Odp: Odp: Odp: role of mother

From: Gerry Reinhart-Waller
Message: 859
Date: 2000-01-11

Piotr writes:
What do you mean by "is there really"?? How could we do without a word
for "goddess"?

Yes, in all the languages I'm familiar with there is a separate term for
"goddess". Divinities are made in our likeness, after all. Can you
imagine a mythology with exclusively male or sexless gods? How boring it
would be! I'm not sure, though, what some languages with no gender
distinctions do. Perhaps in Chinese the same word is used for "god" and
"goddess", but I'm just guessing.

Gerry: What about the Semitic language(s). Are there separate words
for "god" and "goddess"? And what about gender in the early Semitic
language -- someone told me that gender is neutral? Is this possibly
true?

Piotr: Ah, but I forgot. The politically correct thing to do in American
English is dump everything in -ess. Surely in a few years' time only
male and female gods will be acceptable, like male and female actors (in
Britain they still have actresses).

Gerry: Nah. The Women's Movement suddenly died a few years ago. Now
it appears that what's in vogue is to drop the "fe" in "female".


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Gerald Reinhart
Independent Scholar
(650) 321-7378
waluk@...
http://www.alekseevmanuscript.com