GENDER.
§ 1. _Gender of English Words in Pennsylvania German._
German gender and declension might be said to be in a state of
barbarism, were it not that some of the languages of savages have
refinements which are wanting in the tongues of civilised people. German
gender being in a high degree arbitrary and irrational, there seem but
few principles applicable to introduced words, and yet, the linguistic
instinct produces a measure of uniformity. The clear distinction in
modern English between a spring and a well, does not exist between the
German _der quell_ (and _die quelle_, PG. 'dii qkel') and _der brunnen_,
but German has _der spring_ also, which may be used alone, or compounded
in _springquell_ or _springquelle_. Influenced by English, PG. uses 'dii
schpring' for a natural spring of water, keeping 'd'r brunnǝ' for a
well, 'tsig-brunnǝ' for a draw-well with a windlas and bucket--but
also 'laafǝndǝ brunnǝ' for a spring.
As a German says 'dii' for the English article _the_, which he hears
applied to everything singular and plural, and as this _die_ is his own
feminine and plural article, he will be likely to say 'dii fens' for
_the fence_, 'dii set' (set, of tools, etc.), 'dii faundri' (foundry),
'dii bænk' (bank of a stream), 'dii færm' (farm), 'dii plantaaschǝ'
(plantation), 'dii témǝti' (timothy hay), 'dii portsch,' 'dii schtæmp'
('stämp' in print, for G. _der stempel_), 'dii watsch' (timepiece),
'dii _bel_ hat ge_ring_t' (the 'bell' has 'rung'), "Stohrstube ...
mit einer offenen Front," (Store-room with an open front), "die
_Fronte_[24] des Hauses" (the 'front' of the house), "Die Sanitäts
_Board_," "Eine _Lot_ Stroh," "Eine _Lotte_ Grund," etc. All of these
are feminine in PG., together with the English nouns _alley_, _road_,
_borough_, _square_ (of a town), _fair_, _forge_, _creek_ (a stream),
_climate_, _bowl_, _vendue_, _court_ (at law), _law_, _lawsuit_,
_jury_, _yard_ (of a house),--
Als Herr Yost ... einen groszen Neufundländer Hund in seiner
_=Yard=_[1] anders anbinden wollte, fiel ihn das Thier an ... der
Hund wieder an ihn sprang, und ihn gegen die _=Fenz=_[25] drängte,
... _Der Pennsylvanier_, Lebanon, Pa. Sept. 1, 1869.
Of the masculine gender are _river_ (PG. 'rewǝr'), _bargain_, _crop_,
_beef_ (but 'gedörtes beef' makes it neuter), _carpet_, _turnpike_ (or
_pike_), _store_, _gravel_, _shop_, _smith-shop_, _shed_, and of course
words like _squire_, _lawyer_, and "_assignie_."
Of the neuter gender are "_das främ_" (frame), "das _flaur_" (flour,
influenced by G. _das mehl_), das _screen_, das _photograph_, das
_piano_, das _supper_, das _buggy_.
Wishing to know the gender of the preceding English words in another
county, the list was sent to the Rev. Daniel Ziegler, of York, Pa., who
assigns the same genders to them, adding der _settee_, die _umbréll_,
die _parasol_, die _bréssǝnt_ (prison), das _lampblack_, das _picter_
(picture), das _candy_, das _cash_, das _lumber_ (building timber), das
_scantling_, das _pavement_, das _township_.[26]
German _die butter_ (butter) is masculine in PG. as in South Germany and
Austria; and _die forelle_ (the trout) is PG. 'dær fǝrél.' G. _die
tunke_ (gravy) is neuter under the form 'tunkǝs' in PG., which makes
the _yard_ measure feminine, although in Germany (and in print here), it
has been adopted as masculine.
Variations in grammatic gender are to be expected under the
degenderising influence of English, but at present the German genders
usually remain, as in _der stuhl_ (chair), _der pflug_ (plough, PG.
'pluuk'), _der trichter_ (funnel, PG. 'trechtǝr'), _der kork_ (cork,
PG. karik), _der indigo_, _der schwamm_ (spunge), _die egge_ (harrow,
PG. 'eek,' sometimes 'êk'), _die bank_ (bench), _die wiese_ (meadow,
PG. 'wiss'), _die kiste_ (chest or chist, PG. kist), _das tūch_
(cloth), _das messing_ (brass, PG. 'mĕs,' like Eng. _mace_), _das
füllsel_ (stuffing, PG. 'filtsl').
