Feme Naturae: Defining Woman with Foreign Terms
Frances Fister-Stoga
The University of Tokyo
''All in all, it is not too much. to say that one of the really
important functions of language is to be constantly
acclaiming to society the psychological places held by all
of its members. " (Sapir, 1933)
Introduction:
The original Sapir-Whorfian hypothesis that language determines thought
and culture remains to be proven. A more moderate version of the hypothesis,
however, postulates that language indeed reflects the thoughts, attitudes, culture, --and social ideologies of the people who make and use it. In the words of Sapir (above),
these are the "psychological places held by all its members." In acquiring a second
language, it is exactly these "psychologicalplaces" that the L2learner will acquire, in
addition to the phonological, morphological, syntactical grammatical, and lexical
elements of the target language.
It is, in fact, in the lexis of any language that social ideologies may be most
readily expressed.' As one of the major authoritative records oflexis, the dictionary is
utilized by the L 2 learner as an important source of comprehensible input and a key
which in turn makes other input comprehensible. Equally important, the dictionary
is a cultural artifact which exposes the L2 learner to the social ideologies of the target
culture via semantic categorization.
In many languages, the semantic categories of sex/gender in the lexis mirror
a social ideology of sexism, in which static images of both sexes are given, with
superior/inferior or positive/negative values attached. The term sexism in this paper
will follow the OED definition of the term as "the assumption that one sex is superior
to the other and the resultant discrimination practised against members of the
supposed inferior sex, especially by men against women." The following research is
an analysis of a dictionary widely used. by non-native speakers ( the L2learner
henceforth abbreviated to NNS ) as well as by the native speaker (NS) for the
relation of sexist ideology and lexis. The dictionary will be investigated for its
descriptive and selective principles, and the critical role of the lexicographer will be
discussed.
"The single most widely accepted definition of ideology is that of J.H.Thompson: "To
study ideology is to study the ways in which meaning (or signification) serves to
sustain relations of domination." See: Eagleton (1991) p.5). Foucault, of course,
replaces ideology by discours, which is a function of the relation of an utterance to its
social context.
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'The present study:
Research questions:
The continuous lexical borrowing of the English language ensures that both
the NS and the NNS will come into frequent contact with the foreign terms of over
fifty languages that appear in both oral and written discourse. (Foreign term is
defined here as any word which has not been anglicized: that is, has not undergone
any morphological change from the original, manifests little or no phonological
transformation, and still maintains a "foreign" aspect, i.e. the NS intuits the term as
not belonging to the native corpus.)
Earlier studies (Stanley (1974); Schulz (1975)
have extensively studied the lexical resources of English with respect to gender,
although not including the vast amount of foreign terms used in the language. This
study continues earlier research by focusing on John Ayto's Making Sense of
Foreign Words in English (1991) in order to explore the following questions:
(1) Do the negative semantic values associated with words referring to
women in the native corpus also appear in the foreign terms used in the
language;
(2) What criteria has the lexicographer of the foreign terms utilized in
selecting or omitting entries;
(3) Compared to other dictionaries of foreign terms in English
(Penguin/Pel), what would the NS and especially the NNS surmise about
the culture of English speakers using Ayto's dictionary."
Semantic categorization:
As Brouwer and deHaan (1987) remark, in many societies women are
excluded as referents:
...they are left out of general talk by the use of generic nouns and
pronouns, though typically males do not notice this omission as much
as women. If your friends doubt this omission, just tell them "Early man
breast-fed babies longer than modern man." If they laugh, it is because
man does not refer to women.
Besides being excluded in many ways from speech, there is lower public
prestige or ridicule of women in many societies which shows up particularly in the
lexis of the language. Lakoff(1973) and Miller and Swift (1976) have demonstrated
that words in English that refer to women tend to get lower prestige meanings or
have lower secondary meanings than their male cognates: e.g. wizard/witch,
master/ mistress, governor /governess, major/ majorette. In her diachronic study of
the semantic derogation of women, Schulz (1975) traced the semantic change
whereby a word acquires a debased or obscene reference (pejoration), and showed
that virtually every original neutral word for woman in English has at some point in
its existence acquired debased connotations, obscene reference, or both, while words
referring to men have failed to undergo derogation". In addition, one may note the
The scope of this paper could not include the interesting reasons why certain
foreign terms were initially borrowed. See: Allan & Burridge (1991) for the process
of euphemism and dysphemism.
