whore

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Whore ( ahd. Huora, mhd. Huore ) is the common Germanic, often derogatory term for a prostitute . In colloquial language, this term is also used for women with frequently changing sexual partners . A veiled synonym is joy girl, derogatory synonyms are hooker , prostitute and harlot .

Etymology and conceptual history

The word is derived from the Indo-European root * qār "covetous, dear", from which the Latin cārus "dear, dear" developed. In Old High German, huor did not only refer to prostitution in particular, but to cohabitation outside of marriage in general; huora was also used to mean “adulteress”. A correspondence for adulterous men is only attested in Gothic (hôrs) and Old Norse (hórr) .

The word whore was and is also used as a swear word for women, especially if they were sexually self-determined or active. In recent years the word whore (formerly also “wage whore” as opposed to “occasional whore”) has received a certain appreciation or neutrality through the activities of various whore associations ( Federal Association of Sexual Services , whores fight together ), who consciously call themselves that . Members of the Dutch prostitute union even call themselves whores with a certain pride (see dysphemism treadmill ).

Variations

  • “Whore Bock” is an outdated term for men who indiscriminately enter into sexual adventures with many different women (“whore around”) without wanting to be emotionally attached to a woman.
  • In typography , a certain typographical error is called a whore child .
  • The term son of a bitch has lost its original meaning in the language of young people since the 1990s and is now considered a general insult regardless of family background.
  • In Swiss German , Huere, huere, is a reinforcing particle that has been attested since the 19th century, such as Huereglück "undeserved happiness", huereschön "very beautiful".

literature

Sources on etymology and conceptual history

Wiktionary: Whore  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kluge. Etymological dictionary of German . Edited by Elmar Seebold . 25th, revised and expanded edition. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2011, p. 431;
    Etymological dictionary of German. Developed under the direction of Wolfgang Pfeifer . Akademie, Berlin 1989 (and other editions), whore. In: Digital dictionary of the German language .
  2. ↑ Kruenitz: Economic Encyclopedia
  3. ↑ Anita Winkler: Prostitution - a case for the moral police
  4. ↑ Christoph Landolt : huereguet. Word history from June 1, 2016, ed. from the editors of the Swiss Idiotikon.
  5. ↑ Swiss Idioticon . Volume II, Col. 1590, Article Huer, under meaning 2 ( digitized version ).