alytical practical grammar - Toronto Public Library

APPENDIX.
APPENDIX I.
GleNDER OF NOUNS.
III dlllall"uaO'cs the distinction of nouns with regard to sex, has been
noted. Ev~ry ~ubstantive denotes either. a male or femnle, .01'. that which
is neither the one r.or the other. This accident, or characteristIc of nouns,
is called thcir Gender. In English, all words denotin~ male an!~aI8, are
considered as masculine; aT! those denoting {tmale Ilmmals, femtntne; and
those denoting things neither TIlale nor female, are termed nwler. "In
t.his dislributiulJ," says Crombie, "we follow the orJer of naturE', and o~r
language iq, ill this respect, both simple and animated." Both in Latin
and Greek, many words denoting things without sex, are ranked as maFCU
line or feminine, wilhout any re~arJ to their meaning, but simply on account
of their terminations. In Frer,ch, all nouns are regarded as either
masculine or feminine, which is a still greater departure from the order
anu simplicity of nature, for which the English language on this point is
distinguished.
Some have objected to the desiO'nation of three genders; they think that
as there are but two sexes, it wo;ld be more philosophical aDd accurate to
say there are only two genders; and to regard all words not belonging to
these, as without gender. A little reflection, I think, will show that this
ol~iectiOD has no just founuation, either in philosophy or fact, aDd that the
change it proposes would be no improvement. It has probnbly arisen
from confounding the word gender, which properly signifies a kind, claaa,
or species, (Lat. gCl!1tS, French gtnre), with the word sex, nnd considering
them a~ synonymous. This, howc\"er, is not the case; these words do not
mean the same thing; and they can not be properly applied in the same
way. 'Ve never S:1Y, "the masculine sex, the feminine sex;" nor" the
male gender, the female gender." In strict propriety of speech, the word
sex can be predicated only of animated beings; the word gender, only of
th~ term by which that being is expressed. The being man, has sex, not
genuer; the 1('ord man, has gender, not sex. Though therefore it is very
absurd to speak of three sexes, yet it may be very proper to speak of three
genders; that is to say, there are three classes (geoders) of nonnR, distinguished
from one another by their relations to sex. One denotes objects
of the male sex, and is called masculine; another denotes objects of the
female sex, and is called feminine; and the third denotes objects neither
male nor female, for which a n!lme more appropriate than the term neutel'
ueed not be desired .
. The term "Common gellde~'," applie? !O such words as parent, child.
frIend, etc., does not constitute a distinct class of word3 which are
neither masculine, nor femininl', 001' neuter, hut i~ uaed for ~onveDience,