"For example, a tart referring to a small pie or pastry was first applied to a young
woman as a term of endearment, next to young wome:p who were sexually desirable,
2
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sheer number of derogatory words referring to women. For example, while over five
hundreds synonyms for female prostitute exist, only sixty-five synonyms for
whoremonger can be found.
Negative semantic prejudice against women in anglophone and numerous
other societies is based on several fundamental dichotomies", which then receive
superior/inferior and positive/negative values. Poynton (1989) presents some of the
oppositions associated with the male (especially reason, knowledge, action and
culture) are highly valued, as opposed to the female terms passive, ignorance,
incompetence, speech.
Table 1.1
WomanlFemale/Feminine
emotion
passive
expressive
ignorance
incompetence
speech
nature
ManlMale/Masculine
reason
active
instrumental
knowledge
competence
action
culture
A second layer of evaluation of the terms in Table 1.1 shows that some
feminine terms are conditional (emotion, expressiveness, nature) ----that is, they are
"valued only insofar as they are not set up as counter-values challenging the
ascendancy of the dominant values." (Poynton (1989), p.19)
If we investigate more specific categories connected with woman as referent,
we will note as Black and Coward have (see: Mills (1989), p.xv) that:
women are precisely defined, never general representatives of
human or all people ...The curious feature is exactly the excess of
sexual definitions and categories for women. A similar profusion
is not fund for men, whose differentiation from one another comes
not through sexual attributes and status, but primarily through
occupation or attributes of general humanity, e.g. decent, kind, honest,
strong. Men remain men and women become specific categories in
relation to men and to other categories.
Mills (1989) treats the specific semantic categories that have defined women in
Table 1.2. Only several of the numerous words for each category are given.
then to women who were careless in their morals, and finally-v-more recently-i-to
women of the street. Abbess made a downhill slide to mean "keeper of a brothel" and
nun to mean "female head of the house.liussy comes from Huswifand at one time
simply meant "female head of the house." See: also Hill (1986) for another diachronic
study of semantic derogation.
'Kramarae (1990) remarks that "men. are men because of their insistence upon the
subordinate category women; much of their understariding of their behaviors and
power...comes from their constantly reiterated otherness from women." (p.350)
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Woman defined
Table 1.2
uiomati as animal: beast; bunny; minx; pussy;
uiomati and her appearance: bag; dish; doll; slattern;
woman as bellicose: amazon; battle-axe; circean;
woman as chaste: vestal; virgin; widow;
woman as clothing: bluestocking; petticoat; skirt; strait-laced;
iceman as container: honeypot; matrix; vessel;
woman as deceiver: coquette; jilt; siren;
toomati as destroyer: banshee;; fate; harpy; vamp;
woman as edible: cheesecake; cherry; meat; tart";
woman and education: bluestocking; governess; midwife;
iooman as emasculator: hen; hermaphrodite; sheila; sister;
uiomati and the female ideal: anima; frail; matriarchy; virgin;
iooman as goddess: Cassandra; circean; delphic; gorgon; harpy;
uionuui and the home: housewife; mistress; vestal; wife;
iooman as horse: filly; hack; jade; mount;
tooman infantilised: babe; chick; cute; lass; moll;
liberated woman: bloomer; butch; flapper; suffragette;
woman as male property: baggage; paraphernalia; Mrs.;
woman as mother: dame; mammy; matron; womb;
woman and nature: belladonna; mother; virgin;
woman as old: bag; biddy; hag; spinster; mutton;
uiomari as part object: crack; hole; tail; twat;
woman as pliable: vessel; wench;
uioman and power (or lack of): distaff; housewife; queen; witch;
uiomati as promiscuous: adventuress; minx; piece; tramp; wanton;
woman and sexuality: bosom; cunt; nymph; tribade;
woman as snatcher: circean; hooker; snatch;
woman as spinner: distaff; spinster;
uioman. as temptress: cocktease; delilah; sorceress;
unruly woman: blowzy; loose; scold; termagant;
woman as vagina: beaver; crack; cowry; mouse; nooky;
woman violated: deflower; gash; virgin;
uiomati as virgin: lass; miss; nun; vestal;
woman as whore: bat; bawd; hooker; screw; strumpet;
uioman as wife: bride; nubile; rib;
woman as witch: cat; succubus; witch;
woman and words: babble; chatter; fishwife; gossip;
uiomati and work: nanny; seamstress; housewife; fishwife;
5Lakoffs classic study of metaphor (1987) details the semantic relationship between
sexual desire and hunger (e.g. piece of meat, a dish, sex-starved)
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Research design:
Texis:
To investigate foreign terms in English, three of the most popular dictionaries
available were scrutinized. While both Le Mot Juste (1990) and the Dictionary of
Foreign Terms (1974) contain the most entries (15,000 and 8,000 respectively), John
Ayto's Making Sense ofForeign Words in English (1991) was the focal text, although
containing only 980 entries. His work would be useful for the NS as well as the NNS
for several reasons: (1) a complete etymology of each entry is usually given: (2) the
history of each entry is mentioned, including when it originated, and when it first
appeared in English; (3) often, but not consistently, the register of the entry is
mentioned; (4) the definitions are usually a paragraph in length, and use rather
basic English; (5) pronunciation is usually given, though not as systematically as Pei
(1974); (6) as noted, the total number of entries is relatively small, and seems
perhaps less overwhelming to the reader, especially the NNS. It is precisely because
of the compact nature of the dictionary that making Sense was chosen as the target
text: very definite selection and omission criteria would have to be used in a text with
only 980 terms as opposed to one with 15,000.
