The name given to ‘woman’. A lexicological survey through the main European languages The present work takes the form of a lexicological survey in order to investigate how the concept of ‘woman’ has found, and continues to find, expression in the major European languages. On this subject I first consider all the etymological antecedents of the word woman in Greek and Latin. I then reconstruct the etymological routes through which the notion of woman has emerged in major Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian) and in the two most widely spoken languages of the Germanic group in Europe, namely English and German. Finally, I analyze the semantic facets of the word woman through the articulation of meanings starting with the main lexicographic sources of the European languages considered. The theoretical background of this research is built on the idea that the history of words provides a means of exploring how the history of ideas has developed and configured. Examining how certain words have been used over the centuries can be a useful way in which to investigate whether, where the world in general and society are concerned, there have been changes in mindset and view on the part of influential individuals, social groups or entire societies, and what the nature of those changes has been.
Il nome della donna. Un’indagine lessicologica attraverso le principali lingue europee
BASILE, Grazia
2009-01-01
Abstract
The name given to ‘woman’. A lexicological survey through the main European languages The present work takes the form of a lexicological survey in order to investigate how the concept of ‘woman’ has found, and continues to find, expression in the major European languages. On this subject I first consider all the etymological antecedents of the word woman in Greek and Latin. I then reconstruct the etymological routes through which the notion of woman has emerged in major Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian) and in the two most widely spoken languages of the Germanic group in Europe, namely English and German. Finally, I analyze the semantic facets of the word woman through the articulation of meanings starting with the main lexicographic sources of the European languages considered. The theoretical background of this research is built on the idea that the history of words provides a means of exploring how the history of ideas has developed and configured. Examining how certain words have been used over the centuries can be a useful way in which to investigate whether, where the world in general and society are concerned, there have been changes in mindset and view on the part of influential individuals, social groups or entire societies, and what the nature of those changes has been.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
