The modification of the noun to
denote the sex of the thing which it names is called +Gender+. _Lion_,
denoting a male animal, is in the +Masculine Gender; and _lioness_,
denoting a female animal, is in the +Feminine Gender+. Names of things that
are without sex are said to be in the +Neuter Gender+. Such nouns as
_cousin, child, friend, neighbor_ are either masculine or feminine. Such
words are sometimes said to be in the _Common Gender_.
Sex belongs to the thing; and gender, to the noun that names the thing.
Knowing the sex of the thing or its lack of sex, you know the gender of the
noun in English that names it; for in our language gender follows the sex.
But in such modern languages as the French and the German, and in Latin and
Greek, the gender of nouns naming things without reference to sex is
determined by the likeness of their endings in sound to the endings of
words denoting things with sex. The German for table is a masculine noun,
the French is feminine, and the English, of course, is neuter. [Footnote:
In Anglo-Saxon, the mother-tongue of our language, gender was grammatical,
as in the French and the German; but, since the union of the Norman-French
with the Anglo-Saxon to form the English, gender has followed sex.]
* * * * *
+DEFINITIONS+.
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