In addition to the reasons above, Ayto's dictionary might also seem attractive
at first glance because of its apparent surface neutrality in avoiding sexist usage.
Fi rstly, Ayto makes constant use of what Dumand (1990) names gender-inclusive as
well as gender-neutral language. For example, Pei's introduction to his Dictionary of
Foreign Terms uses gender-exclusive reference:
The average educated English speaker, with little or acknowledge
of foreign languages often is baffled by foreign terms and phrases
that occur, without translation, in the books, magazines, and
newspapers that he reads, or that he may hear....Unless he has
a large reference library at his immediate disposal, he will have
no idea of their meaning. (p.vii,italics mine)
One may contrast many of the definitions given in Penguin with Ayto for cases of
gender-exclusive language vs. gender-inclusive use: ,
penguin: parvenu: a person who has forced his way into a
higher class. (italics mine)
Ayto: parvenu: a noun meaning a person who has risen above
the station in which he or she was born but does not have the
education or social graces to fit in to the class to which he or
she now aspires. (italics mine)
Ayto often utilizes gender-neutral language as in:
charge d'affaires: someone who has been "charged with affairs"...
(italics mine)
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Many times Ayto will give a semantically neutral definition, while the other two
dictionaries will associate the term negatively with women:
Ayto: Kaffeeklatsch: friends sitting round a coffeetable putting
the world to rights over a cup of coffee.
Pei: kaffeeklatsch: gathering for coffee chatter, usually for women.
(italics mine)
or definitions appear sympathetic to women:
Ayto: Kinder, Kirche, Kuche: it has survived WW2 and it has
remained in the language as a way of referring to outdated views
of women's place in society. (italics mine)
Pei: Kinder, kirche, Kuche; German nationalist doctrine describing
the place of woman in society.
Ayto: bas bIeu: female intellectuals have been derogatorily known
ever since as bluestockings. (italics mine)
Pei: bas bIeu: literary or intellectual woman.
A full analysis of the data, however, shows that the author's neutrality is merely
superficial.
Methodology:
Using all three foreign terms dictionaries (Ayto, Penguin, and Pei) as well as
Chambers' 20th Century English Dictionary, the following was investigated:
(1) a count of every term in Ayto referring to women (also metonymic
usage: i.e. lingerie) to ascertain if they reflect the oppositions
associated with gender mentioned above, and if they also reflect the .
specific categories of Mills (woman defined);
(2) a count of words referring to women in Ayto but which are not found
in Penguin and Pei;
(3) entries in Ayto which could be masculine and feminine but only the
form marked feminine is given;
(4) entries in Ayto which could be masculine and feminine but only the form
marked feminine is given;
(5) entries in Ayto referring to women compared to the same word in '
Chambers' 20th Century English Dictionary;
(6) an analysis of the various words referring to women in Penguin and
Pei that Ayto has omitted;
(7) an analysis of the typographic layout of entries;
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(8) a count and description of sexist citations;
(9) a count of citations from women authors, male authors, and unknown
authors.
