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November 12

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Etymology of the word 'male'

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The wiki pages under the heading 'female' include an etymological subsection. Why is this not included in the wiki paages under the heading 'male'?Bromgf (talk) 08:06, 12 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I guess nobody's gotten around to writing it? I see an unresolved request for this info on Talk:Male from a decade ago also. Check wikt:male and [1] for possible info to include. Why not give it a go yourself? DMacks (talk) 08:26, 12 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Why would it be notable? For "female", it's notable because it's interesting that it's not derived from "male". The reverse does not apply. --69.159.60.147 (talk) 11:18, 12 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@Bromgf: This isn't a science question, and unless you're still unclear on something about the etymology it's not even a language question. Please consider moving or removing this section. Wnt (talk) 11:53, 12 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Derived via Old French from the Latin 'masculus' and 'femilla'.[2][3]Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots12:14, 12 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I have moved this topic from the Science Refdesk. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 12:44, 12 November 2017 (UTC) [reply]

The bottom line is that this is a folk etymology, a respelling made in ignorance of the diachronic facts.

Male and female have totally separate etymologies, as BB has alluded to; mās and femina; and fe-male is simply a respellling/reanalysis of the French reflex femelle based on modern naivete. The roots are unrelated, with mās meaning "manly" and dhe- -> fe- meaning "suckle" as in fetus and fellatio. μηδείς (talk) 14:18, 12 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Isn't the French reflex se, the same as or very similar to other Romance languages? The Oxford English Dictionary says that femelle is a diminutive of femme. It also says the root *fe- means "to produce offspring". Its derivation of "fellatio" is as quoted above. 82.13.208.70 (talk) 13:04, 13 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I believe μηδείς is using reflex in the technical sense, referring to a word that is a "known derivative of an earlier form", while you're referring to reflexive pronoun. 2.97.236.64 (talk) 23:12, 13 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Aha! No wonder I couldn't figure out where in the world the Western Romance pronoun was coming from! Yes. IP 2.97 is correct as to my meaning. μηδείς (talk) 05:41, 14 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

To use sth as sth

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Do I need to use an indefinite article for this collocation, e. g. in a phrase like "As a browser, I use..." or can I also leave out the "a" here? If so, would that be an informal thing then?--Herfrid (talk) 17:44, 12 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Are you talking about "browser" as computer software, or are you talking about yourself browsing? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots18:18, 12 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • You certainly cannot omit the article in that expression, whether "browser" means the person or the program. If you want better advice, provide a full sentence in the context of a full paragraph. Other considerations come into play when the full context is revealed. μηδείς (talk) 21:28, 12 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
"I use safari as my browser."
"I use safari as a browser."
"I use safari as browser."
Hmmm, I am not sure, but yes I think a teacher would strike the last one as ungrammatical. --Lgriot (talk) 12:57, 13 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, the third option is ungrammatical on its own. μηδείς (talk) 05:37, 14 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. Firstly, to clarify that: I was referring to "browser" as a program! @Lgriot and Medeis: But, in comparison, what about the expression "as employer" for instance?--Herfrid (talk) 15:54, 14 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Articles are often left out of headlines. For a normal sentence, either of your first two examples works, depending on whether you use just one browser or several. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots16:43, 14 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
BB is correct, and there's the added fact that "Safari" is a concrete noun, while "government" is abstract. The title of that book even in headlinese would be "Browsers as Programs", not "Browser as Program". μηδείς (talk) 16:54, 14 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]