Читать книгу The Etymology and Syntax of the English Language Explained and Illustrated - Alexander Crombie - Страница 7

We not only observe a plurality of substances, or of things of the same sort, whence arises the distinction of number; but we distinguish also another character of some substances, which we call sex. Every substance is either male or female, or neither the one nor the other. In English, all male animals are considered as masculine; all female animals as feminine; and all things inanimate, or destitute of sex, are termed neuter, as belonging neither to the male nor the female sex. In this distribution we follow the order of nature; and our language is, in this respect, both simple and animated.

The difference of sex is, in some cases, expressed by different words, as,

Masc.	Fem.
Boy	Girl
Buck	Doe
Bull	Cow
Bullock	Heifer
Boar	Sow
Drake	Duck
Friar	Nun
Gaffer	Gammer
Gander	Goose
Gelding }	Mare
Horse }
Milter	Spawner
Nephew	Niece
Ram	Ewe
Sloven	Slut
Stag	Hind
Widower	Widow
Wizard	Witch

Sometimes the female is distinguished by the termination ess or ix.

Masc.	Fem.
Abbot	Abbess
Actor	Actress
Adulterer	Adulteress
Ambassador	Ambassadress
Arbiter	Arbitress
Author	Authoress
Baron	Baroness
Chanter	Chantress
Count	Countess
Deacon	Deaconess
Duke	Duchess
Elector	Electress
Emperor	Empress
Governor	Governess
Heir	Heiress
Hunter	Huntress
Jew	Jewess
Lion	Lioness
Marquis	Marchioness
Master	Mistress
Patron	Patroness
Prince	Princess
Peer	Peeress
Prior	Prioress
Poet	Poetess
Prophet	Prophetess
Shepherd	Shepherdess
Sorcerer	Sorceress
Traitor	Traitress
Tutor	Tutress
Tiger	Tigress
Viscount	Viscountess

There are a few whose feminine ends in ix, viz.

Masc.	Fem.
Administrator	Administratrix
Executor	Executrix
Testator	Testatrix
Director	Directrix

Where there is but one word to express both sexes, we add another word to distinguish the sex; as, he-goat, she-goat; man-servant, maid-servant; cock-sparrow, hen-sparrow.

It has been already observed, that all things destitute of sex are in English considered as of the neuter gender; and, when we speak with logical accuracy, we follow this rule. Sometimes, however, by a figure in rhetoric, called personification, we assign sex to things inanimate. Thus, instead of “virtue is its own reward,” we sometimes say, “virtue is her own reward;” instead of “it (the sun) rises,” we say, “he rises;” instead of “it (death) advances with hasty steps,” we say, “he advances.”

This figurative mode of expression, by which we give life and sex to things inanimate, and embody abstract qualities, forms a singular and striking beauty in our language, rendering it in this respect superior to the languages of Greece and Rome, neither of which admitted this animated phraseology[14].

When we say,

“The sun his orient beams had shed,”

the expression possesses infinitely more vivacity than

“The sun its orient beams had shed.”

In assigning sex to things inanimate, it has been supposed that we have been guided by certain characters or qualities in the inanimate objects, as bearing some resemblance to the distinctive or characteristic qualities of male and female animals. Thus, it has been said, that those inanimate substances, or abstract qualities, which are characterized by the attributes of giving or imparting, or which convey an idea of great strength, firmness, or energy, are masculine; and that those, on the contrary, which are distinguished by the properties of receiving, containing, and producing, or which convey an idea of weakness or timidity, having more of a passive than active nature, are feminine. Hence it has been observed, that the sun, death, time, the names also of great rivers and mountains, are considered as masculine; and that the moon, a ship, the sea, virtue, in all its species, are considered as feminine. Of these and such speculations it may be truly said, as the learned author of them remarks himself, that they are at best but ingenious conjectures. They certainly will not bear to be rigorously examined; for there are not any two languages which harmonize in this respect, assigning the same sex to the same inanimate objects, nor any one language in which this theory is supported by fact[15]. Hence it is evident, that neither reason nor nature has any share in the regulation of this matter; and that, in assigning sex to inanimate things, the determination is purely fanciful. In Greek, death is masculine: in Latin, feminine. In those languages the sun is masculine; in the Gothic, German, Anglo-Saxon, and some other northern languages, it is feminine; in Russian it is neuter. In several of the languages of Asia, the sun is feminine. According to our northern mythology, the sun was the wife of Tuisco. The Romans considered the winds as masculine; the Hebrews, says Caramuel, represented them as nymphs. In the Hebrew language, however, they were of the masculine gender, as were also the sun and death. In short, we know not any two languages which accord in this respect, or any one language in which sex is assigned to things inanimate according to any consistent or determinate rule.

