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Taurus 13: A man handling baggage

The word man is associated with

three di f ferent Indo-European roots .

The word i tsel f descends from the IE

root   man-1 which means “man” and

from which also descend manikin (a

man short in stature) , mannequin

mensch , and Manu. 1 

The word handle descends from

t h e Ol d En g l i sh handlian   meaning “to

touch or move with the hands.” I t is

related to the Old Norse hondla (to seize, capture) , the Danish handle  

( t o t r ade , deal ) , an d t h e Ger m an handeln (to bargain , trade) . 2 Among i ts

definit ions are “ to touch, l i f t , or hold with the hands” , “ to operate with

the hands; manipulate” and “to deal or trade in the purchase or sale of .” 3 

The word baggage has several def init ions. The f irst refers to luggage,

the second to “ the movable equipment or supplies of an army” and the

third to “superf luous or burdensome practices , regulations, practices ,ideas, or traits .” Each of these def init ions   can be traced to the Middle

En g l i sh bagage which in turn comes from the Old French bague which

means “bundle .” A fourth def init ion of baggage is “a woman prosti tute”

or “an impudent gir l or woman.” This sense of the word is thought to

descend from the French bagasse   and ult imately from the Semitic root  

bgy . Descendants of that root include the Arabic   bagiy which means

“prosti tute” and the Arabic baga  which means “ to fornicate .” 4 

THEMES:   The f irst theme concerns GENDER . Obviously the male

gender is represented by the keyword man . Recal l that two def init ions of  

1 W a t k i n s , C . ( 2 0 0 0 ) , T h e A m e r i c a n H e r i t a g e D i c t i o n a r y o f I n d o E u r o p e a n R o o t s , p . 5 1  2 h t t p : / / w w w . e t y m o n l i n e . c o m / i n d e x . p h p ? t e r m = h a n d l e  3 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / h a n d l e  4 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / b a g g a g e  

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baggage refer to women —“a woman prosti tute” and “an impudent gir l o r

w om an ."

A second theme concerns CHARACTER . Among the paronyms of man is

mensch—a m an “having admirable characterist ics , such as forti tude and

firmness of purpose” 5 Recal l that one of the def init ions of   baggage  

refers to ‘ impudence’ which means “offens ively bold behavior .” 6 

A third theme concerns LEGALITY . The one of the def init iosn of  

keyword baggage refers to a largely i l legal or prohibited activi ty —

prosti tution. One of the paronyms of  man i s Manu - - the primordial father

of t h e h um an r ace an d sov er ei g n of t h e ear t h w h o f i r st i n st i t ut ed

rel igious ceremonies and devised a code of laws. 7 

5 HTTP://EDUCATION.YAHOO.COM/REFERENCE/DICTIONARY/ENTRY/MENSCH 6 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / i m p u d e n c e

7 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / m a n u