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THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



LESSONS IN" ENGLISH. XLII. 



GENDER. 



WORDS are said to undergo inflection when they are capable of 

 appearing in different forms according to variations in the sense. 

 Inflection, then, is the general term which denotes this capability. 

 And " the inflections " is a phrase used to signify the changes 

 themselves which the words capable of inflection undergo. 



These remarks imply that some words are capable, and that 

 other words are not capable of inflection. John is a word capable 

 of inflection, for John may become John's. But with is a term 

 which remains ever the same, and consequently is incapable of 

 inflection. 



Inflection (from the Latin in, upon, and flecto, I bend) is a 

 word of Roman origin, signifying a bending, that is, a deviation, 

 and so denotes the deviations or departures of words from their 

 root-form or condition. In the Latin language inflection is a 

 marked feature, and involves many important changes. In 

 English its prevalence is small. In general, the variations and 

 rules of English grammar are somewhat indefinite, undetermined, 

 and variable, wanting the prominence, the fixedness, and the 

 sharp distinctions found in the Latin and the Greek. Some sort 

 of remedy has been sought for in the application to English of 

 the terms, the definitions, and even the laws of classical gram- 

 mar. The effect has been to augment the trouble of the student, 

 and to conceal or even destroy the natural simplicity of our 

 vernacular tongue. Every language has facts and laws of its 

 own. These it is the business of the philosophical grammarian 

 to collect, systematise, and expound. The Latin grammar is 

 one thing, the Saxon grammar is another, and the English is 

 different from both. Let every language be studied in its own 

 elements ; let every grammar be an exposition of the laws of 

 the language which it professes to explain. In grammar let 

 there not be, as there was at Babel, a confusion of tongues. 

 The usages of one language may throw light upon another, but 

 the laws of the Greek must not be thrust on the observance of 

 the student of English. Every language resembles an inde- 

 pendent commonwealth, and, as such, is and must bo governed 

 by its own laws, and owes obedience solely to one supreme 

 authority that is, the usages and customs of its best authors. 



In order the more exactly and clearly to understand what 

 inflection is, study these examples : 



John reads a book. 



I read an epistle 



We read John's books. 



I will now present these words to you arranged so as to show 

 severally their inflections : 



Jolm reads a book I 



John's read an books we 



In each of these five pairs of words there is, you see, a differ- 

 ence ; thus, John becomes John's, reads becomes read, a becomes 

 an, book becomes books, and I becomes we. Here, then, are five 

 classes of words, which, admitting of variations, are capable of 

 inflection ; these classes are the noun proper, the noun common, 

 the verb, the article, and the personal pronoun. 



Nouns are affected by inflection in gender, number, and case. 

 I shall speak of gender in the first place. 



Gender is a distinction of nouns in regard to sex. As there 

 are two sexes, the male and the female, so properly there are 

 but two genders, for gender is simply the grammatical term for 

 that which in physiology is termed sex. Accordingly, the very 

 term neuter, as in what is called the third or neuter gender, sig- 

 nifies neitlier, so that neuter gender is properly the gender which 

 is neither masculine nor feminine. Hence things without life, 

 being neither male nor female, are said to be in the neuter 

 gender. 



THE GENDERS KNOWN FROM THE SEXES. 

 Sex. Male Female Without life. 



Gender. Masculine Feminine Neuter. 

 Compare together these words, 



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Masculine. Mau Husband Lord Heir 



Feminine. Woman Wife Lady Heiress 



and you will not only see what gender means, but learn also 

 how gender in English is denoted. In number one, the feminine 

 is indicated by a change at the beginning of the word, for man 

 is made into woman ; in number four, the feminine is indicated 

 by a change at the end of the word, for lieir is made into heiress; 



while in number two, the feminine is indicated by a different 

 'word. By a different word also is the feminine in number three 

 indicated in appearance, but in appearance only, for lady 

 (Anglo-Saxon laefdie, old Scotch louedi) is merely the feminine 

 form of the Anglo-Saxon word hlaford, which is our lord, signi- 

 fying master or proprietor. 



