What do the Founding Fathers have to do with patriotism?
The English word patriotism is based upon the Latin word for father, pater. A number of other words have the same origin, such as patriarch (the father of a family) and patrimony (an inheritance from one's father). Since nations are founded by people, patriotism came to be used as a term for the love and loyalty to the nation that was established by the "founding fathers," a term familiar to people of numerous countries around the world (patriotism literally means loyalty to the "fathers" of the nation; "patriotism" to a nation that was established by "founding mothers" would be known as "matriotism").
It was last updated on April 7, 2006 at 6:47:56 PM CDT.
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