Disputatio:Sava
Latest comment: abhinc 16 annos by Mycēs
Estne "Sava" re vera femininum nomen? Alex1011
- w:it:Sava (fiume) starts out: La Sava è un fiume [...]. —Mucius Tever 02:52, 26 Decembris 2007 (UTC)
- Mosel and Moselle are also female, but in Classical Latin "Mosella" was male. Also: La Seine but "Sequana" masculinus. Rivers, also ending in -a, were usually male. --Alex1011 10:50, 27 Decembris 2007 (UTC)
- Well, according to Lewis & Short, Mosella could be either masc. or fem. (and I've added an example to it where it appears to be fem.)—and for them Sequana is fem. as well, except perhaps once in Pliny [1] (and other sources seem to be divided; I can't find offhand any example in my corpus, including Pliny, where the word appears to be actually agreeing with anything).
- In any case, what would the gender of the Latin name for the river (Savus, masc.) have to do with the gender of this word, and why wouldn't the Italian Wikipedia be a decent source for the gender? It's not like this is an entry for a Latin word or anything... —Mucius Tever 00:43, 28 Decembris 2007 (UTC)
- According to my Grammar names of rivers are by rule masculine, even if the forms are female. In my dictionary (Stowasser) there is Mosa (die Maas, la Meuse) masculine, Mosella (la Moselle) dito, Sequana (la Seine) dito, Sagra, masc., in Bruttio, and so on. I assume, that already in late Latin female forms became female in Grammar, but classically the rule was, according to my sources, always male. An exception, I just found: Garumna, female, la Garonne. Maybe each case must be decided separately. --Alex1011 11:20, 28 Decembris 2007 (UTC)
- Yes, they must; the rules are drawn from the cases, not the other way around. One of the grammars I use says that rivers are male as a general rule, though adds explicitly that "A few names of Rivers ending in -a (as, Allia), with the Greek names Lēthē and Styx, are feminine; others are variable or uncertain." [2] —Mucius Tever 15:58, 28 Decembris 2007 (UTC)
- According to my Grammar names of rivers are by rule masculine, even if the forms are female. In my dictionary (Stowasser) there is Mosa (die Maas, la Meuse) masculine, Mosella (la Moselle) dito, Sequana (la Seine) dito, Sagra, masc., in Bruttio, and so on. I assume, that already in late Latin female forms became female in Grammar, but classically the rule was, according to my sources, always male. An exception, I just found: Garumna, female, la Garonne. Maybe each case must be decided separately. --Alex1011 11:20, 28 Decembris 2007 (UTC)
- Mosel and Moselle are also female, but in Classical Latin "Mosella" was male. Also: La Seine but "Sequana" masculinus. Rivers, also ending in -a, were usually male. --Alex1011 10:50, 27 Decembris 2007 (UTC)