A rant and an appreciative post on the same subject...

[conuly]

The rant comes from this:

Sometimes, people complain about the spelling "wymyn". To be perfectly fair, I think it's a stupid spelling. The pronunciation of the word doesn't change, and it violates normal English spelling rules. However, I don't care enough to mention it to anyone because, really, I understand why people do that (even if I know the etymology of the word, they often do too) and it's just not a big deal.

However, I *do* get pissed at those who try to correct/defend this practice by bringing up the word "huMAN". *deep sigh* Woman and man come from the word "man/mon" in old english. It's a germanic word. I'm told (though I really don't care to do the research myself and could easily be wrong) that for a while "man" just meant something like "person" and sex was distinguished using "werman" and "wifman". Wifman became woman (and wif became wife), the wer from werman only survives in werewolf. Human, on the other hand, comes from humanus, related to homo (not homo like homosexual, homo like homo sapiens), which is a LATIN word. They both are. Human and man/woman aren't related, they just sound alike because of coincidence.

____

Appreciative post:

In a response to my faceblind post over at asperger, I used the phrase "sandblind, not stoneblind". Sandblind means "half-blind", stoneblind means "blind", pebbleblind is in between. Sandblind is, according to my dictionary, the original word, the others were formed in the same pattern. However, sandblind has nothing to do with sand. It comes from sam-blind, where sam means, according to my recollection of the etymology (always shaky) half. But once it became "sand", pebble and stone were quick to follow. I always thought that was cute/funny and love having a chance to use the words.


The first person to see the connection between the two points gets a gold star. If you manage to CORRECTLY correct me, with the appropriate reference, you get a smiley face sticker too. How I loved those smiley face stickers....

Comments

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

Question about the second half... would sandblind mean something along the lines of blind in one eye, or is is more of a can't see very well out of both kind of word? Just wondering, because I could probably use it somewhere in my ficish story if it's the former.

Re:

[conuly]

I assume it means "blind in both eyes, just not very much" because pebbleblind means "fairly blind, but not completely".

I believe the folk etymology is that it's as though you had sand thrown in your eyes.

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

Could I forget about the thinking bit and just smile sweetly for a smiley face sticker??

*smiles sweetly*

Re:

[conuly]

Cheater. *hands one over*

Re:

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

Score!! *huggles her Concon* :D

[queer-recruit.livejournal.com]

An anthropology professor I had a class from in college claimed that the word "woman" is derived from "womb man," signifying that all people are "men" but only some of us have wombs. I have no idea whether that's the true derivation, but I like to think of the word as meaning that, whether or not it was the original meaning. And the modern spelling is a lot more like "wombman" than like "wifeman."

Re:

[conuly]

The wifman etymology is very well documented. Yeah, you can think it if you like, just so long as you know it's not the actual etymology. I'm a big fan of folk etymology, but not when it interferes with the real thing.

[squittycat.livejournal.com]

One of those things I've always wondered about but never bothered to look up is from Genesis, where they say that Eve was "called woman, because she was taken from man," or something like that. Curious about how that is worded in the original...

[meteorie.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna add this to my favorites, mkay?

Anyway, I don't understand why everyone would assume "woman" comes from "man" anyway; it might as well be the other way around, with "man" being a rip off "woman," unless I'm just totally missing something in the bible or whatever cause I never read it ;)

Re:

[conuly]

Add... it to your favorites? I object! For no apparent reason! Bwah hah hah!

Sure, go ahead :) Have you seen MY massive set of memories? I've got upwards of 100 on there.

Re:

[meteorie.livejournal.com]

I think I looked at your memories once.. and never again, because there are too many!

Memories are fun though - I like going through them. Shame I discovered the feature about a year too late.

Re:

[conuly]

I think I looked at your memories once.. and never again, because there are too many!

But they're in neat little categories!

Re:

[meteorie.livejournal.com]

Yeah but one catagory has like 86 in it.. I think I looked at religion, though.

Re:

[conuly]

The "other people" category? That's just posts other people have made.

Re:

[meteorie.livejournal.com]

Oh, ok. Still, I have like 10 memories XD

Re:

[rachelkachel]

According to the footnotes in my Bible, the Hebrew word for woman sounds like the Hebrew word for man. o.o And that's the entire connection.

The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman,'
for she was taken out of man."
(Genesis 2:23, NIV)

Rather poetic, but not too helpful for etymologies...

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

Question about the second half... would sandblind mean something along the lines of blind in one eye, or is is more of a can't see very well out of both kind of word? Just wondering, because I could probably use it somewhere in my ficish story if it's the former.

Re:

[conuly]

I assume it means "blind in both eyes, just not very much" because pebbleblind means "fairly blind, but not completely".

I believe the folk etymology is that it's as though you had sand thrown in your eyes.

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

Could I forget about the thinking bit and just smile sweetly for a smiley face sticker??

*smiles sweetly*

Re:

[conuly]

Cheater. *hands one over*

Re:

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

Score!! *huggles her Concon* :D

[queer-recruit.livejournal.com]

An anthropology professor I had a class from in college claimed that the word "woman" is derived from "womb man," signifying that all people are "men" but only some of us have wombs. I have no idea whether that's the true derivation, but I like to think of the word as meaning that, whether or not it was the original meaning. And the modern spelling is a lot more like "wombman" than like "wifeman."

Re:

[conuly]

The wifman etymology is very well documented. Yeah, you can think it if you like, just so long as you know it's not the actual etymology. I'm a big fan of folk etymology, but not when it interferes with the real thing.

[squittycat.livejournal.com]

One of those things I've always wondered about but never bothered to look up is from Genesis, where they say that Eve was "called woman, because she was taken from man," or something like that. Curious about how that is worded in the original...

[meteorie.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna add this to my favorites, mkay?

Anyway, I don't understand why everyone would assume "woman" comes from "man" anyway; it might as well be the other way around, with "man" being a rip off "woman," unless I'm just totally missing something in the bible or whatever cause I never read it ;)

Re:

[conuly]

Add... it to your favorites? I object! For no apparent reason! Bwah hah hah!

Sure, go ahead :) Have you seen MY massive set of memories? I've got upwards of 100 on there.

Re:

[meteorie.livejournal.com]

I think I looked at your memories once.. and never again, because there are too many!

Memories are fun though - I like going through them. Shame I discovered the feature about a year too late.

Re:

[conuly]

I think I looked at your memories once.. and never again, because there are too many!

But they're in neat little categories!

Re:

[meteorie.livejournal.com]

Yeah but one catagory has like 86 in it.. I think I looked at religion, though.

Re:

[conuly]

The "other people" category? That's just posts other people have made.

Re:

[meteorie.livejournal.com]

Oh, ok. Still, I have like 10 memories XD

Re:

[rachelkachel]

According to the footnotes in my Bible, the Hebrew word for woman sounds like the Hebrew word for man. o.o And that's the entire connection.

The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman,'
for she was taken out of man."
(Genesis 2:23, NIV)

Rather poetic, but not too helpful for etymologies...