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The Awful German Language (1880)

(faculty.georgetown.edu)
186 points nalinidash | 1 comments | 16 May 25 04:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.253s | source
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ycuser2 ◴[16 May 25 04:37 UTC] No.44001883[source]▶
"Tomcat" is male in German, not female: Der Kater.

"Wife" is female in German, not neutral: Die Ehefrau. "Weib" is old language and rude to use these days.

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DocTomoe ◴[16 May 25 04:43 UTC] No.44001908[source]▶
Consider that the text is, in fact, from the 19th century.

Also, 'Weib' is not rude in every context. "Wein, Weib und Gesang" is not diminutive towards women, but in fact appreciative (as in 'necessary for having a good time'). We have Weiberfassnacht. And then there are the dialects, in which "Weib" often is indicative of a homely, loving relationship (-> bairisch, Swabian). Context matters.

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ralfd ◴[16 May 25 05:21 UTC] No.44002067[source]▶
And “weiblich” is the commonly used adjective instead of the Latin derived feminine.
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1. cess11 ◴[16 May 25 07:07 UTC] No.44002546[source]▶
An example:

"Eine Göttin ist eine weibliche Gottheit."

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6ttin