Re: A break in the evils of English (or, Sturnan is beautiful)

--- In conlang@y..., Balazs Sudar <conlang@P...> wrote:

> > (hängt davon ab, ob "mailbox" weiblich oder männlich übersezt würde :-)
>
> Fremdwörter sind neutral in Deutsch, abgesehen von einigen Ausnahmen.

It so happens that "Mailbox" has been imported as a feminine noun,
since the German words for "box" (Kiste, Schachtel) are feminine too.

In fact, if there is a clear German gloss for the imported word, the
import often inherits the gender of the gloss.  Thus we get "das
Skateboard" (das Rollbrett), "die Power" (die Macht/Kraft/Leistung),
"der Printer" (der Drucker), "die Disc" (die Scheibe), "der Joystick"
(der Steuerknüppel) etc...

Then again, this recipe sometimes produces words that don't feel right
to me: "der Beach" (der Strand) or "das Rifle" (das Gewehr) should
both be feminine according to my gut feeling.  Maybe the not quite
accurate glosses "die Küste" and "die Knarre/Flinte" would be
justification enough.

Can any German expert enlighten us about the workings behind the
genderization of imported nouns?


-- Christian Thalmann

Reply