[techtalk] Etymology (was Re: Layman's Guides to Computer Security)

[Magni Onsoien]

jenn at simegen.com:
> > In Old High German, there were two major types of "men": "wo-men" and 
> > "wer-men". "Wo-men" were female and "wer-men" male. The "wer" in 
> > "wer-man" is cognate with the Latin "vir", which also means "man" (in 
> > our current sense of "adult male human").
> 
> I've heard also of 'hus-mann' and 'wif-mann' .. which have obvious
> modern derivatives.

About wif-man:
http://www.urbanlegends.com/language/etymology/woman_etymology_of.html
(Or simply a dictionary.)

In Norwegian we have (even though they are somehow ancient and in lesser
use now than before) husmann, husbond and hustru. ('Hus' means house,
pronounced 'hoos'.)

Husmann was a farmer that lived in a small farm on the soil of a bigger
farm and ran the farm as his own, and paid a rent to the bigger farmer
by working in his farm several days/weeks a year. This system was common
in all of Europe until 1900 or so (maybe longer). The English terms
seems to be cotter and tenant
(http://www.nndata.no/home/jborgos/leilend.htm). Many went to America to 
escape from this life, which felt a bit like slavery, even though only your
farm was owned by the bigger farmer.

Cotters were usually rather poor, and were tied to the farm their
holding belonged to. Thus huge social differences between cotters and
farmers arised. Around 1920 the trade unions and the labour party grew
in Norway and one of their most important issues was to get rid of
poorness. Their wish and solution was to make everybody wealthy enough to
own their own house, and thus owning your own house has long been the
ideal in Norway. In the countryside it's more or less impossible to rent
flats, except in towns with college or high schools with many students
from outside the town. A friend of mine is moving to another town in
Norway now, and since there isn't a college there there are very few
flats to rent, and the rooms available usually share kitchen and
bathroom with other (young) people (pupils/students). You simply aren't
expected to rent - you should buy your own house.

Husbond is the same word as husband, but is mostly used in rural areas
('bond' (or 'bonde') means farmer). Hustru is a man's wife and means
"faithfull to the house" or something like that. The word is still in
use, but it's a bit ancient so few young people use it, and then mostly
in religious rites.



Magni, from a family of cotters :)
-- 
sash is very good for you.