Re: [tied] Gender (Was: Dating PIE)

From: P&G
Message: 11038
Date: 2001-11-06

>In many modern IE languages (e.g. Russian or German), the >masculine gender includes "men plus a (large) residue", the >feminine includes "women plus a (large) residue", ...
 
Largely true, of course, but it's worth remembering that a male or female may be of neuter gender grammatically.   The use of the neuter pronoun is startling to English ears, in sentences such as "Das Maedchen kam ins Zimmer.  Es war sehr huebsch."
 
Peter