Sexual connotation is even more evident in, রমণি, another common word for adult women. In reality, it comes from the root √ মহ্, which means ‘to elate, gladden, exalt, arouse, excite’. There is a popular folk etymology around the corner that, মহিলা, a word for adult women, literally indicates to those who live in a house/palace (যে মহলে থাকে). Etymologically, it refers to those who seduce - ললনা, যে লোভ দেখায়. Lalana (ললনা) is Bengali for young women. The level of sexualisation increases as girls moves along their age. The word for daughter contains its future gender role. However, the original word of its counterpart, মেয়ে comes from মাতৃকা/mother. Bengali words for son/ছেলে and daughter/মেয়ে also reveal different outlook to look at off springs. The same root gives birth to another Bengali word, কনে which denotes to brides at bridal chamber. It is derived from √ কন means ‘to be satisfied or pleased, to strive after, seek, desire, wish’. It sounds so innocent but the root it comes from tells a different story. One of the Bengali words for daughter is kanya (কন্যা). If we examine some of the words denoting women of different age, we will see the level of eroticisation they signify. The metaphor of female body as cultivable land is downright sexist and forms an archetypal image which would later become a popular way of looking at women. Rabindranath Tagore interpreted ‘Ahalya as a symbol of stone-like, infertile land that was made cultivable by Ram’. The curse would lift only if Lord Rama touches her. Thousands of women were forced to burn themselves for centuries to be certified as ‘a good wife’.Īnother name that lays bare the sexual imagination of that time is Ahalya (অহল্যা), the wife of the sage Gautama, who cursed her, and turned her into a stone. Burning themselves on their dead husbands’ funeral pyre became the test for ‘purity’ for women. Her name Sati came from the Sanskrit word ‘asti’ which means ‘she is pure’. She did, and the mythological melodrama could end there. This infuriated her so much that she immolated herself in the fire made for the sacrifice, praying to be born again as his wife. Once, her father arranged a great sacrifice and invited all but Shiva. One such name is Sati, who married Lord Shiva against the will of her father, Daksha, who was not much of a fan of this dirty demolition god. If we unpack one or two Indian mythological names, they will give us some ideas about how deep gendered imagination goes. Some of these words are three thousand years old, if not more. It inherited a part of its misogynist attitude in the form of words denoting women loaned from Sanskrit. Unlike English, Bengali too has accommodated sexist trait right from the beginning. No other semantic field in this language saw such an extraordinary development in the given timeframe. For example, as many as 69 humiliating words for sex workers were coined just between 15. Most of them came into being during and after the Late Middle Ages. Misogynistic words and phrases in many European languages including English were few and far between, say thousand years ago. As most societies in the past were patriarchal in nature, languages originated there had misogyny embedded in them. In this article, we will look into the sexism in Bengali and some semantic prejudices it inherited from Sanskrit.Ī language, according to linguistics, springs out of a society, and in doing so, it soaks up the gender formation and gender stereotypes prevalent in that particular society. While modern linguistics is doubtful about the divine origin of languages, it acknowledges the verbal residue of Sanskrit in Bengali. It is the apabhramsa, the deviant offshoot of Sanskrit. According to Vedic tradition, it was the goddess Saraswati, who created Sanskrit, an ancient language fit for god and people alike.īengali has more of a humble beginning. STORIES across the world abound about how languages were created and almost all can trace their roots back to a god or a goddess who endowed people with the gift or the curse.
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