Spanish Vocabulary: An Etymological Approach

Annex A. Principal Exceptions to the “Simplified Gender Rule”

ANNEX A Principal Exceptions to the “Simplified Gender Rule” Spanish nouns essentially fall into three groups of almost equal size, according to whether they end in: -a, -o, or “something else”. Dividing this last group into () those with one of the seven “feminine” endings other than -a in the “Simplified General Rule”, and () all others, the gender structure of Spanish nouns can be summarized as follows: Masculine (%) Feminine (%) -a – – -o . . “Something Else” () -ión, -d, -umbre, -ie, -ez, -triz, -sis / -tis   () All Others   The lower limit for nouns ending in -a (%) is the overall “gross” figure. However, if one excludes nouns of Greek origin (see Section .) and those found essentially only in dictionaries, the “true” percentage of feminines with this ending is at least  percent. I. Nouns That “Should Be” FEMININE but Are Actually MASCULINE a. -a The principal exceptions are el día and most “Greek” nouns ending in -a. el día day —el mediodía —noon, south “Greek” nouns ending in -a: . -ema or -oma (see Section ., no. ) . -eta el cometa comet —la cometa —kite el delta delta (river) —la delta —delta (Greek letter)  Excluding “bisexual” -ista nouns. T4311.indb 465 T4311.indb 465 8/31/07 6:44:55 AM 8/31/07 6:44:55 AM  ANNEX A el planeta planet el poeta / la poeta poet el atleta / la atleta athlete . ama el drama drama el panorama panorama -grama el diagrama diagram el programa program . Other el clima climate, clime el cólera cholera (disease) —la cólera —anger, rage, choler el enigma enigma el mapa map el margarita margarita (cocktail) —la margarita —daisy, marguerite el papa Pope el papá papa, poppa, dad el policía policeman —la policía —police (force), policewoman el trauma trauma Latin mappa (“tablecloth”, origin of English napkin and apron) was not a Greek word but was perhaps mistaken for one in the combination mappa mundi (“tablecloth of the world”), hence el mapa (“map”). El papa (“pope”) and el papá come from Greek (pappas , “father”, shortened in Church Latin to papa) and French, respectively. El sofá and el Canadá are also exceptions, the stressed final -a betraying their non-Latin origin. b. -ión The most common exceptions are probably: el anfitrión host ( Gk.) —la anfitriona —hostess el avión airplane ( Fr.) —el hidroavión —seaplane, hydroplane el camión truck, camion ( Fr.) T4311.indb 466 T4311.indb 466 8/31/07 6:44:55 AM 8/31/07 6:44:55 AM PRINCIPAL EXCEPTIONS TO THE “SIMPLIFIED GENDER RULE”  el embrión embryo ( Gk.) el escorpión scorpion ( Gk.) el guion, el guión notes (for speech), script, hyphen [guide] Other exceptions include: el aluvión alluvium (sediment), alluvion (flood) el bastión bastion ( Germ.) el centurión centurion el colodión collodion ( Gk.) el envión push, shove ( enviar, “to send”) el esturión sturgeon ( Germ.) el gorrión sparrow el histrión theatrical actor [histrionics] el ion, el ión ion ( Gk.) —el anión —anion (negative) —el catión —cation (positive) el limpión light cleaning [limpid] el notición sensational news [notice] el prion, el prión prion el sarampión measles el talión talion, retaliation el turbión squall, heavy shower [turbulent] c. -d Principal exceptions are: el abad abbot ( Gk.) el alud avalanche (pre-Roman) el ardid stratagem, trick ( Germ., related to hardy) el áspid asp ( Gk.) el ataúd coffin ( Arabic) el césped lawn, grass [cespitose] el huésped guest [host] el laúd lute ( Arabic) el quid gist, crux [quid pro quo] el talud slope [talus] In addition, a number of English words ending in -d have become Spanish masculine nouns, including: el apartheid apartheid ( Afrikaans) el lord lord (used with respect to English lords only) el raid raid T4311.indb 467 T4311.indb 467 8/31/07 6:44:56 AM 8/31/07 6:44:56 AM  ANNEX A el récord record (athletic) el round round (sports competition) el stand stand (for sale or exhibition of products) el weekend weekend (not in DRAE) d. -umbre The only exception of any practical importance is el alumbre alum e. -ie The only (real) exception is el pie foot Also (foreign imports): el walkie-talkie walkie-talkie el curie curie (unit of radiation) f. -ez  The principal exceptions are: el ajedrez chess el diez ten (number) el doblez fold, crease [double] el jerez sherry el...