[thechat] English Language Terms

[Jonathon Isaac Swiderski]

Today, the cows mooved Erika Meyer to write:

> >....but aren't all those extra meanings derived from the original
> >metaphor of calling a whore 'bitch'?
>
> Javier, if you want to know for sure I would look it up in the Oxford
> English Dictionary and check out the etymology.

The etymology of 'bitch' is hideously confusing.  This from the OED:

[OE. (Old English -jis) bicce, elsewhere in Teutonic only in ON. (Old
Norse) bikkja: it is altogether uncertain what is the relation of the two
words, whether they are cognate, or if not, which is adopted from the
other. If the ON. bikkja was the original, it may, as shown by Grimm, be
ad. Lapp. pittja: but the converse is equally possible. Ger. (German)
betze, petze (only modern), if related at all, must be a germanized form of
bitch. The history of the F. (French) biche bitch, and biche fawn, and
their relation, if any, to the Eng. word, are unknown. There is a Sc.
(Scottish) form bick sometimes affected in the pronunciation of sense 1, to
avoid association with sense 2.]

Definitions: 1. Female of dog, and related animals.
	     2. a. Applied opprobriously (abusively) to a woman; strictly,
a lewd or sensual woman. Not now in decent use; but formerly common in
literature. In  mod. use, esp. a malicious or treacherous woman; of things:
something outstandingly difficult or unpleasant.

In this sense it exists as early as the 15th century. It is also said to be
applied "less opprobrious[ly], and somewhat whimsical[ly]" to men, (in
which sense it exists as early as the 16th century) and also to refer to a
primitive sort of lamp used in Alaska and Canada. (20th century)

The etymology of 'whore' is a bit more straightforward, if laced with
non-ASCII characters.  Again, from the OED; may not display well on your
terminal or screen:  (quote marks added for readability.  '(chi)' refers
not to the Greek character but to the phonetic character which resembles
it; o- and a-macron represent the named vowels with a horizontal bar over
the top, as is seen in some Latin texts and not-so-recent transcriptions of
Greek and Japanese)

[Late OE. 'hóre', corresp. to (M)LG. 'hóre', MDu. 'hoere' (Du. 'hoer'),
OHG. 'huora' (MHG. 'huere', G. 'hure'), ON. 'hóra':--OTeut.
'*(chi)(o-macron)r(o-macron)n-', f. root represented also by ON. 'hórr',
Goth. 'hôrs' adulterer, OFris. 'hôr' (also 'overhôr', 'urhôr'), OHG.
'huor', ON. 'hór' adultery, MLG. 'horre', MDu. 'huerre', OHG. 'huorra'
adulterer (:--'*(chi)(o-macron)rjon-'), and OFris. '(over)~hôra' to
fornicate, MDu. 'hoeren', OHG. 'huorôn' (G. 'huren'), ON. 'hóra', Goth.
'hôrinôn'; Indo-Eur. 'q(a-macron)r-' appears in L. 'c(a-macron)rus' dear,
OIr. 'cara' friend, 'caraim' I love, Lettish 'k(a-macron)rs' lascivious.
 From the late occurrence of OE. 'hóre', it may be inferred that it was a.
ON. 'hóra', together with 'hór' adultery, 'hórcwene' (ON. 'hórkona')
adulteress, 'hórdóm' WHOREDOM, 'hóring' whoremonger being in that case an
English formation from it with -ING3.
(Notes on the evolution of the pronounciation elided.)
  Whore is now confined to coarse and abusive speech, except in occas.
echoes of historical expressions, as 'the whore of Babylon'. The compounds
are for the most part obs. or arch.]

Definitions:
1. a. A woman who prostitutes herself for hire; a prostitute, harlot.
[ This sense is known since at least 1100. ]
   b. More generally: An unchaste or lewd woman; a fornicatress or
adulteress
[ This sense is known since at least 1200. ]
   c. A male prostitute; any promiscuous or unprincipled person. (Esp. as a
term of abuse.)
[ This sense seems to be primarily 20th-century. ]
2. in biblical use, applied to a corrupt or idolatrous community), and
hence in controversial use, esp. in phr. 'the whore of Babylon', to the
Church of Rome (in allusion to Rev. xvii. 1, 5, etc.).
[ This sense is known since at least 1400. ]

 > > But I will bet that "bitch" and "whore" were never equivalent.

Nope, not really.  Close, but not the same.  The quote dated 1790 under
'Bitch', though, is "Call her Prostitute, Bawd, dirty Bitch" . . . .

> >aardvark wrote:
> >  > ahh, bitch, the myriad of meanings...

yes, but whore, the myriad of etymological sources...

--
Jonathon Isaac Swiderski \\ dangercat-20 at dangercat.net
cs.oberlin.edu/~jswiders  \\  www.dangercat.net/?id=mt

"I do not believe we've put a guilty... I mean innocent
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