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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] 'iysh and zakar

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] 'iysh and zakar
  • Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 17:16:42 +0000

On 28/02/2005 16:47, Uri Hurwitz wrote:

Well, does the English word "man" refer to the masculine gender, as one would think, or really to both masculine and feminie? ...


In my dialect and that of most British speakers today, to the masculine only. But I take your point that in many languages there is a tendency for words for "man" etc to shift between male-only and gender generic reference.

... The term "mankind" or the expression "everyman" does refer genrally to both sexes. ...


Perhaps, but these words are obsolescent, not least because they are offensive to 50% of the population.

... Which raises a question about your examples: what conclusions about a rule can one derive from the exceptions?

Good question. But Yigal wrote ""Ish" means "man" - an adult male ... It never means "man and woman"." Well, it takes only one exception to overturn a "never". Anyway, the "exceptions" I quoted are by no means unique, it is regular usage for 'ish, especially repeated as 'ish 'ish, to mean "each" in a gender neutral way.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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