ON GENDER.
s. 271. The nature of gender is best exhibited by reference to those
languages wherein the distinction of gender is most conspicuous. Such a
language, amongst others, is the Latin.
How far is there such a thing as gender in the English language? This
depends upon the meaning that we attach to the word gender.
In the Latin language, where there are confessedly genders, we have the
words _taurus_, meaning a _bull_, and _vacca_, meaning a _cow_. Here the
natural distinction of sex is expressed by _wholly_ different words. With
this we have corresponding modes of expression in English: _e.g._,
_Male._ _Female._ | _Male._ _Female._
|
Bachelor Spinster. | Horse Mare.
Boar Sow. | Ram Ewe.
Boy Girl. | Son Daughter.
Brother Sister. | Uncle Aunt.
Buck Doe. | Father Mother, &c.
The mode, however, of expressing different sexes by _wholly_ different
words is not a matter of gender. The words _boy_ and _girl_ bear no
_etymological_ relation to each other; neither being derived from the
other, nor in any way connected with it.
s. 272. Neither are words like _cock-sparrow_, _man-servant_, _he-goat_,
&c., as compared with _hen-sparrow_, _maid-servant_, _she-goat_, &c.,
specimens of gender. Here a difference of sex is indicated by the addition
of a fresh term, from which is formed a compound word.
s. 273. In the Latin words _genitrix_=_a mother_, and _genitor_=_a father_,
we have a nearer approach to gender. Here the difference of sex is
expressed by a difference of termination; {218} the words _genitor_ and
_genitrix_ being in a true etymological relation, _i. e._, either derived
from each other, or from some common source. With this we have, in English
corresponding modes of expression: _e. g._,
_Male._ _Female._ | _Male._ _Female._
|
Actor Actress. | Lion Lioness.
Arbiter Arbitress. | Peer Peeress.
Baron Baroness. | Poet Poetess.
Benefactor Benefactress. | Sorcerer Sorceress.
Count Countess. | Songster Songstress.
Duke Duchess. | Tiger Tigress.
This, however, in strict grammatical language, is an approach to gender
rather than gender itself. Its difference from true grammatical gender is
as follows:--
Let the Latin words _genitor_ and _genitrix_ be declined:--
_Sing. Nom._ Genitor Genitrix.
_Gen._ Genitor-_is_ Genitric-_is_.
_Dat._ Genitor-_i_ Genitric-_i_.
_Acc._ Genitor-_em_ Genitric-_em_.
_Voc._ Genitor Genitrix.
_Plur. Nom._ Genitor-_es_ Genitric-_es_.
_Gen._ Genitor-_um_ Genitric-_um_.
_Dat._ Genitor-_ibus_ Genitric-_ibus_.
_Acc._ Genitor-_es_ Genitric-_es_.
_Voc._ Genitor-_es_ Genitric-_es_.
The syllables in italics are the signs of the cases and numbers. Now these
signs are the same in each word, the difference of meaning (or sex) not
affecting them.
s. 274. Contrast, however, with the words _genitor_ and _genitrix_ the
words _domina_=_a mistress_, and _dominus_=_a master_.
_Sing. Nom._ Domin-_a_ Domin-_us_.
_Gen._ Domin-_ae_ Domin-_i_.
_Dat._ Domin-_ae_ Domin-_o_.
_Acc._ Domin-_am_ Domin-_um_.
_Voc._ Domin-_a_ Domin-e.
_Plur. Nom._ Domin-_ae_ Domin-_i_.
_Gen._ Domin-_arum_ Domin-_orum_.
_Dat._ Domin-_abus_ Domin-_is_.
_Acc._ Domin-_as_ Domin-_os_.
_Voc._ Domin-_ae_ Domin-_i_.
{219}
Here the letters in italics, or the signs of the cases and numbers, are
different, the difference being brought about by the difference of gender.
Now it is very evident that, if _genitrix_ be a specimen of gender,
_domina_ is something more.
