Kimberly Burnham

A Woman's Place in the Dictionary Kimberly Burnham

Women and Dictionary Poetry In the Oxford English dictionary, the word "woman" is defined as an adult human female. The word immediately before it is "woma" meaning a brownish-grey Australian python found in sandy desert areas. The entry after "woman" is "womb." (https: //en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/woman) And so in an English dictionary a woman finds herself between a snake and a part of her own body In other languages the word for "woman", "frau" (German), "wahine" (Hawaiian), or "biscuit" (a particularly attractive woman in Rasta or Caribbean Patois) is unique to that language. The words that come before and after "woman" vary from one bilingual dictionary to another. This is a collection of dictionary poems exploring the word "woman" and the context we find ourselves in languages of the world. For Example, Scholarly Women (Igbo) In Igbo a language of Nigeriathe letters "n" and "w" start the word for woman"nwanta kïrï" is a child"nwanyï" is a womanfollowed closely by the scholar"nwata akwükwö" is student or pupil"nwata kïrï nwanyi" is little girl and perhaps also a scholar in the makingnext comes "nwoke" man and his wife "nwuye"as if the opportunity to grow and studyshould envelop women