A Noun is the Name of any person, object, or thing whatsoever, that we have occasion to mention. In treating of
this Part of Speech, we have to consider the Gender and the Declension of Nouns.
Of Gender.
In imposing names on sensible objects, the great and obvious distinction of Sex in the animal world suggested the expediency of inventing names, not only for the particular species of animals, but also for distinguishing their Sex. Such are vir, femina; bull, cow; coileach, cearc, &c. To mark at once identity of species, and diversity of Sex, the same word, with a slight change on its form, was applied to both sexes: as equus, equa; lion, lioness; oglach, banoglach. In most languages, distinction of Sex has been marked, not only thus by the form of the noun, but further by the form of the adjective connected with the noun. Most adjectives were furnished with two forms, the one of which indicated its connection with the name of a male, the other its connection with the name of a female. The one was called by grammarians the masculine gender, the other the feminine gender of the adjective. Adjectives possessing thus a two-fold form, must necessarily have appeared under one or other of these forms, with whatever noun they happened to be conjoined. Even nouns significant of inanimate objects came thus to possess one mark of nouns discriminative of Sex, as they happened to be accompanied by an adjective of the masculine or by one of the feminine gender. If any noun was observed to be usually coupled with an adjective of the masculine gender, it was termed by grammarians a masculine noun; if it was found usually coupled with an adjective of the feminine gender, it was termed a feminine noun. Thus a distinction of nouns into masculine and feminine came to be noted, and this also was called gender.
It is observable, then, that gender, in grammar, is taken in two different acceptations. When applied to an adjective,
it signifies a certain form, by which bonus is distinguished from bona. When applied to a noun, it signifies a certain relation of the word to the attributives connected with it, by which amor is distinguished from cupido. As Sex is a natural characteristic pertaining to living objects, so gender is a grammatical characteristic pertaining to nouns, the names of objects whether animate or inanimate. The gender of nouns is not, properly speaking, indicated; it is constituted by that of the attributives conjoined with them. If there were no distinction of gender in adjectives, participles, &c. there could be none in nouns. When we say that amor is a noun of the masculine gender, and cupido a noun of the feminine gender, we do not mean to intimate any distinction between the things signified by these nouns; we mean nothing more than to state a grammatical fact, viz., that an adjective connected with amor is always of the same form as when joined to a noun denoting a male, and that an adjective connected with cupido is always of the same form as when joined to a noun denoting a female[[29]].
When an adjective was to be connected with a noun that denoted an object devoid of Sex, it is not always easy to guess what views might have determined the speaker to use the adjective in one gender rather than in the other. Perhaps Sex was attributed to the object signified by the noun. Perhaps its properties were conceived to bear some resemblance to the qualities characteristic of Sex in living creatures. In many instances, the form of the noun seems to have decided the point. It must be confessed that in this mental process, the judgment has been often swayed by trivial circumstances, and guided by fanciful analogies. At least it cannot be denied that in the Gaelic, where all nouns whatever are ranked under the class of masculines or of feminines, the gender of each has been fixed by a procedure whereof the grounds cannot now be fully investigated or ascertained. Neither the natural nor artificial qualities or uses of the things named, nor the form of the names given them, furnish any invariable rule by which the gender of nouns may be known. It ought to be remembered, however, that the Gaelic is far from being singular in this respect. The oldest language with which we are acquainted, as well as some of the most polished modern tongues, stand in the same predicament.
The following observations may serve to give some idea of the analogy of gender in Gaelic nouns; though they do not furnish a complete set of rules sufficient to ascertain the gender of every noun:—