[ceol]

"His wife" or "his partner" may not imply ownership, but "his woman" most certainly does. Aside from all the cultural connotations, using the common noun "woman" instead of associating a relationship between them depersonalizes her.

[shimon_e]

The usage of "his woman" would be routed from translation of Bible from Hebrew. In Hebrew, there is only one word for (Ish) man, and husband, or (Isha) woman, and wife.

English translations translated freely taking preference for poetic sound.

So as long as the bible is part of English speaking culture the usage of woman as wife will be common.

Something I find interesting about Persian culture. In Persian the word Zan means both wife and woman, but there is another more formal word Khanom. Which is always to be used when speaking or referring to someone older than you. I wouldn't be surprised if this is due to the etymology of the two word being from different languages.

[ceol]

> The usage of "his woman" would be routed from translation of Bible from Hebrew.

Mmm, except we're not talking about a transliteration of a Bible verse. This is colloquial usage of the term "his woman" in the English language with respect to American culture, which implies ownership. This has absolutely-- and I mean absolutely-- nothing to do with Hebrew.

> So as long as the bible is part of English speaking culture the usage of woman as wife will be common.

And has nothing to do with what we're talking about. The term implies ownership, and the Bible takes a very "man owns woman" stance. I assume your intent was not to prove my point?

[mikeash]

Likewise in French, the words for "wife" and "woman" are the same. If you refer to "my wife", you are literally saying "my woman".

This objection seems entirely fabricated and completely overblown.