Re: What is a woman ?
| From: | Andrew Patterson <endipatterson@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, January 23, 2004, 14:51 |
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The Shorter Oxford dictionary says this:
OE wifemon(n, -man(n, pl. wifmen(n, from wyf meaning woman or wife.
A formation peculiar to English and not extant in earlier periods of OE,
the primative words being "wyf" and cwene [which became "Quean"
then "Queen"]
[=my notes]
If you look up "Quean" it says: OE cwene, OSaxon cwena (Du. kwenen = barren
cow) OHG quena, quina, ON. kvenna, kvinna(gen pl. nom. singular. kona)
Goth. qino = woman:- Gnc *kwenon from IE base gwen-, gwn. [Represented by
the Greek root Gyn [as in gynocologist]
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