[lit-ideas] Geisha (Was: Sapir/Whorf Hypothesis)
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 18:03:41 EDT
In a message dated 8/20/2004 9:10:58 AM Eastern Standard Time,
aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
geisha girls (essentially prostitutes) and salarymen (essentially johns)
fills the misery vacuum that it creates. Few in this country would think that
someone who can relate only to prostitutes is a happy person
----
Interesting. Interesting that Amago qualifies this:
"geishas are _essentially_ prostitutes".
It is my understanding that a geisha is (non-essentially, and
etymologically) _not_ (essentially) a prostitute.
Argumentation:
If a geisha were, simpliciter, a prostitute, people would use the word
'prostitute'. There must be more to the fact that English retains the exotic
label
("geisha")
than indicating origin.
Etymologically, 'geisha' is a compound of 'gei-' and '-sha', meaning '[to]
sing' and '[to] dancing' (girl understood -- via ellipsistical). The strict
equivalent (minus the 'girl') would be Sammy Davis Jr. -- a veritable song and
dance (person).
As the entry for 'geisha' in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ notes, it is via
synechdoche that 'geisha' became associated with prostitues, when these 'song
and dance' girls migrated to "Shin Yoshiwara", a quarter of Tokyo which was
_already_ inhabitated by _real_ Japanese prostitutes.
More from the OED, below.
Cheers,
JL
----
From the OED
'geisha'. A Japanese girl whose profession is to entertain men by dancing
and singing...
1891 E. ARNOLD in Contemp. Rev. Dec. 777
All Kyôto's geishas will be there.
1892 Critic (U.S.) 5 Mar. 139/2
Most of the illustrations illustrate that one-half of Japan which
foreigners, including authors, usually meet in the gei-sha or
singing-and-dancing girl.
1896 HALL & GREENBANK (title),
The Geisha, a story of a tea house. A Japanese Musical Play. Ibid. 129
Geisha are we, Bidden to be Present to-day at the ceremonee.
1910 Encycl. Brit. XI. 553/2
Geisha.., strictly the name of the professional dancing and singing girls of
Japan.
1922 JOYCE
Ulysses 95
And they call me the jewel of Asia, Of Asia, The geisha.
1939 B. H. CHAMBERLAIN Things Japanese (ed. 6) 460
Up-to-date garb and manners make the geisha appear prim and old-fashioned.
1887 Pall Mall G. 17 Nov. 5/1
My companion and I..entered a theatre, where we were regaled with a terribly
realistic tragedy and geisha dancing.
1887 [see KIMONO].
1895 'C. HOLLAND' My Japanese Wife i. 2
A real mousmé, not a geisha girl with a past, an ambiguous present, and a
who-knows-what future.
1910 Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 617/1,
I have heard of the geisha girls of Japan.
1947 J. BERTRAM Shadow of War VII. iii. 221
Omori..had enjoyed a certain reputation as a home of rather superior
geisha-houses. If not quite a red-light district.., it was down in the
guide-books
as a â??pleasure-quarterâ?? of Tokyo.
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/cgi/entry_main/00093350?query_type=word&queryword=geisha&edition=2e&first=1&max_to_show=10&single=1&sort_t
ype=alpha&case_id=vGCY-gEhhu7-2376&p=0&sp=0&qt=1&ct=0&ad=0&d=1-D#top)
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