Calling all language lovers!

[Gauchita]

I'll shamelessly plug a friend's blog here because it's great!

If you're interested in language, etymology, linguistics, etc, head this way.

She's an etymology addict (and doesn't mind me saying so ) and is teaching the rest of us a lot, so thank you Alex

alexpolistigers.wordpress.com/

I've never really thought about "key" as such. But my first thought was that it is neuter in Greek (to kleidi), so I wonder what that would mean!

Fem in Italian - la chiave
Fem in French - la clé (or clef)
Fem in Spanish - la clave, la llave
Neuter in Greek - to kleidi
Masc in German der Schlüssel

I'm not sure this is really telling us anything, other than that gender can be totally arbitrary! I can't say I've noticed any deeper meaning attached to key in any of those languages! But I do admit I have never considered it before.

Gender makes me crazy. Especially when learning French, as it was so different to German. Utter nightmare.

I actually like gender in Greek, as with a lot of words it's obvious from the suffix, you can see what gender it is. Obviously, there are exceptions, but I do find it fascinating to see how one language can have something as eg a feminine noun, whereas another sees it as neuter. You wonder how it all developed!

Oh this is fascinating! I remember studying a bit of language at university, the key is the famous example- I think bridge as well? It's a bit vague!

Can I ask how you find out all those little tidbits of dialect from all over the world?! It's a crazy collection!

Beechwood, by the way, is very easy to split, is very smooth, and is very light coloured, meaning inscriptions show up nicely. Also, abundant.

Oh and the liney bits inside -where the rings are, you know what I mean. Grain? Anyway. They are not very highly contrasted in beech. So no confusing little lines to contend with when you're trying to scrawl 'Ethelstan woz 'ere' or whatever.

I memorised the gender of French nouns at the beginning but now can figure out the gender of new words on my own with surprising accuracy. It has to do with how a word sounds rather than what it means, imho.

Here I am as the resident recommender again.

Women, Fire and Dangerous Things is named for a "gender" in a particular language. From memory, tools are masculine but weapons are feminine

I made the mistake of not learning gender when I learned German nouns. My German is almost native speaker level, but I still get muddled with der/die/das

my dc struggle with the gender. even though they speak reasonaby well.
I have written many an angry letter to publishers of children's picture books which leave out the gender.

I added that book to my Kindle wish list, thanks.

However:

Un util = a tool (masculine)
Un marteau = a hammer (masculine)

and

Un fusil = a rifle (masculine)
Un pistolet = a gun (masculine)

... whereas

Un arc = a bow (masculine)
Une flèche = an arrow (feminine)

... so I can't really agree about weapons being feminine.

die rakete (the rocket)
die waffe (the weapon)
die pistole (the handgun)

= feminine, weapons of war

but
das gewehr
das messer der bogen
der speer

=masculine and neutrum, weapons traditionally used for hunting

Sorry, gender in that language is M (tools) / F (weapons) and / N. Which stayed with me because obviously funny.

Santana I actually speak some of the languages I have put in, so some of the expressions, etc in other languages are from my own general knowledge. Others I research, and I ask friends, other people who know the language.

Re weapons/ war/ tools (just to add to the mix)

o polemos - masc (war)
i sygkrousi - fem (conflict)
i machi - fem (battle)

to spathi - neuter (sword)
to velos - neuter (arrow)
to toxo - neuter (bow)
to oplo - neuter (weapon)

Hmm, lots of actual weapons in Greek seem to be neuter. Don't know why, particularly!

Horry You must have a fantastic library, I will turn up at your house to read them all, one day!

It's not bad... but tbh what I have is a good Linguistics degree and a very good memory. I'm recommending books I haven't laid eyes or hands on for years.

For those who are native speakers of a language which has genders, do you really attach masculine or feminine qualities in your mind to the noun in question. I remember reading in a book once that a francophone person would see "une rivière" as a feminine gentle flowy thing, whereas a German speaker would see a "Fluss" as a more masculine thing.

I love that colour link earlier. This book also looks at the whole colour thing.

Very interesting blog!

For the one about the lady bugs and religious connotations of the name, the name in Hebrew is name is "parat Moishe Rabbeinu" which would be transated as "Moses' cow" (as in the famous, Ten Commandments Moses).

That is interesting, Mardy. Maybe that is why I have trouble learning genders.

Me too MmeL. I've just never seen the point of them.

I know people find some elements of language learning tedious, but generally I like finding out the nuances and the exceptions. For example, the differences between "ser" (to be - permanently) and "estar" (to be - impermanently) in Spanish. I love the way just a little difference in the choice of word can make a big difference on the meaning of a sentence. For example, "estoy cansada" (I'm tired) and "soy cansada" (I'm tiresome).

But as a non-native speaker of a language with genders, I just don't get why? Why didn't they just get eroded, like they did in English? Mind you everything gets eroded in English.

I love a good subjunctive too. We've mostly lost the art of subjuncting in English.

Some of us use the subjunctive deliberately. And gerunds

English has been able to abandon most morphology (that is, word endings and agreement) by keeping word order pretty rigid. Other languages might despair at the inflexibility of our construction.

Oh, I do like a gerund!