(If you have not read the last post Words about Women: Tossing and Turning: Women, Sex, and Power you should read it first)
Alluring: from French, a "to" and lure "bait." ; "to bait". Falconers (people who hunted with hawks) used a device called a lure to call back their hawks. It was a long cord with feathers attached. The lure is what they used to feed their birds, so the birds were conditioned to respond to it. So when you say a women allures a man, or is alluring, what you are really saying she is attracting men through somewhat deceptive means.
Charm: Having to do with witchcraft. If a girl were called charming in the 14th century you could be pretty sure she was going to the bottom of a lake or burned at the stake. This is an unusual twist- a word that began as something to be abhorred is now something any women would be pleased to be called. Charm came from the French charme, which came from the Latin carmen, "song," which didn't really mean song but wicked chant or incantation. Later women wore "charm bracelets" to ward off evil spirits. By the time I was in grade school, 100s of years later, I remember the prettiest and most popular girls had the most "friendship bracelets" on their wrists. Today, to be called "Charming" is equally desirable but perhaps there is just a tinge of attractive evil in it.
Enchanting: from Enchant, originally "to chant", or as we already learned witchcraft. An enchantress was a women believed to practice magic, but now the term has softened to, "a bewitching and fascinating woman", and enchant means to "win over". How one gets "won over" in some situations is still a mystery, but it is likely a credit to the woman as opposed to a mark against her. Off the subject, churches do a lot of singing, which may be a form of incantare, Latin for in "over" and cantare "sing", that is "sing someone over to your side." Singing can apparently go either way: Swing Low Sweet Chariot.
Glamour: to cast a spell over men. Again before applied to women, this word was quite boring. Actually it is a totally mistake. Glamour is from Latin grammar, "words". Because through history most people couldn't read and write, written words were regarded with suspicion and were believed to have special powers, or magic. You see magic spells were long and it was kind of important to get them right so they had to be written down on paper, particularly with such a complicated language as Latin. Apparently one day someone wrote grammar down wrong and it became "glamour" and the rest is history. If it had anything to do with witchcraft, evil, fear, or something to be regarded with suspiciousness it would eventually be applied to women.
Caprice (my favorite): like a goat. You can thank Thomas De Quincey for its application to women. I won't even try to paraphrase; lets go to the source; "Everywhere I observe in the feminine mind something of a beautiful caprice, a floral exuberance of that charming willfulness which characterizes or dear human sisters, I fear through all of the world." When a woman is capricious she is imitating the frisky, playful antics of the male cousin of a sheep. Yummy but uncatchable? This reminds me of my friend Carry. I hope she is not reading this.
Bevy: drinking company. From Latin, bibere meaning "to drink", which became beivre in French, and came into English as beverage, "that which is drunk." By this path bevy meant a group of drinkers but then changed to signify a small group of birds, or animals. With such cute company, of course it had to be applied to women too, so a bevy became a company of "roes, larks, quails, or ladies." Ironically we put a "bib" on our babies to catch the moisture that the baby spills. How cute: little birds, ladies, and the n babies. Bevy = Be VERY careful when drinking with a company of women.
Coquette: from the French coq or literally " barnyard cock". Think of the amorous strutting rooster all alone in a hen house. Appropriately, this word originally applied exclusively to men. But men preferred to share this word with women, and coquette became, "a frisking and fliperous minx". But I guess men can still be called "cocky"- since men are less complicated you can get the point across with less letters.
Bluestocking: a literary woman. I will spare you the story. There is absolutely nothing interesting about it. But picture a librarian with long brown hair, black glasses, and long blue stockings on whatever it is she is wearing. Hey, not so bad after all.
Bridal: it is actually the "toast that was drunk". Bridal is from English bryd, "bride" and ealu "ale" so the bridal means "Brides Ale", which is why people went to weddings in the Middle Ages, and ironically the ale served at the weddings is probably responsible for at least 50% of marriages so the term is proportionally not far off. However, the brides get the last laugh because groom actually means, "man who takes care of horses". Why else would a woman marry in the Middle Ages?
Wed: "to marry" but once meant "to wager." You could weddian a woman or racehorse for an outcome that was "for fairer, or fouler".
Honeymoon: sweet moon?,moon is referring to a time period of roughly a month, so honeymoon means, "the first month after marriage, when there is nothing but tenderness and pleasure." However, it is believed that there also was a cynical tone to the word because it is well know that as soon as the moon is full it begins to wane.
Buxom: today, "heavy" but originally it was buhsum, deriving from bugan, meaning "bend" or "pliant, pleasant, kindly, obedient," then somehow it transformed to "blithe and gay", then it took a turn towards "full of health and vigor", then at last it mysterious landed on the curves of a woman's figure, so now buxom means, "pleasingly plump". Again, why do words about women always seem to start out with good intentions and then end up this way?
Avoirdupois or Adipose: are descriptive words usually applied to women as a polite ways to say "overweight or with a little excessive fat". Avoirdupois is from the French Aveir de peis meaning "goods sold by weight". Adipose is from Latin, adeps and/or adipis, which means "grease or fat"
Harem: actually meant forbidden or sacred and now, well you guessed it, now it is a brothel. The least sacred place.
Boudoir: a pouting room. Originally it was an elegantly furnished room to which a lady can retire to alone or to receive intimate friends. Later however, in France a woman was sent to her boudoir to bouder, or "pout". If this is true I figure it had something to do with all of these words men used to describe women.
Boudoir: a pouting room. Originally it was an elegantly furnished room to which a lady can retire to alone or to receive intimate friends. Later however, in France a woman was sent to her boudoir to bouder, or "pout". If this is true I figure it had something to do with all of these words men used to describe women.
Amazons: from Greek a "without" and mazos "breast"; "without breast". The Amazons were a mythical group of fighting women said to have cut off their right breasts so they could draw their bows more easily. The Amazon river was named the Amazon because when an explore named Orellana descended from the Andes to the sea down the river that is now known as the Amazon, he said he engaged in battle by a "savage" tribe in which the women fought beside the men.
Alimony: from Latin alo "nourish" and money "money which etymologically is pretty clear; "eating money." Tiger Woods' divorce from Elin Nordegren is estimated at $100 million. If she lived 80 more years and ate 3 meals per day that would give her $87,600 to spend per meal. That's a whole lot of eating money.
None of these words are terribly complicated. I guess the point I am trying to make is that words change over time, and the reasons are somewhat mysterious but quite interesting when studied in detail. So I hope this sample* of words relating to women is alluring enough for you to explore the meaning behind words in a little more depth. It can be a lot of fun.
*By the way- it used to be appropriate for a young girl to work up a sampler, or piece of needlework, as a specimen of her skill in embroidery, as an index of her worth in marriage. A sampler was an example of the work a girl could do. From Latin exemplum, "example".
For this list of words and history I have to thank Word Origins: and Their Romantic Stories
by Funk and everything I know about women to my sister and cousins (for which there are many). Less so girlfriends (for which there were few).Advertisement
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