12 Dec. 1815

Chrestom. or Language

'.3 Noun substantive

2. Gender

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2. Gender.

Gender is the sign either of sex or the absence of it. Masculine and feminine of the two sexes: neuter of the absence of sex.

When the form given to a noun is that which causes it to be said to be of the masculine gender, an assertion which it expresses is, that the object of which the noun is the sign is of the male sex; and so, in the case of the feminine gender, of the female sex. When it is that which causes it to be said to be of the neuter gender, the assertion which it conveys is, that the object of which the noun is the sign is not of either sex.

Applied, as it is, to common names, this modification, wherever it is employed, is altogether an useless one, and not merely useless, but replete with absurdity and pregnant with inconvenience.

The English language is, in relation to this point, a perfect model. It attributes not, on this occasion, sex to any object that is not endowed with it. By the entire name, and not by any particular modification of the name, it attributes sex to such objects as are really endowed with that quality.

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