Bad woman? sexism in the lexicographical definition

Abstract

This article analyses the problem of sexism in the lexical definitions in dictionaries, in six Romance languages. The objects of our analysis are the dictionary entries for ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in six languages, more exactly Sp. hombre-mujer; Fr. homme-femme; Port. homem-mulher; It. uomodonna; Cat. home-dona, Rom. bărbat-femeie. According to previous studies, “the lexicographer’s sexist attitude” has been identified as the cause of the inequality of the lexical definitions for ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in Spanish. By extending the research to the latest edition of the dictionary edited by the Royal Spanish Academy, as well as the most representative dictionaries of the six Romance languages, we argue that sexism in lexicographic definitions does not reflect the sexist attitude of the lexicographer, but the actual social attitude. Moreover, we also analyse the different structures of the two notions, in spite of the close relation shared by the languages in question.