In Spanish, most words which end in the letter "a" are feminine. Yet, most words which are stressed on an initial "a" sound and that end in "a" are masculine.
Example: Hacha (m.) = Axe Aguila (m.) = Eagle
I can think of a ton more, but now I pose the question:
The word asta means spear or lance (the noun). However, it is feminine. This does not seem to follow. Anyone know the reason why?
P.S. It comes from the Latin "Hasta" meaning the same thing, from which we ge our word hastate, spear-like, especially when referring to leaves on a plant.
As for hacha and aguila, I checked three fairly large dictionaries, printed in Germany, Spain and Sweden, respectively, to get a strong vote. All of them are quite clear: both words are feminine! The mystery is aggravated by the Swedish dictionary, which adds that in spite of this, both take the masculine article, and gives examples: el hacha pequeña, el aguila majestuosa.
Why? I have only a rather small grammar, which doesn’t mention this. My personal guess is that it is to avoid the meeting of two a’s which would be the case in *la aguila etc. But languages veer and wander more unpredictably than an Agora topic.
"El" is used instead of "la" before feminine nouns beginning with stressed "a" or "ha":
1. el agua (the water).
2. el hacha (the axe).
3. el alma (the soul).
4. el hambre (the hunger).
Congratulations, Robearsn! Even if you did get the gender wrong, you discovered a general rule!
Hmm…I never thought to look up words like águila and hacha to see that they were indeed feminine. This is good to know, seeing as how I intend to major in Spanish in college.
All natural languages have some fiendish exceptions to the rule. You have to go to constructed ones like.
Esperanto, Novial, Interlingua or Loglan not to find them.
In Spanish, most words ending in a of Greek origin: clima, dogma, mapa, problema etc. are masculine too. A few words depend on the gender of the person referred to e.g. El turista, El comunista if it’s a man; La turista, la comunista, if it’s a woman.
Hmm…I never thought to look up words like águila and hacha to see that they were indeed feminine.
Don’t you worry Roberarsn. I’m Spanish and it took me a while to learn that.. I’m sure I studied the rules in Primary School, but I never thought about it until I had to write about Aristotle and the tripartite soul.. Only then I realised that the plural of "el alma" is "las almas"!
Brian_Costello wrote:
In Spanish, most words ending in a of Greek origin: clima, dogma, mapa, problema etc. are masculine too. A few words depend on the gender of the person referred to e.g. El turista, El comunista if it’s a man; La turista, la comunista, if it’s a woman.
My greek teacher used to say: "¡a ver si es un sufijo!", that is, "Let’s see if it’s a suffix".. So when there is something strange in the gender of a certain word, it could be because the word has a suffix. In some of your first examples, the suffix had neuter gender (-mat), which Spanish has changed into Masculine.
In what respects to "el mapa", most foreigners will say either "la mapa" or "el mapo", but I don’t see the suffix on it, and it sounds more Latin to me than Greek… Any help?
map - 1527, shortening of M.E. mapemounde "map of the world" (c.1380), from M.L. mappa mundi "map of the world," first element from L. mappa "napkin, cloth" (on which maps were drawn), said by Quintilian to be of Punic origin (cf. Talmudic Heb. mappa, contraction of menafa "a fluttering banner") + L. mundi "of the world," from mundus "universe, world" (see mundane). The verb map is first attested 1586; to put (something) on the map "bring it to wide attention" is from 1913.
Since it apparently had an external origin even into Latin, it would make sense that the Romans should choose a noun gender to set it apart as not following the rules, to distinguish it as a non-native noun.
[quote author=gailr link=board=translate;num=1082909313;start=0#8 date=04/26/04 at 13:26:55]It’s easy for students to be tripped up by seemingly masculine nouns, too: la mano, las manos.
gailr
I know that the main issue is Spanish, but the above reminds me of Hebrew. Body parts that come in pairs are usually feminine, but have a masculine suffix for the plural form. Just for fun, however, "breast" (which otherwise fits the rule, i.e. comes in pairs and has a masculine suffix for plural) is masculine in Hebrew.
Well, I knew all of the rules which all of you have mentioned, even the strange thing about el alma turning into las almas and other such words. I’m just surprised at myself that I never thought such words were feminine. I should have thought better seeing as how I know Latin and that in Latin they are feminine.
P.S. I always enjoy correcting people when they say things like la clima/mapa/planeta etc….haha.
Well, I knew all of the rules which all of you have mentioned, even the strange thing about el alma turning into las almas and other such words.
Didn’t it seem even stranger when you saw a feminine adjective modifying "alma?"
Robearsn:
I’m just surprised at myself that I never thought such words were feminine.
Like I have said before, most of our acquisition of language is subconscious. It comes as no surprize that a person knows how to use a language, without knowing consciously all the fine grammatical points.
Robby:
P.S. I always enjoy correcting people when they say things like la clima/mapa/planeta etc….haha.
I agree with Anders that is not written la águila because of the confusion it would cause. That is what I have heard from professors anyway. It is [font=Verdana][/font], but . Another very frequently used word with this issue is ,which becomes .
el agua fría. Go figure. I am still trying to figure direct objects versus indirect object. How do you say "It is nice to meet you" but using "usted"? Some tell me it is "Es un placer a conocerle" and others say it is "Es un placer a conocerla" or "conocerlo" if it the person being addressed is male.
It is el águila, but las aguilas, and el agua, but las aguas, and it is el agua fría. I can’t think of an adjective to go with águila except for veluda. In that case, it would be el águila veluda.
