The Lexical Field “Woman” in Old Saxon applied to the Virgin Mary: Equality or Discrimination?

Abstract

In this article the following hypothesis is presented for discussion: The Virgin Mary was, on the one hand, a very normal woman, since she was a young girl, adult woman, wife and mother, like any other woman can be. In spite of that, on the other hand, the fact of being mother and remaining virgin at one and the same time provided her with a unique and exclusive distinction. According to this, we assume that this particular distinction could have linguistic consequences in Old Saxon by using or avoiding the use of certain lexical terms. A possible explanation for this could be found in the necessity of keeping an important theological doctrine free from any doubt: Mary’s perpetual virginity before, during and after giving birth to Christ.