What Did Misogyny Really Mean?

This page was last updated on Sunday, 20 September 2009.

In a modern dictionary, there is an entry describing ‘Stockholm Syndrome’. It is the psychological tendency of a hostage to bond or identify with or sympathize with their captor. This syndrome was first coined in 1973 and then entered our common language in 1978. There is a movement to exclude the word ‘will’ from our grammar and overload the word ‘will’. Both words have unique meanings and nuances. Will this day be a better day than yesterday? Shall this day be a better day than yesterday? Shall we hide in the night afraid of all that is evil or will we turn the night into a day of courage and enlightenment?

Most ancient Greek and Latin dictionaries were lists of words there either specialized, rare, or difficult (hard to use). The rules of grammar are chosen by a grammarian and some grammarians can be difficult and an annoyance. The word ‘dictionary’ comes from the Latin words: dicto, dixi, and dictum. So a dictionary tells how to spell, pronounce, and use a word. However, a glossary is different.

A glossary is a collection of special terms that exist in a book or essay. For an example, it may describe the difference between a kilometer, a nautical mile, and a statute mile or the difference between Greenwich Mean Time and Greenwich Civil Time. What is the difference between a sphere, a spheroid, and an oblate spheroid? What does ‘the sphere of influence’ mean? Is this a misnomer when related to surfaces?

There are several forms of penmanship. For an example, the lowercase cursive letter ‘S’ appears as the lowercase cursive ‘F’ in our own Declaration of Independence. From the Eighteenth through the Nineteenth century, school children learned Copperplate penmanship. However, many schools in the United States taught the Spencerian style of penmanship where the cursive ‘y’ and the cursive ‘z’ can be easily confused. Beautiful calligraphy is a form of art that is often used for special occasions but not for everyday use.

During the Middle Ages, scholars used Latin dictionaries which explained hard Latin words in easier Latin. However, Latin began to lose its popularity because most people relied upon their native language. So other persons wanted new dictionaries to explain the hard words of their own language. In 1604, Robert Cawdrey created the first English dictionary. This lead to larger dictionaries and the word race was on.

In the 1600's, larger dictionaries offered more information about the words they defined. By 1721, Nathan Bailey published a dictionary that contained nearly 60,000 words because it was the first English dictionary that tried to include most English words instead of hard words only.

In 1806, Noah Webster published a small school dictionary in the United States. Webster wanted to set up an American standard of good usage to compare with the British standard. Webster simplified spellings such as behavior for behaviour. This was done by reducing the number of letters in a word.

Some dictionaries and most encyclopedias explain the difference between numerical values. For an example, a gallon in the United States is 3.785 liters but an imperial gallon is 4.546 liters. Another example is the term ‘billion’. In the United States, one billion means one-thousand millions. In other countries, one billion means one-million millions.

Egalitarianism is the belief of human equality without the notion of gender supremacy. This belief embraces the social philosophy that advocates the removal of inequalities especially in matters of social, political, and economic rights. It embraces freedom of religion and freedom from religious bigotry. Originally, feminism embraced the theory of economic, political, and social equality of the sexes. However, it was organized to support women’s interests and rights. The radical feminists do not support this view nor do they embrace egalitarianism. The only difference between true feminism (1895) and egalitarianism (1885) is ten years.

During the 12^th and the 13^th century some Roman Catholics revolted against their church and some rulers refused to punish the heretics. In 1542, the Congregation of the Holy Office took control of the Inquisition. Some suspects were tortured in secret and heretics who refused to change their beliefs were sentenced to die by burning. In the 1500's, Catholic leaders turned the Inquisition against the Protestants. Catholics now condemn the Inquisition.

Mary (1516-1558) was queen of England from 1553 until her death in 1558. She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Mary became queen after her half brother, King Edward VI, died. The attempt to set her aside in favor of her cousin Lady Jane Grey, "the nine-day queen," failed. The English people preferred Mary because they considered her the rightful heir to the crown. But Mary was a devout Roman Catholic and tried to bring England back to the Roman Catholic Church. So she repealed that was crafted by her father that had made Protestantism the state religion. Mary also reestablished certain severe laws against heresy or disbelief in Roman Catholic doctrine. This is why our Constitution forbids the establishment of a state religion. This is found in the first clause of the first Amendment.

Mary married King Philip II of Spain. Their marriage was unpopular because many English people viewed Spain as England's greatest enemy. Philip persuaded Mary to join Spain in a war against France. But France won the war, which officially ended in 1559, after Mary's death. Mary died childless and was succeeded by her Protestant half sister Elizabeth. Lady Jane Grey (1537-1554) was known as the nine-day queen of England. She was the great-granddaughter of King Henry VII of England, and daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk. At the age of 15, she married Lord Guildford Dudley, the son of the Duke of Northumberland.

The Duke of Northumberland persuaded King Edward VI to give Lady Jane the right to succeed him as ruler. Edward feared that if the crown should descend to his half sister Mary, who was a Roman Catholic, England would no longer be a Protestant nation. Edward died on July 6, 1553. His death was kept secret for several days, and Lady Jane was proclaimed queen on July 10, 1553. But on July 19, 1553, Mary's claims to the throne were recognized. Lady Jane, did not want the crown, but was imprisoned in the Tower of London and charged with high treason.

Later, Mary suspected that Lady Jane was involved in an uprising against her led by Sir Thomas Wyatt, an English soldier. Mary had Jane and her husband beheaded on Feb. 12, 1554.  So Mary became known as "Bloody Mary" because of the persecutions  she did cause. More than 300 people were burned at the stake during her reign and this is why misogyny also means ‘hate the queen’ and did not originally mean the hatred of females.

Edward Steven Nunes

 End of Page