The way women are reffered to in a society reflects their status in said society. With this in mind, pay close attention to the semantic changes that the following sample words have undergone in relatively recent Indo-European language evolution. They are all, unfortunately, cases of pejoration (degeneration). The words change to acquire more sexual and negative connotations in their meaning. While, on the other hand, all the male counterparts of these words have NOT been transformed into words with such negative connotations.
Spinster 'unmarried older woman' ... 'one who spins'
Mistress ...'a woman who employs others in service'... Borrowed from Old French maitresse 'a woman who rules/has control'
Madame 'the female head of a house of prostitution' ...'a title of courtesy used as a polite form of address to a woman' ... Borrowed from Old French ma dame ' my lady'
Italian Putta and Spanish Puta 'whore'... Latin putus 'boy' and puta 'girl'
No comments:
Post a Comment