Re: Epicene words

On 27 Feb 2005, at 5.10 am, Steg Belsky wrote:

> On Feb 26, 2005, at 5:36 PM, caeruleancentaur wrote:
>> --- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Ray Brown <ray.brown@F...> wrote:
>>> You thought quite correctly. It is what is often called _epicene_ -
>>> where sex is important it follows the natural sex/gender of the
>>> canine in question. If you couldn't care less whether the critter's
>>> a dog or a bitch, then the default gender is masculine.
>
>> A number of names for animals are epicene in English.  To specify sex
>> pairs such as cow/bull, buck/doe, stallion/mare are used.  The
>> word "dog" is different in that there is a special word for the
>> female of the species (bitch), but not for the male who is called
>> simply "dog."  I'm wondering if there is a name for this particular
>> phenomenon.  If not, I suggest the term "semi-epicene"!
>
> And "cow" is the opposite - commonly used as the epicene term for
> _cow/bull_, but also only the female.
Not quite; 'cow' is used as the epicene term for cattle. A female whale
is a cow and a male one's a bull, but whale's aren't cows. (Anyone know
how that one came about?)

--
Tristan.