Starling Hunter © 2011 1 Taurus 13: A man handling baggage The word m a n is associated with three different Indo-European roots. The word itself 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 the Old English handlian meaning “to touch or move with the hands.” It is related to the Old Norse hondla (to seize, capture), the Danish handle (to trade, deal), and the German handeln (to bargain, trade). 2 Among its definitions are “to touch, lift, 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 definitions. The first refers to luggage, the second to “the movable equipment or supplies of an army” and the third to “superfluous or burdensome practices, regulations, practices, ideas, or traits.” Each of these definitions can be traced to the Middle English bagage which in turn comes from the Old French bague which means “bundle.” A fourth definition of baggage is “a woman prostitute” or “an impudent girl or woman.” This sense of the word is thought to descend from the French bagasse and ultimately from the Semitic root b g y . Descendants of that root include the Arabic bagiy which means “prostitute” and the Arabic baga which means “to fornicate.” 4 THEMES: The first theme concerns GENDER . Obviously the male gender is represented by the keyword m a n . Recall that two definitions of 1 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 51 2 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=handle 3 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/handle 4 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/baggage