OF LANGUAGES. 



85 



Even the ancient Sanskrit grammarians were struck with 

 the capricious manner, in which gender occurs in language. 

 The Mahabhashya remarks, that gender is not subject to 

 rules, but is dependent on usage, i.e., usus est tyrannus. 133 



When a language has once adopted the distinction of 

 gender, no matter whether it is digeneous or trigeneous, 

 peculiar affixes or suffixes will be used in order to facilitate a 

 distinction between the different genders, but these auxiliary 

 particles have merely a practical value and are strictly speaking 

 dispensable, as a language can do without them. A research 

 into the age of these different particles, does not concern the 

 question as to the prior existence of any special gender. The 

 different genders may be contemporary, while the particles 

 indicating them, may be ascribed to different times. The 

 presence of the system of gender constitutes an appreciative 

 understanding of the sexual distinctions, but it does not 

 imply, that these varieties were always separately acknow- 

 ledged in speech. The more a language becomes cultivated, 

 the more attention it pays towards expressing as clearly as 

 possible all distinctions and modifications. This is the time 

 when peculiar formations, special terminations, or intentional 

 changes of pronunciations appear to fix and elucidate the 

 meaning. 



From the external form alone we cannot judge in Sanskrit 

 that vrikska is m. and vana n., that agni is m., matt f., and 

 mri n., or that bhdnu is m., tanu f., and madhu n. ; bhrdtri 

 is m., svasri is f., and clhatri (providence) is n. In Greek logos > 

 dis, athos, pater, anax, &c, are masculines, while nosos, polls, 

 kos, meter and thrix are feminines ; damar is f . and nektar n. 

 In Latin compare scriba m. and advena m. with mensa f. 



puella f. ; dominus m. with alvus f. and virus n. ; sal m. 

 with animal n. ; pecten m. with nomen n. ; venter m. with 

 linter f. and iter n. ; sermo m. with imago f., &c. The same 

 applies to Hebrew, e.g., the nouns db, em, zor, yad, regel, &c, 



(133) Lingam asishyam lokasrayatvallingasya. 