Data:
(1) Ayto's terms referring to women:
Table 1.3
accouchement
alma mater
au pair
babushka
beaute du diable
bimbo passee
backfish
basbleu
bonne
chanteuse
chatelaine
cherchez la femme
dame de compagnie
decollete
dessous
fata morgana
femme fatale
fills de joie
grande dame
jeune fille
ingenue
jolie laide
RJnder,EJrche,]{uche
lingerie
midinette
mi ttelschmerz
necessaire
negligee
post-partum
poule de luxe
pose plastique
prima ballerina
prima donna
princesse lointaine
retrousse
schwarmerei
shiksa
tricoteuse
vagina dentata
virgo intacta
vivandiere
zaftig
In total, Ayto has 45 entries referring to women, 55 entries referring to men, and 35
entries which refer to both sexes (although he often relates the entry to one gender,
See: below). In recalling the basic oppositions associated with gender in English
(Table 1.1), many of the foreign terms above fill the semantic categories in the same
way as the native corpus would:
Oppositions associated with gender in foreign terms
Table 1.4
Man/Male/Masculine 6
WomanlFemale/Feminine
GWhile almost all of the terms referring to women in Table 1.3 are trivializing,
debasing, or in general with a negative semantic value, only four negative terms
apply to men: parvenu, plongeur, maquereau, and gringo.
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reason: paterfamilias, guru
active: routier, sportif, pistolero
inamorato, miles gloriosus
instrumental: negociant
knowledge: amicus curiae, rapporteur,
maharishi
competence: maestro, sachem, amicus
curiae
action: kamikaze, pistolero, caudillo
culture: maestro, regisseur, heldentenor
emotion: prima donna.schwarmerei
passive: kinder, Kirche, Kuche,
inamorata (fern. form absent)
expressive: chanteuse
ignorance: jeune fille, ingenue,
bas bleu (negative value)
incompetence: bimbo
speech: 0
nature: alma mater, ferae, naturae
Foreign terms used to define women by specific categories
Table 1.5
woman as animal: ferae naturae; de la boue;
woman and her appearance: jolie laide;
woman as bellicose: 0
woman as chaste: ingenue; virgo intacta;
woman as clothing: dessous; lingerie;
woman as container: 0
woman as deceiver: fata morgana;
woman as destroyer: femme fatale;
woman as edible:poule deluxe; backfish; zaftig;
woman and education: bas bleu; emeritus (no fern. form given), alumna;
woman as emasculator: vagina dentata;
woman and the feminine ideal: Kinder.kirche.kuche, princesse lointaine;
woman as goddess: 0
woman and the home: chatelaine; bonne;
woman infantilised: bimbo;
liberated woman: 0
woman as male property: San (referring to Mrs.)
woman as mother: post-partem; post-natal; alma mater; mittelschmerz;
woman and nature: fera naturae;
woman as old: passee;
woman as part object: 0
woman as pliable: 0
woman and power (or lack of): doyenne (positive value); prima ballerina;
prima donna (negative and positive);
prima interpares (rare term)
uioman. aspromiscuous: fille de joie;
woman and sezuality: mittelschmerz;
woman as snatcher: 0
woman as spinner: 0
woman as temptress: femme fatale;
unruly woman: prima donna;
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woman as vagina: vagina dentata;
uioman violated: virgo intacta; droit de seigneur; mariage blanc;
uiomati as virgin: virgo intaeta;
woman as whore: fille de joie;
woman as wife: san (Mrs.); nee;
woman as witch: fata morgana;
woman and words: 0
woman and work: midinette; chanteuse; bonne;
(2)words referring to women found in Auto but not included in Penguin or Pei:
Table 1.6
bimbo (meaning a brainless young woman)
dessous
fata morgana
jolie laide
mi ttelschmerz
pose plastique
post-natal
post-partum
poule de luxe
princesse lointaine
tricoteuse
vagina dentata
virgo intacta
(3)entries in Ayto that refer to both sexes, but only the feminine form is given:
Table 1.7
vivandiere
chanteuse
(4)entires in Ayto which could be masculine or feminine but the feminine form is
omitted:
Table 1.8
bambino
emeritus
negociant (although the feminine form is rare it is included in Larousse)
honnete homme
sportif
friseur
paterfamilias
(5)entires in Ayto which are made gender-specific as compared to neutral entries of
the same words in Chambers 20th Century Dictionary:
Table 1.9
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(italics mine)
AYTO
CHAMBERS
retrousse: turned up (esp. of a nose)
retrousse: a nose that is slightly turned
up at the end (generally speaking the
term, is one of approval for a charming
feature of a woman's nose, not of
condemnation for an unsightly
malformation.
