Re: About the word "spinster"

On Wed, 15 Nov 2006, Joachim Pense wrote:

The meaning 'empty' of "ledig" is not in use anymore.

Rather, it is used mainly in idioms where it means "free, untroubled":
"aller
Sorgen (Mühen, Lasten) ledig" = "relieved of all sorrows (troubles,
burdens)". In this light, the use of "ledig" for "unmarried" seems to
imply that a marriage is a painful burden, and the unmarried are those who
have not to carry it. The meaning "free" seems to occur in other languages
as well (Norse "liðugr"). A near cognate in German is "erledigen" (settle
an affair, dispatch, get rid of a task by doing it), also in the meaning
of setting oneself free of a burden.

--
Helmut Richter
.

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