Re: double time signature problem

[Wols Lists]

On 15/11/17 10:51, Knut Petersen wrote:
> Am 15.11.2017 um 00:26 schrieb Noeck:
>>
>>> The diminutive of „Magd“ is „Mägdelein“ or maybe „Mägdchen“ (nobody
>>> would use the latter), but not „Mädchen“.
>> But still "Mädchen" seems to be derived from "Magd":
>> http://www.wissen.de/wortherkunft/maedchen
> 
> Yes, Grimm agrees
> <http://woerterbuchnetz.de/cgi-bin/WBNetz/wbgui_py?sigle=DWB&mode=Vernetzung&lemid=GM00094#XGM00094>.
> 
> It's a pity that Mark Twain did not know about "Mensch": "Der Mensch"
> (masculine) means "the human being". The old "das Mensch" (neuter) 
> means "a female human being" and is still occasionally used in some
> areas of Germany. Plural: "Die Menscher" ;-)
> 
Oddly enough, (and "mensch" is translated as "man" when used as a swear
word) the English word "Man" originally also meant "the human being". Eg
"mankind".

It had two ?Norse prefixes to add gender, Wer-Man and Wif-Man. The Wer
presumably got dropped (but survives in words like were-wolf), while
Wif-Man became Woman and, presumably, also Wife.

Cheers,
Wol