AYTO
decollete:..used of woman's dress,
blouse, etc. signifying that it has a
low-cut neckline, revealing the cleavage
and often the shoulders as well.
CHAMBERS
decollete: with neck uncovered;
of dress, low-cut.
beaute du diable: an irresistible
or overpowering beauty.
beaute du diable: denotes the bloom
of youth, which confers attractiveness
on women who might not otherwise be
considered beautiful.
lingerie: glamorous, frilly end of the
lingerie: linen goods; women's
women's underwear spectrum; in French underclothing.
it means underwear in general.
necessaire: a small receptacle into
which a lady puts articles thought
likely to come in useful, such as makeup,
needle, thread, a small pair of scissors,
even items of jewellry.
necessaire: a dressing case; workbox
schwiirmerei: sexual infatuation, and
espacially the adoleschent crush of one
schoolgirl for another or for her teacher.
schwiirmerei: sentimental
enthusiasm, as of schoolgirl.
shiksa: gentile woman or girl; prostitute.
shiksa: a non-Jewish woman.
jolie laide: a woman, while not
conforming to the conventional image
offeminine beauty, is nevertheless
sexually attractive.
jolie Iaide: a woman whose ugliness
is part of her charm.
(6)various entries refening to women found in Penguin or Pei but omitted in Ayto:
Table 1.10
AYTO
o
o
Pei
comtesse
begum
Penguin
comtesse
begum
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o
o
o
dame d'honneur
femme de ceromonies
femme savante
infanta
inkosikazi
materfamilias
o
o
o
fille d'honneur
o
femme savante
infanta
o
materfamilias
(7) the typographic layout ofentries:
Ayto consistently weighs his definitions in favor of the masculine usage when
an entry can apply to both sexes by giving the marked feminine form after the
definition, almost as an aside. Both Pei and Penguin give the feminine form
immediately at the beginning of the entry:
Pei: alumnus (Latin: fern alumna; plural, alumni, alumnae)
graduate of an institution.
Ayto: alumnus, plural, alumni: an alumnus of a college is someone
who used to be a student there. In Latin the word simply denoted
a "pupil" or "foster son" (it is derived from the verb alere "nourish,
alma of English alma mater), and that is how English first used it,
in the 17th century. The term's modern usage emerged today is
largely restricted to American English. The equivalent word for a
female former student is alumna. (italics mine)
Ayto also neglects to give a separate entry to words which Pei and provide:
2 separate entries
1 entry
2 separate entries
1 entry
Penguin: primus inter pares: (Latin) first among
his equals.
prima inter pares: (Latin) first among her equals.
Ayto: primus inter pares: Latin primus
inter pares literally means "first among equals".
In its use in English, which dates from the early
years of the 19th century, it generally occurs
in the context of a group of equal-ranking persons,
one of whom is chosen to be leader. The feminine
form, prima inter pares is occasionally used for
a female leader so selected.
(italics mine).
Penguin: paterfamilias (Latin) father of a
family; head of a household
materfamilias: (Latin) mother of a family (or
household).
Ayto: paterfamilias: in Roman law, a paterfamilias
was the male head of a household, the person'
who had authority over all those living in a
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house, including the servants as well as his
family. The term was a compound formed from
Latin pater "father" and familias, the archaic
genitive form offamilia, here in the sense
"household". (Collateral terms included
materfamilias "mistress of a household",
filiusfamilias or filiafamilias, denoting a son or
daughter still under the father's legal guardianship.
Finally, in the layout of his entries, Ayto often gives a definition with its genderspecific aspect (usually feminine) before giving the general, neutral term, the
opposite of most dictionaries:
Ayto: lingerie: glamorous, frill end of the
women's underwear spectrum; in French it
means underwear in general.
Penguin: lingerie: linen articles, esp. women's
underwear.
(8) a count and description ofsexist definitions and citations in Ayto:
Researchers of popular English dictionaries such as Gershuny (1977) and
Pace (1977) have amply demonstrated that definitions and citations that deal with
women tend to use rigid stereotypes of the female sex. These stereotypes present
women: (1) in domestic contexts (cooks, launderers, servants, shoppers, etc.) and
never in positions of power: (2) occupations associated with fashion or glamour: (3) in
the context of their appearance or sexuality: (4) in contexts of illness or weakness; (5)
incompetent; (6) emotional; (7) dependent; (8) in contexts of passivity; (9) connected
with speech (negatively). Gershuny (1977) gives some of the following examples
(words in italics are the words being defined):
(1) She gave us an overdone steak.
