[Lexicog] First Lady

[Fritz Goerling]

Caroline,

 

Good to hear a lady's voice on this subject.

Madame Chancellor might be used by Jacques Chirac when addressing Angela
Merkel in English. But in German it is Frau Bundeskanzlerin. See for a
couple of more comments below.

 

Fritz, I think the term is "Madame President," also Madame Chancellor as far
as I know.  I have never seen Angela Merkel's husband referred to as
anything but his proper name or "ihr Mann", though I don't read the German
newspapers very often.

 

< 

First Husband seems to be a possibility, however no one would ever call the
First Lady "First Wife" which seems to reduce the person in question to
nothing more than another object ! belonging to the office holder,  .

 

    Would First Husband not also reduce the person in question to nothing
more than 

    another object belonging to the office holder?

 

What is interesting, though not relevant to lexicography, is what the office
of "First Gengleman" will entail.

 

     I don't think the content the function/definition of "First Gentleman"
is irrelevant

     to lexicography because this term will appear some day in the
dictionary with a

     definition and/or illustrative sentences how it is used.

 

Caroline Reul

Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org> wrote:

Chaz,

This would show to me (also in English and German) that a female head of
State

would not be called First Lady (maybe Mrs. President). I cannot imagine that
Hillary Rodham Clinton, should she make it to the top, would be called the
First Lady (maybe I am wrong). What I find very funny is the coinage First
Gentleman.

How about Primero Senor or el Hombre Primero in Spanish? Just kidding.

Fritz

When Panama's president was a woman (1999-2004) the first lady (Primera 
Dama) was her sister. I'm not sure what they would have called the 
president's husband but she was not married at the time.

-Chaz




 

 

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