Difference between revisions of "Faux Genders"
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Revision as of 14:27, 17 January 2008
Faux Genders is a perhaps misleading term referring to cognates in the Romance languages which are not consistent in grammatical gender (noun class) from one language to the next.
Following is a collection of some examples of these.
History
This project was originally started as a random exercise, with the following explanation:
Spanish and French, both being Romance languages, have a gender attribute to their nouns. Also, being related, many words have the same origin. These are called cognates. In French, cognates that don't have the same meaning as their source are called faux amis. Having studied French before Spanish, and not ever having been good at remembering what gender a given noun was in French, I found it convenient to rely on Spanish when I needed a noun's gender, since remembering a noun's gender in Spanish is as simple as learning only a few rules and a handful of exceptions. However, it turns out that not all French-Spanish cognates have the same gender, though probably well over 90% do.
Here's a small compilation of exceptions that Jonathan North Washington, Hannah Beth Washington, George Martin Fell Brown, and Michael-Forest Meservy have been able to collect.
This data is now being collected for Hannah's B.A. thesis.
The Chart
| English | Latin | Romanian | Portuguese | Galician | Spanish | Catalan | Occitan | French | Jèrriais | Cotentinais | Romansh | Italian | Sardinian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First declension | |||||||||||||
| edge, border | ora, orae (1f) | a orla | la orla | l'orlo (masc) | oru | ||||||||
| Second declension | |||||||||||||
| nose | nasus, nasi (2m) | o nariz | o nariz | la nariz | le nez | l'nez | il nas | il naso | nasu | ||||
| journey, voyage | viaticus, viatici (2m) | a viagem | a viaxe | el viaje | el viatge | le voyage | il viaggio | ||||||
| glass | vitrum, vitri (2n) | o vidro | o vidro | el vidrio | le verre | l'vèrre | il vaider | il vetro | bidru | ||||
| la vitre | l'vitre | vetru | |||||||||||
| Third declension | |||||||||||||
| ear | auris, auris (3f) | ureche (fem) | a orelha | a orella | la oreja | l'oreille (fem) | l'orecchio (masc)[1] | orija | |||||
| auricula, auriculae (1f) | le orecchie | ||||||||||||
| flower | flos, floris (3m) | floare (fem) | a flor | a flor | la flor | la fleur | la flieur | la flleur | la flur | il fiore | flore | ||
| înflorire (fem) | fiore | ||||||||||||
| colour | color, coloris (3m) | culoare (fem) | a cor | a cor | el color[2] | el color | la couleur | la couleu | la couoleu | la colur | il colore | colore | |
| colorit (neut) | la color | ||||||||||||
| pain | dolor, doloris (3m) | durere (fem) | a dor | a dor | el dolor | el dolore | la douleur | il dolore | dolore | ||||
| la dolore | |||||||||||||
| bridge | pons, pontis (3m) | punte (fem) | a ponte | a ponte | el puente | el pǫnt | le pont | la punt | il ponte | ponte | |||
| ponton; pod (neut.) | ponti | ||||||||||||
| inch | pollex, pollicis (3m) | a polegada | a polgada | la pulgada | le pouce | il polesch | il pollice | poddighe (mannu) | |||||
| blood | sanguis, sanguinis (3m) | sînge ("masc") | o sangue | o sangue | la sangre | sang (fem) | le sang | l'sang | il sang | il sangue | sanguni | ||
| sang (masc) | sangu | ||||||||||||
| salt | sal, salis (3m) | sare (fem) | o sal | o sal | la sal[3] | la sal | le sel | il sal | il sale | sale | |||
| labor, task, ploughing | labor, laboris (3m) | o lavouro | o labor | la labor | le labeur | il lavoro | |||||||
| le labour | |||||||||||||
| dust, powder | pulvis, pulveris (3m) | pulbere (fem) | a poeira | a poeira | el polvo | la pols | la poussière | la polvere | piuere | ||||
| la poudre | |||||||||||||
| end | finis, finis (3m, i-stem) | o fim | o fin | el fin | la fin | la fin | la fine | fine | |||||
| il fine | finis | ||||||||||||
| sweat | sudor, sudoris (3m) | sudoare fem) | o suor | o suor | el sudor | el suor | la sueur | il sudore | suore | ||||
| la suor | la suée | ||||||||||||
