Mann and gender in Old English prose : a pilot study
Abstract
It has long been known that OE mann was used in gender-neutral as well as gender-specific contexts. Because of the enormous volume of its attestations in Old English prose, the more precise usage patterns of mann remain, however, largely uncharted, and existing lexicographical tools provide only a basic picture. This article aims to present a preliminary study of the various uses of mann as attested in Old English prose, particularly in its surprisingly consistent use by an individual author, namely that of the ninth-century Old English Martyrology. Patterns emerging from this text are then tested against other prose material. Particular attention is paid to gender-specific usage, examples of which are shown to be exceptional for a word which largely occurs in gender-neutral contexts.
Citation
Rauer , C 2017 , ' Mann and gender in Old English prose : a pilot study ' , Neophilologus , vol. 101 , no. 1 , pp. 139-158 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-016-9489-1
Publication
Neophilologus
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0028-2677Type
Journal article
Rights
© The Author(s) 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
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