1. With the false genders like baron, baroness, it is a general rule that the feminine form is derived from the masculine, and not the masculine from the feminine; as peer, peeress. The words widower, gander, and drake are exceptions. For the word wizard, from witch, see the section on augmentative forms.
2. The termination -ess, in which so large a portion of our feminine substantives terminate, is not of Saxon but of classical origin, being derived from the termination -ix, genitrix.
3. The words shepherdess, huntress, and hostess are faulty; the radical part of the word being Germanic, and
the secondary part classical: indeed, in strict English Grammar, the termination -ess has no place at all. It is a classic, not a Gothic, element.
4. The termination -inn, is current in German, as the equivalent to -ess, and as a feminine affix (freund = a friend; freundinn = a female friend). In English it occurs only in a fragmentary form;—e.g., in vixen, a true feminine derivative from fox = füchsinn, German.
Bruin = the bear, may be either a female form, as in Old High German përo = a he-bear, pirinn = a she-bear; or it may be the Norse form björn = a bear, male or female.
Caution.—Words like margravine and landgravine prove nothing, being scarcely naturalised.
5. The termination -str, as in webster, songster, and baxter, was originally a feminine affix. Thus, in Anglo-Saxon,
| Sangere, a male singer |
| were opposed to |
| Sangëstre, a female singer. |
| Bäcere, a male baker | Bacestre, a female baker. | |||
| Fiðelere, a male fiddler | Fiðelstre, a female fiddler. | |||
| Vebbere, a male weaver | Vëbbëstre, a female weaver. | |||
| Rædere, a male reader | Rædestre, a female reader. | |||
| Seamere, a male seamer | Seamestre, a female seamer. |
The same is the case in the present Dutch of Holland: e.g., spookster = a female fortune-teller; baxster = a baking-woman; waschster = a washerwoman. The word spinster still retains its original feminine force.