Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

What should you call a male midwife? The answer appears to be that a male midwife is called a midwife.

In my book club, we read a book about midwives. The discussion went afield to what you should call a male midwife. Most dictionaries define a midwife as “a person who … .”. Some do say “a woman who ... .” One male midwife's website was very helpful in sorting this out. At least it provided some history, and some information on the current practice.

A male midwife

He points out that the etymology of midwife is “with woman” and concludes that, since either a man or woman can be called to attend a woman's pregnancy, he can be called a midwife. While the etymology is undisputed, it is still unclear to me if the wife “woman” part is originally referring to subject, i.e. the pregnant woman, or the practitioner, who is presumed to be a woman (c.f. alewife, fishwife, spaewife). Webster's etymology indicates that the wife portion etymologically refers to the practitioner as a woman.

But etymology is a meaningless standard for correct modern use. To abide by the practice and preference of those in this very small circle, in the rare it event it ever comes up again, I will opt for midwife.

Besides, a woman can be a midshipman. Why can't a man be a midwife?