| warmth, heat | calor, caloris (3m) | căldură fem) | o calor | o calor | el calor[2] | el calor | la chaleur | il calore | il calore | ||||
| la calor | |||||||||||||
| tree | arbor, arboris (3f) | a árvore | a árbore | el árbol[4] | l'arbre (masc) | l'arbre (masc); l'bouais | l'âbre (masc) | l'albero (masc) | arvere | ||||
| a(l/r)bure | |||||||||||||
| art | ars, artis (3f) | a arte | a arte | el arte | l'art (masc) | l'art (masc) | l'art (masc) | l'arte (fem) | arte | ||||
| las artes | |||||||||||||
| custom | consuetudo, consuetudinis (3f) | o costume | o costume | la costumbre | la coutume | il costume | costumene | ||||||
| origin | origo, originis (3f) | origine (fem) | a origem | a orixe | el origen[5] | l'origine (fem) | l'origine (fem) | origine | |||||
| hail | grando, grandinis (3f) | o granizo | el granizo | la grêle | la granella | la grandine | |||||||
| milk | lac, lactis (3n) | lapte (neut) | o leite | o leite | la leche | llet | lach | le lait | l'lait | il latg | il latte | latte | |
| sea | mar, maris (3n) | mare (fem) | o mar | o mar | el mar | la mer | la mé | la mé | la mar | il mare | mare | ||
| honey | mel, mellis (3n) | miere (fem) | o mel | o mel | la miel | el mel | le miel | il miele | miele | ||||
| la mel | |||||||||||||
| Fourth declension | |||||||||||||
| Fifth declension | |||||||||||||
| ice | glacies, glaciei (5f) | o gelo | o xeo | el hielo | la glace | il glatsch | il ghiaccio | ghiacciu | |||||
| landscape | a paisagem | a paisaxe | el paisaje | le paysage | il paesaggio | paesaggiu | |||||||
| cloud | nubes, nubis (?f) | a nuvem | a nube | la nube | le nuage | l'nouage | la nuaée | il nivel | la nuvola | nue | |||
| valley | valles, vallis (?f) | o vale | o val | el valle[6] | la vall | la vallée | la vallée | la val | la valle | badde | |||
| valli | |||||||||||||
| flag | a bandeira | a bandeira | la bandera | le drapeau | la couleu | la couoleu | la bandiera | ||||||
| spider | a aranha | a araña | la araña | l'araignée (fem) | l'pêtre | il ragno | |||||||
| Neologisms | |||||||||||||
| make-up | a maquiagem | el maquillaje | le maquillage | ||||||||||
| garage | garaj (neut) | a garagem | o garaxe | el garaje | el garatge | le garage | la garascha | ||||||
| car | automobil (neut) | o auto | el auto | l'auto (masc) | l'auto (fem) | la vaituthe; moto (?) | la qùérette; la maringote; l'éto (?) | l'auto (masc) | l'auto (fem) | ||||
| tomato | tomată | o tomate | o tomate | el tomate | el tomàquet | la tomate | la tanmate | la tomata | |||||
| edge, border | bordură (fem) | o bordo | la bordure | ||||||||||
| Created from adjectival forms | |||||||||||||
| minute | minut | o minuto | o minuto | el minuto | la minute | la minnute | la minute | la minuta | il minuto | ||||
| Derived from verbs | |||||||||||||
| conquest | a conquista | a conquista | la conquista | la conquète | la contchête | le conqùet | la conquista | ||||||
| shelf | a estante | o estante | el estante | l'étagère (fem) | |||||||||
Footnotes
- ↑ This is one of several irregular plural formations in Italian. More common irregular formations in Italian appear with a masculine singular noun ending in -o, which changes to a feminine noun in the plural with its ending in -a. Examples of these "plurali irregolari" are: il braccio-le braccia, il ciglio-le ciglia, il labro-le labra, l'uovo (m)-le uova, il dito-le dita, il riso-le risa, l'osso (m)-le ossa, il ginocchio-le ginocchia, etc.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 According to Ralph Penny (A History of the Spanish Language, Cambridge: University Press (2002), 125), Spanish 'calor' and 'color' were usually feminine in Old Spanish but revert to masculine after the Golden Age. Penny also mentions that these two nouns remain feminine in regional speech.
- ↑ 'Sal' is feminine in Spanish except in the Northwest of Spain (Penny 125).
- ↑ 'Árbol' was often still feminine in Old Spanish (Penny 125).
- ↑ 'Origen' was feminine in Latin and Spanish until the Golden Age (Penny 125).
- ↑ Old Spanish 'la val' was feminine (Penny 125).
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