medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Most, if not all, Christian names may probably exist in both m. and f. form.
And, by the way, I think you meant to type "Petra" below :-))
But it's always struck me that it seems more true of French for the simple
reason that French names are gendered and English names, with the notable
exception of "Frances," aren't. For instance, "Louise" is a name in common
usage in English-speaking countries, but no one (except perhaps me and other
people with nothing better to muse upon) realizes that the name is the
feminine of Louis. And whenever I encounter a "Dominique" while I'm reading
"Le Monde," I never know if it's a guy or a gal unless there's a gender
specifier somewhere in the article. To further complicate matters, "his" and
"her" don't help because the gender of the adjective is determined by what's
possessed. not by the person possessing. And words like "person" and
"victim" are always feminine and the pronouns referring to persons and
victims are always "elle" regardless of the sex of the person or victim.
In French, it's sometimes difficult to tell the boys from the girls ;-))
Especially when you have a queen named "Claude." They _usually_ solve the
problem by sticking a "Marie" before the "Pierre."
MG
> > Dear Marjorie,
> > It never occurred to me that feminized masculine names were a widespread
> > phenomenon.
>
>Funny how our assumptions are different. I have always assumed that all
>Christian names could exist in both a masculine and a feminine form so that
>any child could be named after any saint; and that it was just that some
>forms were not (commonly) used.
>
>NB -OT - I once knew a girl called "Peta". (fem. of Peter)
>
>Brenda,
>
>Who regards St Brendan the Navigator as her name-saint.
>
>**********************************************************************
>To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
>to: [log in to unmask]
>To send a message to the list, address it to:
>[log in to unmask]
>To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
>to: [log in to unmask]
>In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
>[log in to unmask]
>For further information, visit our web site:
>http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
_________________________________________________________________
Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search!
http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|