Talk:σύζυγος

The following discussion has been moved from the page user talk:msh210.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

---

σύζυγος

You ask: "are there really three senses? e.g. would someone say σύζυγος to mean `husband` to the exclusion of `wife`, or vice versa?".

Well in English (in England at least) if a man says "my spouse" he means "my wife", although it would not be said informally. I have altered the order of the defns. Does that answer your point? :) — Saltmarsh^{απάντηση} 06:45, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

Not really, no. If someone says "Everyone who has a σύζυγος, please follow me", can he possibly mean only those with a husband? only those with a wife? If not, can you think of any other sentence where σύζυγος (sýzygos) means only "husband", or only "wife"? (A sentence like "I gave it to my σύζυγος" doesn't count, as it's unclear: even if the referred-to person is my wife, I may have meant "spouse".) If there's no such sentence, then I think σύζυγος probably means only "spouse", in which case the "husband"/"wife" senses (now sense) should be gotten rid of.​—msh210℠ 21:45, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

And re "in English (in England at least) if a man says 'my spouse' he means 'my wife'", yes, but spouse means "a husband or a wife"; there should be no separate "wife" sense.​—msh210℠ 21:48, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

Yes - I've changed the entry (sorry to be awkward!). — Saltmarsh^{απάντηση} 04:23, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

Although it is less straight forward. 1. Probably because the other words for "souse" are "man" and "woman" A Greek person is very likely to use "σύφυγος" in situations where an English speaker would never use "spouse". And 2. the word is of common gender - so "η σύφυγος" = wife and "ο σύφυγος" = husband - differentiated by the gender of the article. — Saltmarsh^{απάντηση} 04:36, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

Maybe a usage note then? Perhaps "Unlike English spouse, this is the most common word used for a husband or wife. When referring to a husband, it takes the masculine article ο (o) (and adjectives/verbs/whatever?), and when referring to a wife, it takes the feminine article η (i) (and adjectives/verbs/whatever?)" or something.​—msh210℠ 18:41, 21 June 2012 (UTC)