Re: man- (was: logic vocabulary)

On Dec 23, 2004, at 6:56 PM, Sally Caves wrote:
>> Indeed, I think even English can be acquitted of that charge, at least
>> diachronically: when the compound _wi:f-man_ > _woman_ was formed,
>> _man_
>> meant primarily 'person, homo, Mensch' (and only secondarily 'man,
>> vir,
>> Mann'), and _wi:f_ meant 'woman'.
> Well exactly.  The word for masculine human in Old English, as you
> know, was
> _wer_, cognate with L. vir.  Hence you have werhade and wifhade meaning
> "male" and "female."  Eugenia, in Aelfric's Saint's Lives, who
> cross-dressed
> in order to become a monk, was discovered at her death to be a
> wifhades man,
> "a female person."  She was venerated anyway and granted sainthood.
Hey, this brings up a question...

Does that mean that in Old English they talked about not just
_werewolves_, but _wifewolves_ too?


-Stephen (Steg)
  "houses, fields and vinyards hold people back."
      ~ r' david qimhhi

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