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Re: Montanian

From:BP Jonsson <bpj@...>
Date:Tuesday, September 25, 2001, 10:21
The situation in modern Icelandic is similarly complicated.  The default
words are:

_kona_ (gen. _kvenna_) "female human being"
_karl_ "male human being"
_maDur_ (acc. _mann_) "human being, person"

More technical terms are thus:

_kvenmaDur_ "female person"
_karlmaDur_ "male person"

But at the same time _maDur_ is assumed by default to refer to a male
person, although it is less of a synonym of _karl_ than it used to be in
the Old language.


At 12:13 2001-09-23 -0400, Sally Caves wrote:
>Speaking of "breasted male," which I take to mean >"breasted human being" in your language (?), the >derivation of "woman" in Old English is _wyfman_, >"female man." The word "man" simply meant >human being. It was coopted, of course, to mean >"human male," but the word that designated "human >male" in Aelfric's time was _wer_, not _mann_. The >words for the sexes used continuously by Aelfric: > > wifhades, werhades: "female," "male." > >So when Eufrasia (i.e. Euphrosyne) of the Saints Tale >in Old English was discovered after her death to be >a woman and not a monk (she had disguised herself >as a monk in order to live the life of a holy man), they >spoke of her reverently as a _wifhades man_, "a person/ >man of the female sex."
/BP 8^)> -- B.Philip Jonsson mailto:bpX@netg.se (delete X) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~__ A h-ammen ledin i phith! \ \ __ ____ ____ _____________ ____ __ __ __ / / \ \/___ \\__ \ /___ _____/\ \\__ \\ \ \ \\ \ / / / / / / / \ / /Melroch\ \_/ // / / // / / / / /___/ /_ / /\ \ / /Melarokko\_ // /__/ // /__/ / /_________//_/ \_\/ /Eowine __ / / \___/\_\\___/\_\ Gwaedhvenn Angeliniel\ \______/ /a/ /_h-adar Merthol naun ~~~~~~~~~Kuinondil~~~\________/~~\__/~~~Noolendur~~~~~~ || Lenda lenda pellalenda pellatellenda kuivie aiya! || "A coincidence, as we say in Middle-Earth" (JRR Tolkien)