As terms, to be useful, must be limited, it may be laid down, as a sort of
definition, that _there is no gender where there is no affection of the
declension_: consequently, that, although we have, in English, words
corresponding to _genitrix_ and _genitor_, we have no true genders until we
find words corresponding to _dominus_ and _domina_.
s. 275. The second element in the notion of gender, although I will not
venture to call it an essential one, is the following:--In the words
_domina_ and _dominus_, _mistress_ and _master_, there is a _natural_
distinction of sex; the one being masculine, or male, the other feminine,
or female. In the words _sword_ and _lance_ there is _no natural_
distinction of sex. Notwithstanding this, the word _hasta_, in Latin, is as
much a feminine gender as _domina_, whilst _gladius_=_a sword_ is, like
_dominus_, a masculine noun. From this we see that, in languages wherein
there are true genders, a fictitious or conventional sex is attributed even
to inanimate objects. Sex is a natural distinction, gender a grammatical
one.
s. 276. "Although we have, in English, words corresponding to _genitrix_
and _genitor_, we have no true genders until we find _words corresponding
to dominus and domina_."--The sentence was intentionally worded with
caution. Words like _dominus_ and _domina_, that is, words where the
declension is affected by the sex, _are_ to be found.
The pronoun _him_, from the Anglo-Saxon and English _he_, as compared with
the pronoun _her_, from the Anglo-Saxon _he[`o]_, is affected in its
declension by the difference of sex, and is a true, though fragmentary,
specimen of gender: for be it observed, that as both words are in the same
case and number, the difference in form must be referred to a difference of
sex expressed by gender. The same is the case with the form _his_ as
compared with _her_.
The pronoun _it_ (originally _hit_), as compared with _he_, is a specimen
of gender. {220}
The relative _what_, as compared with the masculine _who_, is a specimen of
gender.
The forms _it_ (for _hit_) and _he_ are as much genders as _hic_ and
_haec_, and the forms _hic_ and _haec_ are as much genders as _dominus_ and
_domina_.
s. 277. The formation of the neuter gender by the addition of _-t_, in
words like _wha-t_, _i-t_, and _tha-t_, occurs in other Indo-European
languages. The _-t_ in _tha-t_ is the _-d_ in _istu-d_, Latin, and the _-t_
in _ta-t_, Sanskrit. Except, however, in the Gothic tongues, the inflection
_-t_ is confined to the _pronouns_. In the Gothic this is not the case.
Throughout all those languages where there is a neuter form for
_adjectives_ at all, that form is either _-t_, or a sound derived from
it:--Moeso-Gothic, _blind-ata_; Old High German, _plint-ez_; Icelandic,
_blind-t_; German, _blind-es_=_blind_, _caec-um_.--See Bopp's Comparative
Grammar, Eastwick and Wilson's translation, p. 171.
_Which_, as seen below, is _not_ the neuter of _who_.
s. 278. Just as there are in English fragments of a gender modifying the
declension, so are there, also, fragments of the second element of gender;
_viz._, the attribution of sex to objects naturally destitute of it. _The
sun in _his_ glory_, _the moon in _her_ wane_, are examples of this. A
sailor calls his ship _she_. A husbandman, according to Mr. Cobbett, does
the same with his _plough_ and working implements:--"In speaking of a
_ship_ we say _she_ and _her_. And you know that our country-folks in
Hampshire call almost everything _he_ or _she_. It is curious to observe
that country labourers give the feminine appellation to those things only
which are more closely identified with themselves, and by the qualities or
conditions of which their own efforts, and their character as workmen, are
affected. The mower calls his _scythe_ a _she_, the ploughman calls his
_plough_ a _she_; but a prong, or a shovel, or a harrow, which passes
promiscuously from hand to hand, and which is appropriated to no particular
labourer, is called a _he_."--_English Grammar_, Letter V.
Now, although Mr. Cobbett's statements may account for a sailor calling his
ship _she_, they will not account for the custom of giving to the sun a
masculine, and to the moon a {221} feminine, pronoun, as is done in the
expressions quoted at the head of this section; still less will it account
for the circumstance of the Germans reversing the gender, and making the
_sun_ feminine, and the _moon_ masculine.
