Page Under Construction
The page will be an overview of a "special credit", or advanced, aspect of gender assignment- the "endearing" use of the feminine gender (and rarely male gender) for a handful of mostly-monosyllable common-gender nouns.
The rare, and arbitrary, assignment of a female (or male) gender to common-gender nouns occurs almost exclusively with mono-syllable nouns because in the case of multisyllable nouns, a female/male-gender classification is normally pre-determined by their suffixes. Such "endeared" mono-syllable nouns are things that are often spoken of fondly and are often given proper names- such as "Golden Gate" bridge.
The 'eneared nouns' all are somewhat complex, and they have attributes that make them almost animate/lifelike, as opposed to run-of-the-mill inanimate objects, such as a jar, door, etc. . For example, a 'bridge' has the "magical" quality of joining two disparate places.
.
An important aspect of all the "endeared" nouns is that their subject pronoun is preferably "Zij", as opposed to the subject pronoun "Die" of "gendered" nouns whose genders are predetermined by their suffixes.
|
 |
| Dé Stad- (City) of San Francisco |
|
|
 |
| Dé Brug- Golden Gate (Bridge) |
|
| Most "endearment" nouns are female. Male "endearment" nouns refer to complex mechanical things, ie. road and space vehicles, complex machines, or firearms. They are often given proper names, like 'Ford'.
'Heavenly Bodies' can be treated either as a 'Female class', or as 'endeared' nouns. There are two signifcant 'endeared' male exceptions- 'Meteor' and 'Meteoriet'.
A tool to help students quickly master female and male endered nouns, Calidodcious Inc. recommends associating the female nouns with things in San Francisco, and male nouns with things in Hawaii. (Flemings have a special heritage in Hawaii thanks to Father Damien, who gave his life ministering to the outcast lepers on the island of Moloka'i.
Note: The accent over the é in 'Dé' in the picture captions is meant to emphasize the uniqueness of each of the pictures.
This page is meant to complement the www.zoot.co web site.
|
 |
| Dé Baai- San Francisco (Bay) |
|
|
 |
| Dé Straat- Lombard (Street) |
|
|
 |
| Dé Bloem- (flower) Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. Note: 'Bloem' doesn't belong to the class of "Flowers, Nuts, and Fruits", even though specific flowers do. |
|
|
 |
| Dé Boot- The Carl Vinson Aircraft Carrier (boat) during "Fleet Week" festivities in San Francisco Bay. |
|
|
 |
| Dé Bank- The Federal Reserve Bank |
|
|
 |
| Dé school- University of California at Berkeley. |
|
|
 |
| Dé Kerk-(church) Founded in 1776, the San Francisco mission became the major Catholic (Church) west of the Mississippi. The church on the right was destroyed during the 1906 earthquake. |
|
|
 |
| Dé Krant-(newspaper) Two of the Hearst (Newspaper)s at the height of the Hearst Newspaper empire. |
|
|
 |
| Dé Rivier-(river)- (a rare multi-syllable "endeared" feminine noun}. The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers flow into San Francisco Bay |
|
|
 |
| 'Heavenly bodies' can be treated as either 'female class' objects or 'female endeared objects'. The 'Great Star Theater' has been in existence since 1925 and was once a premier showcase for events like 'Chinese Opera' in North America. |
|
|
 |
| Dé Zee-(Lake or Sea) and Dé Zon-(Sun) The Pacific Ocean at Sunset. |
|
| Notes:
Although "bodies of water" could be considered to be one of the feminine classes discussed in the www.zoot.co site, there are numerous non-feminine exceptions.
The exceptions include Oceaan-neuter, Vijver-(pond)-male, Kanaal-(canal)-neuter, Moeras-(swamp)-neuter, Plas-(puddle)-male, etc..
Most sorts of ships, as well as 'de boot', can arbitrarily be treated as female objects, even if they are neuter or male, and are single- or multi-syllable. Examples include schip-(ship)-neuter, aak-(barge)-masculine, and 'treiler'-(trawler)-male.
|
 |
| Dé Stad- "THE" (City) from above- with San Francisco Bay in the foreground, the Pacific Ocean to the upper left (North-West), and the Marin Hills to the North-East. |
|
|
Male "endeared" nouns are much less common than female nouns. They can usually be treated as generic, common gender nouns, unless they have some special attribute, such as Frodo's ring, in Lord of the Rings. As with female-common-gender nouns, male common gender nouns are often given names.
.
A good trick to remember them is to associate them with the "magical" Islands of Hawaii. All Flemmings have a sort of "birthright" to the Hawaiian Islands because of the sacrifice of Flemish Father (now Saint) Damien who gave his life ministering to the lepers on the Island of Molokai. In Hawaiin Culture Father Damien is revered as a unique immigrant who gave more than he took.
.
Although usually male, firearms can be female if they are given a feminine proper name, such as 'Big Bertha'.
Bicycles, other complex vehicles or machines, and small firearms like revolvers are optional.
|
 |
| Father Damien Statue at the Capitol Building of Hawaii |
|
|
|
|
 |
| Dé Diamant (actually a 3 syllable word). The first european sailers to explore Ohau, thought the Calcite cristals they found around Diamond Head were diamonds. |
|
|
 |
| The most famous guns for native Dutch speakers in the 'Wild West' of the U.S. are actually mythical guns created by author Karl May from Germany. The 'Zilverbuks'-(Silver-gun) belonged to the ficticious hero Chief Winnetou (the recreation seen here is in the Karl May museum in Germany). Karl May's "Wild West" stories have sold approximately 100 million copies, including tens of thousands of translations into Dutch. |
|
|
|