Re: Common words for man & husband, woman & wife (was: Brothers-in-law)

>Yahya Abdal-Aziz <yahya@...> wrote:
>(2) Possibly from the root "empu" = to have, possess;
>if so, the word "perempuan" literally means "possession";
>analogous to a wife's chattel status under Common Law
>until, I believe, the late 19th C.
>(3) A contraction of "perempuan", formed on the analogy
>of "Tuan".  Just like a "Mrs.", a "Puan" is the property of
>a "Tuan" or "Mr."!  As androcentric as can be ...
Do I understand correctly that you are saying that "Mrs." means the
woman is the property of the "Mr."?  IMO, that is not correct.

"Mister" is a weakened form of "master."  "Mistress '> misteress'"
is "master" with the feminine suffix "-ess" (tigress, duchess, et
al.) and means that the woman herself owns something or is in charge
of something.  It does not mean that she is owned by the "master."
AHD: 1) a woman in a position of authority; 2) a woman owning an
animal or slave; 3) a woman who has ultimate control over something.

Of course, there are several connotative meanings.
AHD: 5) a woman who has mastered a skill; 6) a woman who has a
continuing sexual relationship with a man to whom she is not
married...; 7) formerly a title of courtesy; 8) _British_ a female
school teacher.  Only definition 6 suggests being owned, since the
relationship often involves financial support.

"Miss" is merely a shortened form of mistress.

"Ms." is an abbreviation of "mistress," formed by combining and
shortening "Miss" and "Mrs."

I digress: I love the etymology of schoolmarm!  "-marm" is a
dialectal variation of "ma'am, madam."  I don't believe that "-marm"
exists as an independent word.

Are titles such as Mr., Sr., Herr, Tuan, etc., used in the
concultures of the members?

Charlie

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