Let there be a period in the history of a nation wherein the sun and moon
are dealt with, not as inanimate masses of matter, but as animated
divinities. Let there, in other words, be a period in the history of a
nation wherein dead things are personified, and wherein there is a
mythology. Let an object like the _sun_ be deemed a male, and an object
like the _moon_ a female, deity.
The Germans say the _sun in _her_ glory_; the _moon in _his_ wane_. This
difference between the usage of the two languages, like so many others, is
explained by the influence of the classical languages upon the
English.--"_Mundilfori had two children; a son, M[^a]ni (Moon), and a
daughter, S[^o]l (Sun)._"--Such is an extract (taken second-hand from
Grimm, vol. iii. p. 349) out of an Icelandic mythological work, _viz._, the
prose Edda. In the classical languages, however, _Phoebus_ and _Sol_ are
masculine, and _Luna_ and _Diana_ feminine. Hence it is that, although in
Anglo-Saxon and Old-Saxon the _sun_ is _feminine_, it is in English
masculine.
_Philosophy_, _charity_, &c., or the names of abstract qualities
personified, take a conventional sex, and are feminine from their being
feminine in Latin.
As in these words there is no change of form, the consideration of them is
a point of rhetoric, rather than of etymology.
Upon phrases like _Cock Robin_, _Robin Redbreast_, _Jenny Wren_, expressive
of sex, much information may be collected from Grimm's Deutsche Grammatik,
vol. iii. p. 359.
s. 279. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to miscellaneous remarks
upon the true and apparent genders of the English language.
1. With the false genders like _baron_, _baroness_, it is a general rule
that the feminine form is derived from the masculine, and not the masculine
from the feminine; as _peer_, _peeress_. The words _widower_, _gander_, and
_drake_ are exceptions. For {222} the word _wizard_, from _witch_, see the
section on augmentative forms.
2. The termination _-ess_, in which so large a portion of our feminine
substantives terminate, is not of Saxon but of classical origin, being
derived from the termination _-ix_, _genitrix_.
3. The words _shepherdess_, _huntress_, and _hostess_ are faulty; the
radical part of the word being Germanic, and the secondary part classical:
indeed, in strict English grammar, the termination _-ess_ has no place at
all. It is a classic, not a Gothic, element.
4. The termination _-inn_, so current in German, as the equivalent to
_-ess_, and as a feminine affix (_freund_=_a friend_; _freundinn_=_a female
friend_), is found only in one or two words in English.
There were five _carlins_ in the south
That fell upon a scheme,
To send a lad to London town
To bring them tidings hame.
BURNS.
_Carlin_ means an _old woman_: Icelandic, _kerling_; Sw., _kaering_; Dan.
_kaelling_. Root, _carl_.
_Vixen_ is a true feminine derivative from _fox_. German, _fuechsinn_.
_Bruin_=_the bear_, may be either a female form, as in Old High German
_pero_=_a he-bear_, _pirinn_=_a she-bear_, or it may be the Norse form
_bjoern_=_a bear_, male or female.
Words like _margravine_ and _landgravine_ prove nothing, being scarcely
naturalised.
5. The termination _-str_, as in _webster_, _songster_, and _baxter_, was
originally a feminine affix. Thus, in Anglo-Saxon,
Sangere, _a male singer_ } { Sangestre, _a female singer_.
Baecere, _a male baker_ } { Bacestre, _a female baker_.
Fidhelere, _a male fiddler_} were { Fidhelstre, _a female fiddler_.
Vebbere, _a male weaver_ } opposed { Vebbestre, _a female weaver_.
Raedere, _a male reader_ } to { Raedestre, _a female reader_.
Seamere, _a male seamer_ } { Seamestre, _a female seamer_.
The same is the case in the present Dutch of Holland: _e.g._,
_spookster_=_a female fortune-teller_; _bakster_=_a {223} baking-woman_;
_waschster_=_a washerwoman_. (Grimm, Deutsche Grammatik, iii. p. 339.) The
word _spinster_ still retains its original feminine force.
