MASCULINE NOUNS.
42. (a) Names of males are masculine: as fear, a man; flaiṫ, a prince; aṫair, a father; coileaċ, a cock.
(b) The names of occupations, offices, &c., peculiar to men, are masculine: as ollaṁ, a doctor; file, a poet; bárd, a bard; breiṫeaṁ, a judge; saiġidiúir, a soldier.
(c) Personal agents ending in óir, aire, uiḋe (or aiḋe, oiḋe), or aċ are masculine: as sgeuluiḋe, a story-teller; bádóir, a boatman.
(d) Diminutives ending in án, and all abstract nouns ending in as or eas, are masculine—e.g.:
- árdán, a hillock.maiṫeas, goodness.
(e) The diminutives ending in ín are usually said to be of the same gender as the noun from which they are derived. Notwithstanding this rule they seem to be all masculine. Cailín, a girl, is masculine,[1] i.e. it suffers the same initial changes as a masculine noun, but the pronoun referring to it is feminine. She is a fine girl, Is breáġ an cailín í (not é).
(f) Many nouns which end in a consonant or two consonants preceded by a broad vowel are masculine: as ball, a limb; luaċ, a price; crann, a tree &c.
Exceptions:—(1) All words of two or more syllables ending in aċt or óg.
- ↑ Do not confound sex with gender. Gender is decided by grammatical usage only.