Gender is marked in various ways. The primitive way of 

 denoting difference of sex is probably the employment of one 

 word for the male and another for the female ; this usage seems 

 most in conformity with the simplicity which is an essential 

 characteristic of the English language ; for example 



1. SEX SIGNIFIED BY DIFFERENT TERMS. 



Masculine 

 Bachelor 



Feminine, 

 maid (maiden, 



spinster), 

 girl, 

 bride, 

 sister, 

 doe. 



Boy 



Bridegroom 



Brother 



Buck 



Bull cow. 



Bullock (steer) heifer. 



hen. 



filly. 



bitch. 



duck. 



bee. 



countess. 



mother. 



Masculine. 

 Gentleman 

 Hart (buck) 



Feminine. 



lady. 



doe. 



Horse (stallion) mare. 



Husband 



Monk 



Milter 



Ox 



Bam 



Sir 



Sire 



Son 



Stag 



Steer 



Uncle 



wife. 



nun. 



spawner. 



cow. 



ewe. 



madam. 



dam. 



daughter. 



hind. 



heifer. 



aunt. 



sheep. 



Cock 



Colt 



Dog 



Drake 



Drone 



Earl 



Father mother. Wether 



Friar 



I have intimated that probably this is the original way of 

 denoting difference of sex in English, because the words affected 

 by it are words which must have been in use at the very begin- 

 ning, such as husband, wife ; father, mother ; boy, girl ; brother, 

 sister. 



I subjoin a few explanatory remarks on words in the previous 

 list. 



Of tnaid and maiden, the latter, from the Saxon mseden, is 

 the original form, of which maid is a contraction ; as is seen in 

 maidenhood, the condition of a maiden. 



Spinster, that is, a female spinner, denotes an unmarried 

 woman by her occupation in her father's house, as maiden 

 designates her with reference to her sex. 



Bridegroom is in its original German form, brautigam, which 

 derived from braut, bride, and gam, a male or young man (in old 

 German brutigomo, compare the French gamin, a young fellow), 

 signifies literally the bridesman that is, not the bride's attend- 

 ant, but the bride's betrothed, her intended husband. If, as I 

 believe, this view is correct, this pair of words would properly 

 stand in the ensuing list. 



Countess is properly the feminine form of the Latin derivative 

 count, whereas earl is of Saxon origin. 



There are pairs of words commonly supposed to be different, 

 which in truth are in each case forms of the same word varied 

 according to sex : for example : 



2. SEX DENOTED BY A CHANGE IN THE WORD. 



Masculine. 

 Beau 



Bridegroom 

 Gander 

 King 

 Lad 



Feminine, 

 belle, 

 bride, 

 goose, 

 queen, 

 lass. 



Masculine. 



Lord 



Master 



Nephew 



Sloven 



Wizard 



Feminine, 

 lady, 

 mistress, 

 niece, 

 slut, 

 witch. 



Belle is simply the feminine of beau. Goos in Dutch, and 

 gans in German, give rise to our goose and gander, the former 

 supplying the general term, which is also feminine, the latter 

 supplying the specifically masculine denomination. 



King and queen in German are konig and konigin ; konigin in 

 pronunciation became queen. Queen is not to be confounded 

 with quean, a low or bad woman, which comes from the Saxon 

 cwen, a woman or wife, as Abrahames cwen, Abraham's ivife. 



Lass (ladess) is, in a contracted form, the feminine of lad ; 

 lad and lass are still commonly used in Lancashire. 



Master and mistress are related to each other, as are lad and 

 lass, mistress being the softened or feminine form of master; 

 the Saxon for master being msester, which with the feminine 

 ending became maestress, that is, mistress. 



So niece is nothing more than the softened or feminine form 

 of nephew ; in German the words are, masculine, neffe, feminine, 

 nichte ; in Saxon there are the forms nefa, nef ene. The i in our 



