Koncepcje etymologiczne polskich nazw kobiety zamężnej
Etymological Concepts of Polish Names of the Married Woman

Summary/Abstract: Words denoting married women (Latin: mulier uxor) are among the oldest. My research of these names is informed by two types of material: the Bible – as contrasted with the Quran – and the Indo-European derivatives of the gen- root. Those two lines of examination bring similar results: the Latin mulier is ‘the one who increases mankind’, ‘the co-parent’. This meaning made it into Polish the very same way all other Christian lexical items did, i.e. from German via Czech. The meaning in question is expressed by two names: the older żona and the more recent małżonka. The older name is related to the Latin genetrix, ‘the one who gives birth’; the more recent to German Mahlweib – ‘the married woman’.

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