In speaking of animals whose sex is not known to us, or not regarded, we assign to them gender either masculine or feminine, according, as it would appear, to the characteristic properties of the animal himself. In speaking, for example, of the horse, a creature distinguished by usefulness and a certain generosity of nature, unless we be acquainted with the sex and wish to discriminate, we always speak of this quadruped as of the male sex; thus,

“While winter’s shivering snow affects the horse

With frost, and makes him an uneasy course.”—Creech.

In speaking of a hare, an animal noted for timidity, we assign to it, if we give it sex, the feminine gender; thus, “the hare is so timorous a creature, that she continually listens after every noise, and will run a long way on the least suspicion of danger: so that she always eats in terror.”

The elephant is generally considered as of the masculine gender, an animal distinguished not only by great strength and superiority of size, but also by sagacity, docility, and fortitude.

“The elephant has joints, but not for courtesy;

His legs are for necessity, not flexure.”—Shakspeare.

To a cat we almost always assign the female sex; to a dog, on the contrary, or one of the canine species, we attribute the masculine gender.

“A cat, as she beholds the light, draws the ball of her eye small and long.”—Peacham on Drawing.

“The dog is a domestic animal remarkably various in his species.”

It would be easy to illustrate, by more examples, this ascription of either male or female sex to animals, when we speak of them in the species, or are not acquainted with the sex of the individual; but these now adduced will, I presume, be sufficient.

By what principle this phraseology is dictated, or whether it be merely casual or arbitrary in its origin, it would be of no utility at present to inquire. It may be necessary, however, to remark that, when speaking of animals, particularly those of inferior size, we frequently consider them as devoid of sex. “It is a bold and daring creature,” says a certain writer, speaking of a cat, “and also cruel to its enemy; and never gives over, till it has destroyed it, if possible. It is also watchful, dexterous, swift, and pliable.”

Before I dismiss this subject, I would request the reader’s attention to an idiom which seems to have escaped the notice of our grammarians. It frequently happens, as I have already observed, that our language furnishes two distinct terms for the male and the female, as shepherd, shepherdess. It is to be observed, however, that the masculine term has a general meaning, expressing both male and female, and is always employed, when the office, occupation, profession, &c., and not the sex of the individual is chiefly to be expressed; and that the feminine term is used in those cases only, when discrimination of sex is indispensably necessary. This may be illustrated by the following examples. If I say, “The poets of this age are distinguished more by correctness of taste, than sublimity of conception,” I clearly include in the term poet, both male and female writers of poetry. If I say, “She is the best poetess in this country,” I assign her the superiority over those only of her own sex. If I say, “She is the best poet in this country,” I pronounce her superior to all other writers of poetry, both male and female. “Spinning,” says Lord Kames in his Sketches, “is a female occupation, and must have had a female inventor.” If he had said “a female inventress,” the expression would have been pleonastic. If he had said “must have had an inventress,” he would not have sufficiently contrasted the male and the female; he would have merely predicated the necessity of an inventress. He, therefore, properly adopts the term inventor as applicable to each of the sexes, limiting it to the female by the appropriate term[16]. When distinction of sex is necessary for the sake of perspicuity, or where the sex, rather than the general idea implied by the term, is the primary object, the feminine noun must be employed to express the female; thus, “I hear that some authoresses are engaged in this work.”—Political Register. Here the feminine term is indispensable[17]. This subject will be resumed in “the Critical Remarks and Illustrations.”