Chapter IV · Gender.
Reading edition
§ 1. Gender of English Words in Pennsylvania German.
German gender and declension might be said to be in a state of barbarism, were it not that some of the languages of savages have refinements which are wanting in the tongues of civilised people. German gender being in a high degree arbitrary and irrational, there seem but few principles applicable to introduced words, and yet, the linguistic instinct produces a measure of uniformity. The clear distinction in modern English between a spring and a well, does not exist between the German der quell (and die quelle, PG. 'dii qkel') and der brunnen, but German has der spring also, which may be used alone, or compounded in springquell or springquelle. Influenced by English, PG. uses 'dii schpring' for a natural spring of water, keeping 'd'r brunnǝ' for a well, 'tsig-brunnǝ' for a draw-well with a windlas and bucket—but also 'laafǝndǝ brunnǝ' for a spring.
As a German says 'dii' for the English article the, which he hears applied to everything singular and plural, and as this die is his own feminine and plural article, he will be likely to say 'dii fens' for the fence, 'dii set' (set, of tools, etc.), 'dii faundri' (foundry), 'dii bænk' (bank of a stream), 'dii færm' (farm), 'dii plantaaschǝ' (plantation), 'dii témǝti' (timothy hay), 'dii portsch,' 'dii schtæmp' ('stämp' in print, for G. der stempel), 'dii watsch' (timepiece), 'dii bel hat geringt' (the 'bell' has 'rung'), "Stohrstube ... mit einer offenen Front," (Store-room with an open front), "die Fronte[24] des Hauses" (the 'front' of the house), "Die Sanitäts Board," "Eine Lot Stroh," "Eine Lotte Grund," etc. All of these are feminine in PG., together with the English nouns alley, road, borough, square (of a town), fair, forge, creek (a stream), climate, bowl, vendue, court (at law), law, lawsuit, jury, yard (of a house),—
Als Herr Yost ... einen groszen Neufundländer Hund in seiner Yard[1] anders anbinden wollte, fiel ihn das Thier an ... der Hund wieder an ihn sprang, und ihn gegen die Fenz[25] drängte, ... Der Pennsylvanier, Lebanon, Pa. Sept. 1, 1869.
Of the masculine gender are river (PG. 'rewǝr'), bargain, crop, beef (but 'gedörtes beef' makes it neuter), carpet, turnpike (or pike), store, gravel, shop, smith-shop, shed, and of course words like squire, lawyer, and "assignie."
Of the neuter gender are "das främ" (frame), "das flaur" (flour, influenced by G. das mehl), das screen, das photograph, das piano, das supper, das buggy.
Wishing to know the gender of the preceding English words in another county, the list was sent to the Rev. Daniel Ziegler, of York, Pa., who assigns the same genders to them, adding der settee, die umbréll, die parasol, die bréssǝnt (prison), das lampblack, das picter (picture), das candy, das cash, das lumber (building timber), das scantling, das pavement, das township.[26]
German die butter (butter) is masculine in PG. as in South Germany and Austria; and die forelle (the trout) is PG. 'dær fǝrél.' G. die tunke (gravy) is neuter under the form 'tunkǝs' in PG., which makes the yard measure feminine, although in Germany (and in print here), it has been adopted as masculine.
Variations in grammatic gender are to be expected under the degenderising influence of English, but at present the German genders usually remain, as in der stuhl (chair), der pflug (plough, PG. 'pluuk'), der trichter (funnel, PG. 'trechtǝr'), der kork (cork, PG. karik), der indigo, der schwamm (spunge), die egge (harrow, PG. 'eek,' sometimes 'êk'), die bank (bench), die wiese (meadow, PG. 'wiss'), die kiste (chest or chist, PG. kist), das tūch (cloth), das messing (brass, PG. 'mĕs,' like Eng. mace), das füllsel (stuffing, PG. 'filtsl').
§ 2. The German Genders.
In various aboriginal languages of America there are two genders, the animate and the inanimate—with a vital instead of a sexual polarity; and while German can and does associate gender and sex, its departure from this system is marked by objects conspicuously sexual, which may be of the neuter gender, and by sexless objects of the three genders.
It is easy to see why das kind (the child) is neuter, but under the ordinary view of the rise of grammatic gender, it is not easy to see why, in modern German, der leib (body) should be masculine, and das weib (woman, wife) of the same gender as the child—why die liebe (love) should be feminine, and der friede (peace) masculine. In German, the genders are incongruous, in English they are congruous, the masculine and feminine being correlatives, with correlative relations to the neuter also, and by dropping the false nomenclature of the German genders, we may be able to get a more philosophic view of them as they now exist, independently of the Old High German system of gender and declension, which accounts for their later condition.
If we adopt strong for the German masculine gender, there would be nothing gained if the feminine were called weak, but with the first as strong, the second as soft, and the third as dull, we would have three terms which do not suggest correlation or sex, and we might see nothing irrational in the fact that man might be of the strong, and woman of the dull gender; and that peace might be strong, and love soft.
Of the strong gender are mann, dieb, freund, mord, mund, hase (of energetic action), aal, salm, fisch, tisch ([Greek: diskos]), käse (CASEUS), schnee, klei, stock, fink (a strong-billed bird), apfel (naturally harsh), stahl, stiefel, schuh, strumpf, fusz, keil, bart, baum, daum, dorn,[27] punkt, stich, beginn, rubin, diamant, klump, kummer, verstand, name, tag, halm (a rough material), floh, krebs, skorpion, hummer, hals, fels, saft, bau, rath, werth, zoll, flusz, Rhein, raub, acker, bogen.
Of the soft gender are birne, hand, historie (Lat. -IA), liebe, hoffnung, wohnung, stadt, burg (implying also jurisdiction), sonne, gluth, milch, rahm, amsel, drossel, butter, feder, gans, maus, ratte, luft, frucht, nacht, macht (as if personified), armuth, kraft, furcht, kunst, haut, frau, wurst, schnur, bahn, marsch, welt.
Of the dull gender are weib, grab, brod,[28] blei, eisen, gold, silber, zinn, (but der zink,) geld, feld, land, vieh, pferd (the type being agricultural), rind, joch, pech, haar, auge, bein, dorf, ding, mensch, mädchen, volk, hirn, leben, wort, buch, gesetz, herz, gemach, loth, glück, werk, beil, messer, schwert, glas, fenster, feuer, licht, wetter, wasser, bier, malz, kraut, lamm, ei, haupt, kalb, loch.
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