ON GENDER.
§ 180. How far is there such a thing as _gender_ in the English language?
This depends upon the meaning that we attach to the word.
In the Latin language we have the words _taurus_ = _bull_, and _vacca_ =
_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.
§ 181. 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.
§ 182. 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; 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.
§ 183. This, however, in strict grammatical language, is an approach to
gender rather than _gender_ itself; the difference from true grammatical
gender being 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 those
signs are the same in each word, the difference of meaning (or sex) not
affecting them.
§ 184. 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-æ Domin-i.
_Dat._ Domin-æ Domin-o.
_Acc._ Domin-am Domin-um.
_Voc._ Domin-a Domin-e.
_Plur. Nom._ Domin-æ Domin-i.
_Gen._ Domin-arum Domin-orum.
_Dat._ Domin-abus Domin-is.
_Acc._ Domin-as Domin-os.
_Voc._ Domin-æ Domin-i.
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.
§ 185. 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_.
§ 186. 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 of the 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; in other words, _sex_ is a natural
distinction, _gender_ a grammatical one.
§ 187. In § 185 it is written, 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_."--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
_even in English_.
The pronoun _him_, from the Anglo-Saxon and English _he_, as compared with
the pronoun _her_, from the Anglo-Saxon _heó_, is affected in its
declension by the difference of sex, and is a true, though fragmentary,
specimen of 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.
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 _hoc_ and _hic_,
and the forms _hoc_ and _hic_ are as much genders as _bonum_ and _bonus_.
§ 188. The formation of the neuter gender by the addition of -t, in words
like _wha-t_, _i-t_, and _tha-t_, occurs in other languages. The -t in
_tha-t_ is the -d in _istu-d_, Latin, and the -t in _ta-t_, Sanskrit.
§ 189. In the Moeso-Gothic and Scandinavian, the _adjectives_ form the
neuters in -t, in Old High German in -z (ts), and in Modem German in -s
(derived from -z)--Moeso-Gothic, _blind-ata_; Icel., _blind-t_; Old High
German, _plint-ez_, M. G. _blind-es_ = _cæc-um_.
_Caution._--_Which_, is _not_ the neuter of _who_.
§ 190. 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 every thing _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.
§ 191. 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 feminine, pronoun, as is done in the
expressions quoted in the last section; still less will it account for the
circumstance of the Germans reversing the gender, and making the _sun_
feminine, and the _moon_ masculine.
§ 192. Let there be a period in the history of a language 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 time when dead things
are personified, and when there is a _mythology_. Let an object like the
_sun_ be deemed a _male_, and an object like the _moon_, a _female_, deity.
We may then understand the origin of certain genders.
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, Mâni (Moon), and a
daughter, Sôl (Sun)._"--Such is an extract 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 all these words there is no change of form, the consideration of them
is a point of rhetoric, rather than of etymology.
§ 193. 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 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, is current in German, as the equivalent to -ess,
and as a feminine affix (_freund_ = _a friend_; _freundinn_ = _a female
friend_). In English it occurs only in a fragmentary form;--e.g., in
_vixen_, a true feminine derivative from _fox_ = _füchsinn_, German.
_Bruin_ = _the bear_, may be either a female form, as in Old High German
_përo_ = _a he-bear_, _pirinn_ = _a she-bear_; or it may be the Norse form
_björn_ = _a bear_, male or female.
_Caution._--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_ } { Sangëstre, _a female singer_.
Bäcere, _a male baker_ } were { Bacestre, _a female baker_.
Fiðelere, _a male fiddler_ } opposed { Fiðelstre, _a female fiddler_.
Vebbere, _a male weaver_ } to { Vëbbëstre, _a female weaver_.
Rædere, _a male reader_ } { Rædestre, _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_; _baxster_ = _a baking-woman_; _waschster_ = _a
washerwoman_. 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 _deaconness_ 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. _Goose, gander_.--One peculiarity in this pair of words has already been
indicated. In the older forms of the word _goose_, such as [Greek: chên],
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_, 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 occur
in the different Gothic dialects. _Gans_, fem.; _ganazzo_, masc., Old High
German--_gôs_, f.; _gandra_, m., Anglo-Saxon--_gâs_, Icelandic, f.; _gaas_,
Danish, f.; _gassi_, Icelandic, m.; _gasse_, Danish, m.--_ganser_,
_ganserer_, _gansart_, _gänserich_, _gander_, masculine forms in different
New German dialects.
10. Observe, the form _gänserich_, has a masculine termination. The word
_täuberich_, in provincial New German, has the same form and the same
power. It denotes a _male dove_; _taube_, in German, signifying a _dove_.
In _gänserich_ and _täuberich_, 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 _äntrecht_, from whence come the
English and Low German form, _drake_.
11. _Peacock_, _peahen_.--In these compounds, it is not the word _pea_ that
is rendered masculine or feminine by the addition of _cock_ and _hen_, but
it is the words _cock_ and _hen_ that are modified by prefixing _pea_.
* * * * *