Re: CHAT: Homo Sapiens (was: fiery spirits)
| From: | Joe <joe@...> |
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| Date: | Saturday, October 25, 2003, 9:36 |
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Ray Brown" <ray.brown@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 6:44 AM
Subject: Re: CHAT: Homo Sapiens (was: fiery spirits)
> I knew I shouldn't have used this quote as an example of English lack of a
> word corresponding to German 'Mensch', Swedish _människa_, Latin 'homo' or
> Greek 'anthro:pos' :-)
>
> Despite my addding in the mail that sparked off this twist in the thread:
> "(Yes, I know the best MSS have 'goodwill' (eudokias) in the genitive, not
> the nominative - but I don't want to complicate the issue)."
> subsequent comments have complicated the issue, so here goes...........
'man' used to be the equivalent. When you wanted to be more specific, you'd
used 'wæpnedman' or 'wífman'. Meaning 'weaponed-man' and 'weaving-man',
literally(yes, terms that reinforce gender-roles, but we still use the
latter anyway).
I suggest that Males are referred to as Wepmen, and we adopt 'man' as the
gender-neutral term.
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