6. The words _songstress_ and _seamstress_, besides being, as far as
concerns the intermixture of languages, in the predicament of
_shepherdess_, have, moreover, a double feminine termination; 1st. _-str_,
of Germanic, 2nd. _-ess_, of classical, origin.
7. In the word _heroine_ we have a Greek termination, just as _-ix_ is a
Latin, and _-inn_ a German one. It must not, however, be considered as
derived from _hero_, by any process of the English language, but be dealt
with as a separate importation from the Greek language.
8. The form _deaconess_ is not wholly unexceptionable; since the
termination _-ess_ is of Latin, the root _deacon_ of Greek origin: this
Greek origin being rendered all the more conspicuous by the spelling,
_deacon_ (from _diaconos_), as compared with the Latin _decanus_.
9. The circumstance of _prince_ ending in the sound of _s_, works a change
in the accent of the word. As _s_ is the final letter, it is necessary, in
forming the plural number, and the genitive case, to add, not the simple
letter _s_, as in _peers_, _priests_, &c., but the syllable _-es_. This
makes the plural number and genitive case the same as the feminine form.
Hence the feminine form is accented _princ['e]ss_, while _pe['e]ress_,
_pr['i]estess_, &c., carry the accent on the first syllable. _Princ['e]ss_
is remarkable as being the only word in English where the accent lies on
the subordinate syllable.
10. It is uncertain whether _kit_, as compared with _cat_, be a feminine
form or a diminutive form; in other words, whether it mean a _female cat_
or a _young cat_.--See the Chapter on the Diminutives.
11. _Goose_, _gander_.--One peculiarity in this pair of words has already
been indicated. In the older forms of the word _goose_, such as [Greek:
chen], Greek; _anser_, Latin; _gans_, German, as well as in the derived
form _gander_, we have the proofs that, originally, there belonged to the
word the sound of the letter _n_. In the forms [Greek: odous], [Greek:
odontos], Greek; _dens_, _dentis_, Latin; _zahn_, {224} German; _tooth_,
English, we find the analogy that accounts for the ejection of the _n_, and
the lengthening of the vowel preceding. With respect, however, to the _d_
in _gander_, it is not easy to say whether it is inserted in one word or
omitted in the other. Neither can we give the precise power of the _-er_.
The following forms (taken from Grimm, iii. p. 341) occur in the different
Gothic dialects. _Gans_, fem.; _ganazzo_, masc., Old High German--_g[^o]s_,
f.; _gandra_, m., Anglo-Saxon--_g[^a]s_, Icelandic, f.; _gaas_, Danish, f.;
_gassi_, Icelandic, m.; _gasse_, Danish, m.--_ganser_, _ganserer_,
_gansart_, _gaenserich_, _gander_, masculine forms in different New German
dialects.
12. Observe, the form _gaenserich_ has a masculine termination. The word
_taeuberich_, in provincial New German, has the same form and the same
power. It denotes a _male dove_; _taube_, in German, signifying a _dove_.
In _gaenserich_ and _taeuberich_, we find preserved the termination _-rich_
(or _-rik_), with a masculine power. Of this termination we have a remnant,
in English, preserved in the curious word _drake_. To _duck_ the word
_drake_ has no etymological relation whatsoever. It is derived from a word
with which it has but one letter in common; _viz._ the Latin _anas_=_a
duck_. Of this the root is _anat-_, as seen in the genitive case _anatis_.
In Old High German we find the form _anetrekho_=_a drake_; in provincial
New High German there is _enterich_ and _aentrecht_, from whence come the
English and Low German form _drake_. (Grimm, Deutsche Grammatik, iii. p.
341.)
13. _Peacock_, _peahen_, _bridegroom_.--In these compounds, it is not the
words _pea_ and _bride_ that are rendered masculine or feminine by the
addition of _cock_, _hen_, and _groom_, but it is the words _cock_, _hen_,
and _groom_ that are modified by prefixing _pea_ and _bride_. For an
appreciation of this distinction, see the Chapter on Composition.
* * * * *
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