(2) She always wears a crazy hat.
(3) He is always sarcastic about her appearance.
(4) She trembled at his voice.
(5) The new bride was in tears over her unsuccessful dinner.
(6) She burst into tears upon hearing of his death but it was only a
grandstand play.
(7) She depends on her father for money.
(8) She sat near the telephone waiting for his call.
(9) She never has the sense to hold her tongue at the right time.
Likewise, many neutral foreign terms in Ayto's dictionary use sexist definitions. For
example, here is Ayto's definition of jalousie:
jalousie: Ajalousie is a slatted window shutter that lets in fresh air and filtered light
but keeps out the rain. It is typical of more southerly climes than Britain's, and
English did not begin to use the word with any regularity until the earlyLOth
century. It was borrowed from French, where it literally means "jealousy"
It's
through the horizontal slats without being seen, as ajealous husband might when
keeping watch on a wife about uiliom he harboured suspicions. (italics mine)
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The term in flagrante delicto is completely neutral in Penguin and Pei, but Ayto's
definition presents women in a derogatory way:
Penguin: ill flagrante delicto:
Pei: in flagrante delicto:
while the crime is blazing; in the act;
red-handed.
red-handed; in the very act of
committing a crime.
Ayto: in flagrante delicto: ......In 20th century colloquial
usage it often applied (semi-)
humourously to the discovery of
someone, particularly a spouse, in an
act of illicit sexual intercourse...
It is common to find it abbreviated
to in flagrante ("He'd surprised his wife
in flagrante with the milkman. ")
(italics mine)
Although a definition in Ayto may in itself be neutral, the author will include a
citation which is degrading to women, particularly in a sexual manner:
Pei. bidet;
Ayto:bidet
low porcelain tub on which one sits for bathing
the private parts.
...A bidet de toilette (or bidet for short)
originated as a basin supported one four legs,
one at each corner, on which one sat astride,
as if on a horse for the purpose of washing the
genital an anal areas. English acquired the
term as bidet in the 18th century. Francis
Grose included it in his Dictionary ofthe
Vulgar Tongue (1785): "Bidet, commonly
pronounced biddy, a kind of tub, contrived
for ladies to wash themselves, for which
purpose they bestride it like a little French
pony, or post horse, called in France bidets."
(italics mine)
Penguin: ferae naturae:
Ayto: ferae naturae:
ofa wild nature; not domesticated.
Latin ferae naturae means literally "of a wild
nature", and it is used in English to designate
wild as opposed to domesticated animals. It
dates back to the mid-17th century, but now
survives mainly as a legal term. It is scarcely
any longer available, as it was in Dryden's day,
("Women are not comprised in our laws of
friendship: they are ferae naturae" (John
Dryden, An Evening's Love, 1668)
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(italics mine)
Penguin/Pel: nostalgie de Ia boue: 0
Ayto: nostalgie de la boue:French nostalgie de la boue means
literally "hankering for mud"---that is to
say, an "overwhelmingdesire for the lowest
aspects of life, and particularly for sexual
degradation... In D.H.Lawrence's Lady
Chatterley's Lover (1928) for instance Clifford
Chatterley describes his wife Constance
(referring to her affair with the gamekeeper
Mellors) as "one of those half-insane, perverted
women who must run after depravity, the
nostalgie de la boue"
titaice mine)
PenguinlPei: quis custodiet ipsos custodes: 0
Ayto: quis custodietipsos custodes: the Roman satirist Juvenal
had cynical views on the possibility ofkeeping
one's wife's attentions from wandering to other
man. "Lock her up!" said one man. Sed quis
custodiet ipsos custodes? Cautaest et ab illis
incipit uxor" "But who will guard the guards
themselves? Your wife is as cunning as you,
and begins with them." The expression quis
custodiet ipsos custodes? has passed into
English to denote the inadvisability of reposing
total trust in those put in charge of a situation
that offers temptations of wrongdoing.
(italics mine)
(9) citations from women authors, maIe authors, unknown authors:
Earlier researchers on gender in English dictionaries such as Gershuny
(1977) and pace (1977) highlighted the fact that a biased view assigning negative
semantic values to women often arose from the fact that the majority of citations
came from male authors. Likewise, in Ayto's foreign term dictionary, there are 65
citations from male authors and only 16 from female authors! The ratio is 4:l.