§ 2. _The German Genders._
In various aboriginal languages of America there are two genders, the
animate and the inanimate--with a vital instead of a sexual polarity;
and while German can and does associate gender and sex, its departure
from this system is marked by objects conspicuously sexual, which may be
of the neuter gender, and by sexless objects of the three genders.
It is easy to see why _das kind_ (the child) is neuter, but under the
ordinary view of the rise of grammatic gender, it is not easy to see
why, in modern German, _der leib_ (body) should be masculine, and _das
weib_ (woman, wife) of the same gender as the child--why _die liebe_
(love) should be feminine, and _der friede_ (peace) masculine. In
German, the genders are incongruous, in English they are congruous, the
masculine and feminine being correlatives, with correlative relations to
the neuter also, and by dropping the false nomenclature of the German
genders, we may be able to get a more philosophic view of them as they
now exist, independently of the Old High German system of gender and
declension, which accounts for their later condition.
If we adopt _strong_ for the German masculine gender, there would be
nothing gained if the feminine were called weak, but with the first as
_strong_, the second as _soft_, and the third as _dull_, we would have
three terms which do not suggest correlation or sex, and we might see
nothing irrational in the fact that _man_ might be of the strong, and
_woman_ of the dull gender; and that _peace_ might be strong, and _love_
soft.
Of the _strong_ gender are mann, dieb, freund, mord, mund, hase (of
energetic action), aal, salm, fisch, tisch ([Greek: diskos]), käse
(CASEUS), schnee, klei, stock, fink (a strong-billed bird), apfel
(naturally harsh), stahl, stiefel, schuh, strumpf, fusz, keil,
bart, baum, daum, dorn,[27] punkt, stich, beginn, rubin, diamant,
klump, kummer, verstand, name, tag, halm (a rough material), floh,
krebs, skorpion, hummer, hals, fels, saft, bau, rath, werth, zoll,
flusz, Rhein, raub, acker, bogen.
Of the _soft_ gender are birne, hand, historie (Lat. -IA), liebe,
hoffnung, wohnung, stadt, burg (implying also jurisdiction),
sonne, gluth, milch, rahm, amsel, drossel, butter, feder, gans,
maus, ratte, luft, frucht, nacht, macht (as if personified),
armuth, kraft, furcht, kunst, haut, frau, wurst, schnur, bahn,
marsch, welt.
Of the _dull_ gender are weib, grab, brod,[28] blei, eisen, gold,
silber, zinn, (but der zink,) geld, feld, land, vieh, pferd (the
type being agricultural), rind, joch, pech, haar, auge, bein,
dorf, ding, mensch, mädchen, volk, hirn, leben, wort, buch,
gesetz, herz, gemach, loth, glück, werk, beil, messer, schwert,
glas, fenster, feuer, licht, wetter, wasser, bier, malz, kraut,
lamm, ei, haupt, kalb, loch.
FOOTNOTES:
[24] Such italics for English words are no part of the
original.
[25] This mode of indicating words is used to avoid corrupting
the text with italics.
[26] As this essay is passing through the press, I add the
following examples, which are all in print.
_Der_ charter, deed (legal), humbug, lunch or lunsch, ein delikater
Saurkraut-Lunch. Revenuetarif, crowd, fight, molasses, Select-Council,
crop (fem. with Miss Bahn). Im Juli--schreit der Whipper-will.
_Die_ jail, legislatur, Grandjury or grand Jury, ward (of a city), lane,
toll, gate, pike or peik, bill (legislative), Cornetband or Cornet Band,
eine grosze Box (of medicine), gefängniszbox, platform, manufactory,
shelfing, counter.
_Das_ County, committee or comite, picnic, screen (coal-screen), law
(also fem.), trial, verdikt, basin (reservoir), Groszes Raffle für
Turkeys und Gänse,.... ausgeraffelt werden.
[27] From a Gothic masculine in _-us_,--_das horn_ being from a
Gothic neuter in _-n_.
[28] Primitive bread was probably rather heavy than light--if a
mnemonic view may be taken.