Queen

If ever there was a word that goes all the way back to the original human language it would be the word for woman.  Linguists call the language that predates nearly all languages proto-Indo-European or PIE.  That root of the word  without the inflected endings is *gwen-.

As language developed, it had some variants of *gwen-.  Gothic used kwenon, Greek took the form gyne,  Scandinavia appears to be the birthplace of the tribes that came to inhabit England via Germany and Denmark that gave rise to English.  The Old Norse word was kvaen.  V became pronounced like the letter U in the modern alphabet, so kuan was the pronunciation.  The Anglo-Saxon spelling of the word was quan. to set in motion the modern spelling queen, the result of some vowel changes that occurred around 1700 in England.


This word is a great study in word transmission because it changes in meaning as well as spelling and pronunciation.  It started as woman, of course.  But as time passed, the word woman was also used to mean wife.  With more time, the designation applied to the king's wife.  From that time on, the meaning of woman took a back seat and in some languages disappeared altogether.  Woman started deriving from the word for man while queen became a place of honor from designating either the king's wife or the female ruler of a country.  The derivative language for English simply used quan to mean woman of honor.


This day of the year is very special, and I would like to honor a woman by wishing her a happy birthday.  She is a leader of leaders, to be sure.  She is a mother, also, and one who has raised children who will be the diamonds of their world when they inherit it a few years from now.  She deserves so very much the meaning of the Old Norse kvaen, the Anglo-Saxon quan.

I wish you a grand year.  You deserve it for you are a leader with influence, an honorable woman and woman in an honorable position.  You are an authentic, genuine queen.

My Quan - Godgifu