I was discussing with R. Paul, and he notes from the OED
under 'quean':
"Originally: a woman, a female. Later: a bold or impudent woman; a hussy; spec. a prostitute. Also in extended use.
In early Middle English as a general term of abuse, passing (esp. in 16-17th centuries) into a more specific term of disparagement.
Byron, Don Juan: Canto VI VI. xcvi, This martial scold, This modern Amazon and queen of queans."
----
While Grice plays with
"he was caught in the grip of a vice/vyse"
we could play here with 'queen' proper. Again R. Paul quotes under 'queen':
"A woman, esp. a noblewoman; a wife, esp. of an important man. Obs. rare. Even in Old English, cw{emac}n is not the usual term for ‘woman’ or ‘wife’; it is used in this sense only in poetry."
--- Now, apply Grice's "Senses should not be multiplied beyond necessity" (and his example of 'animal' to mean 'beast' -- and see what you get! Or not!
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The etymology of "queen" is somewhat interesting.
ReplyDelete"Queen goes back ultimately to prehistoric Indo-European *gwen- ‘woman’, source also of Greek gunḗ ‘woman’ (from which English gets gynaecology), Persian zan ‘woman’ (from which English gets zenana ‘harem’), Swedish kvinna ‘woman’, and the now obsolete English quean ‘woman’. In its very earliest use in Old English queen (or cwēn, as it then was) was used for a ‘wife’, but not just any wife: it denoted the wife of a man of particular distinction, and usually a king. It was not long before it became institutionalized as ‘king’s wife’, and hence ‘woman ruling in her own right’.
http://www.word-origins.com/definition/queen.html
Also Koenigin in german probably related, as with kvinna in swedish--though that probably originally meant like "king's bootay", or something (in german Koenig is King). Gwen, a gaelic form.
Note that none of the forms come from the obvious latinate, Regina (as in spanish). Ergo...IE and greek roots appear to percolate into germanic languages (goth, initially) without going through latin--contrary to some academic linguist's reports.
What are the philosophastical implications? Well, what are words anyway but sort of organized barks...
Excellent points.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, there is no need to go through Latin 'rex', 'regina', which is a bad root anyway. I suppose this is related to 'rule' as in 'reg-ulation': but reign or regulate is things kings and queens DO, not what they are.
Wo-man was opposed to 'weapon-man', I understand, where 'weapon' was meant to mean 'penis'.
------ Dale Spender has an excellent paperback on this, "Man-made language". I'm surprised there are words for 'man' and 'male' in ALL languages.