
Examples of brothers-in-law
For example: Carlos and Marta are siblings. Silvia is the wife of Carlos and Vicente , Marta 's husband. This means that Carlos and Vicente are brothers-in-law, just like Marta and Silvia .
On the other hand, Silvia ( Carlos 's wife) has a brother named Raúl . Carlos and Raúl , therefore, will also be brothers-in-law. In this way it can be said that Carlos has two brothers-in-law: Vicente (the husband of his sister Marta ) and Raúl (the brother of his wife Silvia ).
The brothers-in-law do not maintain a blood relationship, but rather the bond arises by affinity (legal bond).
Kinship by affinity
This allows us to affirm that brother-in-law is a form of kinship that arises by affinity. There is no blood tie that unites brothers-in-law, but rather this relationship is created through the marriage of a blood relative. Brother-in-law relationship implies a legal bond and not the existence of a natural or blood reason. For legal purposes, brothers-in-law are second-degree relatives with a preferred collateral line of kinship.
The brother-in-law who in Spain, for example, has been the most topical in recent years is Iñaki Urdangarín, the brother-in-law of King Felipe VI. And the fact is that he, who is married to Infanta Cristina, is accused of a series of money laundering crimes that has caused the monarchy to falter and be attacked by the population. Hence, the monarch, among other things, has decided to remove him from all official acts.
However, we cannot ignore that in some countries of the world it is common for brother-in-law to be used with another meaning. Specifically, that term is used to address friends in a loving and affectionate way.
Brother-in-law as a company and as a surname
We must not forget either that there is a Spanish company called Grupo Cuñado. In the 1960s, it began its activity, which is specialized in the manufacture of all types of tubes or valves, for example, that are used in various industries.
Likewise, we must not forget that there is an artist whose last name is the word in question. We are referring to Carlos Cuñado, a young artist who stands out for his multidisciplinary character, as he practices various arts such as painting or photography.
The brother-in-law
The notion of brother-in-law , on the other hand, is used to name someone's partner with respect to the spouse of another person's sister. In other words, the partner of a person's brother-in-law is his or her sister-in-law.
If we return to our example, Vicente (husband of Marta , Carlos 's sister) and Silvia ( Carlos 's wife) are brothers-in-law.