Re: Epicene words

> On 27 Feb 2005, at 5.10 am, Steg Belsky wrote:
> > > And "cow" is the opposite - commonly used as the epicene term for
> > > _cow/bull_, but also only the female.
>
> Tristan McLeay <conlang@T...> wrote:
>
> > Not quite; 'cow' is used as the epicene term for cattle. A female
> > whale is a cow and a male one's a bull, but whale's aren't cows.
> > (Anyone know how that one came about?)
I also disagree.  "Cow" is autohyponymous:  its superset is represented
by the same lexeme as a proper subset, though it is not so multiply
embedded as that other autohyponymous term "Yankee".

Charlie wrote:
> It is interesting that the word "cattle" is cognate to "capital."
> The word originally meant personal property or any livestock.
Also interestingly, the word _fee_ (< OE _feoh_ 'cattle') underwent
the same semantic progression.

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