Approximately 32 citations come from magazines and newspapers, where the
author is not mentioned.
Male' author citations:
Joseph addison
Tobias Smallet(2)
Max Beerhohm
Byron(2)
Thackeray(2)
G.K.Chesterton
Ernest Dowson
Havelock Ellis
J.Smith
Martin Amis
Montagu Summers
Swift(2)
Joyce Cary(2)
R.C.Wren
Dryden(3)
John Evelyn
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Harrison Ainsworth
Laurence Sterne
E.F.Benson(6)
Thomas Carlyle
D.G.Wodehaus
R.Crossman
C.D.Eby
Samuel Finer
Henry Fowler
Francis Grose
E.IIenlingway
Arthur Koestler
T.E.Lawrence
E.N.Marais
Samuel Maunder
Sydney Morgan
R.Sheridan(3)
Nicholas Freeling
Lord Halifax
Michael Heseltine
Constant Lambert
H. W.Longfellow
C.Marchal
J.S.Mill
Leo Rosten
John Silverlight
Female author citations:
Jane Austen(2)
Agatha Christie
Mary Manley
Iris Murdoch
Muriel Spark
Ms. Belloc-Lowndes
Agenes Bennett
A.R.DieW
Elizabeth Gaskell
Gladys MitchellNancy Mitford
Ouida
Mary Sherwood
Mrs. Humphrey Ward
Charlotte Yonge
Unknown author citations:
Annual Register
Archivum Linguisticum
Decanter(2)
The Daily Express
Daily Telegraph
The Economist
English Studies
The Guardian(2)
Holiday
The Listener(2)
19th Century
Observer(4)
San Francisco Sunday Examiner
The Sunday Times
The Times
Westminster Gazette(2)
W.R.Greg
Cyril Hare
Washington Irving
D.H.Lawrence
Macaulay
Henry Mayhew
Hugh Miller
G.B.Shaw
City Limits
The Daily News(2)
Encyclopedia Britannica
Harper's Magazine
Modern Law Review
Radio Times
Saturday Rev iew
The Vine
Discussion:
Comprehensive research (Coates (1986); Throne (1983) has demonstrated
that a sexist ideology directed against women is reflected in English vocabulary.
Although women are finally being valued for their achievements, language lags far
behind. Tables 1.3 1.4 and 1.5 (semantic categorization of women) show that foreign
terms in English referring to women also reflect the same sexist ideology found in
the native corpus. Words referring to women have lower prestige (i.e. in occupations:
midinette, dante de compagnie): trivialize women ibimbo); overconcentrate on
women's physical appearance and sexuality (jolie laide, zaftig). In almost all cases
the semantic values are not positive unless they reflect a socially approved role (i.e.
maternal roles: post-natal, alma mater). Our point here is not that the words may
reflect an inherently sexist ideology in their original usage. They may well mirror
sexism against women found in the societies from whence they come. Most
importantly, these foreign terms were consciously selected to be used with the native
English corpus. In reviewing Ayto's Making Sense of Foreign Words in English,
however, one becomes aware of Benson's caveat (1986, p.xii):
The selection of entries for a dictionary has never been an
easy task, for space in dictionaries has always been at a
premium. Lexicographers may have linguistic pet hates or
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loves, but to them no word is unimportant. Deciding which
words to include and which to exclude presents great
difficulty.
Since Ayto is limited to the number of entries (compared with Penguin and
Pei), he must necessarily have specific criteria for selection the words to be included.
The majority of words which refer to women in Making Sense fall into five major
categories:
Sexuality!Body
decollete
dessous
femme fatale
fille de joie
lingerie
mi ttelschmerz
negligee
pose plastique
poule de luxe
schwarmerei
schiksa
vagina dentata
virgo intacta
zaftig
Physical Appearance/Age
babushka
backfish
beaute du diable
grande dame
ingenue
jeune fille
jolie laide
passee
princesse lointaine
Infantj1jzing
Occupation (low prestige)
au pair
bimbo
bonne
chanteuse
Maternal (+ value)
chatelaine
dame de compagnie
accouchement
midinette
alma mater
tricoteuse
E3nder,E3rche,}{uche
tricoteuse
post-natal
vivandiere
post-partum
bas bleu( - value)
prima donna (- and + values; - values are applied to a man)
Terms such as fata morgana and cherchez la femme have connotations that
the source of a problem is "a woman."
