The principles of Latin grammar; comprising the ... - Essan.org

§ 7 ACCIDENTS OF THE NOUN. 1139.—The Masculine gender belongs to all nouns which denotethe male sex.40.—The Feminine gender belongs to all nouns which denotethe female sex.41.—The Neuter gender belongs to all nouns which areneither masculine nor feminine.42.—Nouns which denote both males and females, are said tobe of the Common gender ; i. e., they are both masculine andfeminine.43.—Nouns denoting things without sex, and which aresometimes of one gender, and sometimes of another, are saidto be Doubtful.44.—The gender of nouns not determined by their signification,is usually to be ascertained by their termination, as willbe noticed under each declension.45.—GENEEAL OBSERVATIONS ON GENDER.1. Nouns denoting brute animals, especially those whosesex is not easily discerned or but rarely attended to, commonlyfollow the gender of their termination. Such are thenames of wild beasts, birds, fishes, insects, &c.2. A proper name often follows the gender of the commonnoun under which it is comprehended ; thus,The names of months, winds, rivers, and mountains, aremasculine, because nzensis, ventus, fluvius, mons, are masculine.The names of countries, towns, trees, and ships, are feminine,because terra, urbs, arbor, navis, are feminine.To these, however, there are many exceptions.3. Some nouns are masculine and feminine both in senseand grammatical construction ; as, adolescens, a young manor woman ; Afflnis, a relation by marriage ; dux, a leader.Some nouns are masculine or feminine in sense, but masculineonly in grammatical construction; i. e., they have anadjective word always in the masculine gender ; such as, Artifex,an artist \fur, a thief; senex, an old person; &c.Some nouns are masculine or feminine in sense, but feminineonly in grammatical construction ; i. e., they have anadjective word always in the feminine gender ; such as, copice,forces, troops ; custodial, guards ; operce, labourers ; &c.4. Some nouns denoting persons, are neuter, both in termi-