OBSERVATIONS..

OBS. 1. The names of brute animals commonly follow the gender of their termination.

Such are the names of wild beasts, birds, fishes, and insects, in which the distinction of sex is either not easily discerned, @ seldom attended to. Thus, passer, a sparrow, either male « female, is masculine, because nouns in er are masculine; so aquila, an eagle, either male or female, is feminine, because nouns in a of the first declension are feminine. These are

called epicene, or promiscuous nouns. When any particular sex is marked, we usually add the word mas or fœmina; as, mas passer, a male sparrow; fœmina passer, a female sparrow. ОвS. 2. A proper name, for the most part, follows the gender of the general name under which it is comprehended.

Thus, the names of months, winds, rivers, and mountains, are masculine; because mensis, ventus, mons, and fluvius, are masculine; as, hic Aprilis, April; hic Aquilo, the north wind; hic Africus, the south-west wind; hic Tiberis, the river Tiber; hic Othrys, a hill in Thessaly. But many of these follow the gender of their termination; as, hæc Matrona, the river Marne in France; hæc Etna, a mountain in Sicily; hoc Sōracte, a hill in Italy.

Vates, a prophet.
Vindex, an avenger.*

Sacerdos, a priest or Sus, a swine. priestess. Testis, a witness. But antistes, cliens, and hospes, also change their termination to express the feminine; thus, antistita, clienta, hospita: in the same manner with leo, a lion; leana, a lioness; èquus, équa; mūlus, mûla; and many others.

There are several nouns, which, though applicable to both sexes, admit only a masculine adjective; as, advěna, a stranger; agricola, a husbandman; assecla, an attendant; accola, a neighbour; exul, an exile; latro, a robber; fur, a thief; opifex, a mechanic; &c. There are others, which, though applied to persons, are, on account of their termination, always neuter; as, scortum, a courtezan; mancipium, servitium, a slave, &c.

In like manner, õpěræ, slaves, or day labourers; vigíliæ, excůbiæ, Fitches; noxa, guilty persons; though applied to men, are always feminine.

*

Conjux, atque parens, infans, patruelis, et hæres,

Affinis, vindex, judex, dux, miles, et hostis,

Augur, et antistes, juvenis, conviva, sacerdos,
Muniqueceps, vates, adolescens, civis, et auctor,
Custos, nemo, comes, testis, sus, bosque, canisque,
Interpresque, cliens, princeps, præs, martyr, et obses.

In like manner, the names of countries, towns, trees, and ships, are feminine, because terra or regio, urbs, arbor, and nāvis, are feminine; as, hac Egyptus, Egypt; Sămos, an island of that name; Corinthus, the city Corinth; põmus, an apple-tree; Centaurus, the name of a ship. Thus also the names of poems, hæc Пlias -ădos, and Odyssea, the two poems of Homer; hæc Æneis, -idos, a poem of Virgil; hæc Eunūchus, one of Terence's comedies.

The gender, however, of many of these depends on the termination; thus, hic Pontus, a country of that name; hic Sulmo, -ōnis; Pessinus, -untis; Hydrus, -untis, names of towns; hæc Persis, -idis, the kingdom of Persia; Carthago, -inis, the city Carthage; hoc Albion, Britain: hoc Care, Reate, Præneste, Tibur, Ilium, names of towns. But some of these are also found in the feminine; as, Gelidâ Præneste. Juvenal. iii. 190; Alta Ilion. Ovid. Met. xiv. 466.

The following names of trees are masculine, õleaster, õleastri, a wild olive-tree; rhamnus, the white bramble.

The following are masculine or feminine; cytisus, a kind of shrub; rubus, the bramble-bush; larix, the larch-tree; lōtus, the lote-tree; cupressus, the cypress-tree. The first two,

however, are oftener masculine; the rest oftener feminine.

Those in um are neuter; as buxum, the bush, or box-tree; ligustrum, a privet; so likewise are suber, -ĕris, the cork-tree; siler, -ĕris, the osier; robur, -õris, oak of the hardest kind; ăcer, -ĕris, the maple tree.

The place where trees or shrubs grow is commonly neuter; as, arbustum, quercētum, esculētum, sălictum, fruticētum, &c. a place where trees, oaks, beeches, willows, shrubs, &c. grow; also the names of fruits and timber; as, pōmum or mālum, an apple; pirum, a pear; ěběnum, ebony, &c. But from this rule there are various exceptions.

FIRST DECLENSION.

Nouns of the first declension end in a, e, as, es.

Latin nouns end only in a, and are of the feminine gender: (the rest are Greek).