It is particularly when we examine those terms referring to women that are
exclusive to Ayto's dictionary that we can see the sexist slant in a clearer light. Six of
the terms deal directly with sexuality tdessous, mittelschmerz, pose plastique, poule
deluxe, vagina dentate, virgo intacta); both bimbo and tricoteuse have negative
connotations, and rata morgana is associated with witchcraft. Although containing
15,000 entries, Penguin does not include Ayto's specific entries.
Table 1.7 shows two terms which are given only in their feminine form
although the masculine form exists. Yiuandiere is defined as:"...the camp followers or
support services of armies...(These women) were to supply extra food and (alcoholic)
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drink to the soldiers over and above their standard rations." By omitting the
masculine form of the word (vivandier), the implication is that these women were
similar to "comfort girls" ---providing services beyond food and drink. And
chanteuse? Ayto defines it as: "a female singer, particularly ne who sings popular
songs in a nightclub or cabaret. "Penguin and Pei define it simply as "female singer."
Obviously, Ayto's definition allows negative connotations with "nightclub" and
"cabaret."
Equally interesting are Ayto's omissions of the feminine form in favor of the
masculine. Table 1.8 tells the native and non-native speaker alike that a male child is
most important tbambino); that only men graduate from universities (emeritus);
that only men deal in the business world inegociant); that a man may be civil and
upright tlumnete homme) but that there are no virtuous women thonnete femme);
that only men indulge in sports (sportif); that a woman may be a hairdresser but not
a friseur (" an upmarket hairdresser"); and that the main head of a family is the
paterfamilias.
The apparent sexual neutrality of Ayto's dictionary fades away one more
when we glance at Table 1.9, which shows how a neutral; definition of a word in
Chambers 20th Century English Dictionary (the same publisher for Ayto's book!)
takes a downward path when it enters Making Sense. And as table 1.10
demonstrates, any word referring to women that has connotations or denotations of
power or rank (e.g. comtesse, begum, infanta, femme de ceremonies) is obliterated
from the pages of Ayto's book. The NNS especially may be influenced by the sexist
typographic layout of Ayto's entries in which the female does not merit a separate
entry or appears last after a lengthy definition.
Perhaps a more balanced view of gender would appear if Ayto had attempted
to provide a more balanced ration of citations from women authors. His dictionary
gives only one female citation for every four male citations. Moreover, as shown on
pages 13,14, and 15, Ayto's own definitions overstress negative aspects of sexuality in
relation to women and his use of specific citations that portray women as having
lesser morals than men is frankly debasing. Hirakawa's statement (1991, p.150) that
"a dictionary itself is a tool with a neutral value" certainly does not apply to Making
Sense of Foreign Words in English.
Conclusion:
Learning a language or being native speaker of a language entails more than
linguistic competence; communicative competence is also needed---that is , in the
broadest sense, knowing how culture and language meet. Both the native and the
non-native speaker using Ayto's dictionary will absorb a number of cultural facts.
Firstly, they will absorb the social ideology of sexism inherent in most of the foreign
terms used in English. To maintain this ideology, the lexicographer will have utilized
the five basic strategies that legitimize any ideology (Eagleton (1991), p.5):
1. promoting beliefs (about the inferiority of women)
2. naturalizing and universalizing (using semantic categories that give
static images of women with predominantly negative values)
3. denigrating ideas that challenge (the bas bleu has negative value)
4. Excluding rival forms of thought (omit any word referring to women
with a positive value)
5. obscuring social reality ("obscuring' the text by giving a surface
neutrality, thus suppressing any supposed "conflict" of the sexes)
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Making Sense of Foreign Words in English on one hand merely presents
those foreign terms used in English which are inherently negative about female
gender which also appear in Pei and Penguin; on the other hand, the author "stacks
the cards" against women even more by an intentional process of selection, omission,
and visual layout. In addition, by selecting terms (many of which are infrequent or
outmoded) that deal exclusively with women's sexuality in a negative fashion', the
reader may well come away with a cultural image of women more pejorative and
degrading than it already is.
'One may well wonder about Ayto's rationale for the inclusion of a number of words
dealing with sexuality that are found neither in Pei or Penguin: cache sexe, coitus
interruptus, cojones, curiosa, facetiae, karezza, mari complaisant, mariage blanc,
post-coitum, soixante-neuf.
.
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