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stranger
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stranger
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I had an argument with a very opinionated friend (male) initially about the meaning of 'uxorious' which I first described as meaning 'as a wife' and he looked up and found its actual meaning - 'submissive to a wife...'
Now I want to know if there are words that describe
-'acting like a wife' ie domestically-inclined
-acting like a husband (?)
-being submissive to a husband (or would the word 'submissive' by itself cover that base?)
thanks
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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...the Oxford English Dictionary offers
"maritorious," and defines it as "fond of one's
husband." The usage example provided--dames
maritorious ne'er were meritorious--would seem to
incorporate sufficient verbal spandex to accommodate
the concept of an excess of devotion."
- Mark Kearney
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Welcome erex. This is an intersting question. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody's input.
As to my two-cents...
I have a friend who used to use the word "domesticated" to mean a woman who has become proficient as a wife. It irked me no end, since she was a feminist zealot and meant it as an insult (even the sweetest words can be used as isults when said in a certain way) but I'm not sure it was quite wrong.
What do you all think?
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journeyman
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journeyman
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Posts: 67 |
welcome, erex!
just going by the latin here: uxor = wife (from which we get - I assume - uxorious) so i would assume that the word would be something derived from vir, which literally means man but is also used to mean husband. no idea what it is, though.
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veteran
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veteran
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vir, which literally means man but is also used to mean husband.
Maritus is the common Latin word for husband.
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veteran
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veteran
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Quinion
Damn! and I read Bussy d'Ambois once. Still own a copy. Anyway, not quite sure where the -or- comes from (other than by false analogy with uxorious).
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Carpal Tunnel
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In legal pleadings, one often sees a man's name, identified as a party to a lawsuit, followed by the Latin "et ux." or "et uxor" meaning that the man, his wife, and their marital community are all party to the suit. There is not, to my limited knowledge, an equivalent for men, likely because such a form of suit (by or against a wife and, more generally, against her husband and their marital community) was exotic if not impossible.
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veteran
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veteran
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Padre, your note reminds us that there has actually been some social progress in the last 150 or so years. There was a time, of course, when a married woman had no right to bring a lawsuit; her husband had to do it for her. I took a course in college (as an undergraduate) dealing with the history of manufacturers' liability in tort (really fascinating, if you can believe it). The first one discussed was Thomas & Wife vs. Winchester, from the 1800's, wherein Mrs. Thomas was poisoned by a bottle of proprietary medicine she purchased at a shop. She couldn't sue; her husband had to sue for her.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Bobyoungbalt correctly states the case, which is famous not as a case about gender equality, but serves as a fair enough example of the state of the law as recently as 150 years ago. Read the opinion for yourself at http://www.lawrence.edu/fast/boardmaw/Thomas_Winc.html
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