The Gender of Flavor

[cleglaw]

Can anyone here explain why the Spanish word for flavor (flavour for the Brits) -- sabor -- is masculine (el sabor) while the French word for flavor -- saveur -- is feminine (la saveur).

[Elliot Kane]

I've never understood why some languages give genders to things anyway. Always seems weird to talk about a table as if it were a woman...

In general though (Certainly in French) if you can lay it or get inside it it's female, if you can't it's male. I guess flavour is just one of those things they couldn't agree on...

[Alrik]

You forgot the "neutral" gender as well ...

In Spanish, you have some special words ... they are of one gender, but are written of another ... I think problema/problemo was such a word ...


Found some text page : www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/gender.htm

[cleglaw]

There are some words in Spanish which violate the general rule of words ending in O being masculine, and those in A feminine. La mano is an example -- which in French is also feminine; el problema is another example which in French is also masculine like Spanish. There is also a special class of words which end in A and begin with A that have 2 syllables, but are made into masculine nouns for ease of pronunciation. In French the pronunciation difficulty with such words is resolved by use of the contraction instead of changing gender. But I am at a loss to explain the difference between French and Spanish with the word for flavor.

[Alrik]

Yes, that was it what I wanted to explain, but couldn't remember the right words anymore.

[killerzzz]

I have a theory.

In French, pretty much all nouns that end in -tion or -sion are feminine (as far as I know, all of them are).

Now, it would require some comparison and research, but words that end in -eur in French, also seem to be feminine. Off the top of my head theres "une fleur" which is "a flower", "la fureur" which is "fury", "une couleur" which is "a colour", etc.

Now, I have even less basis for this part of it, but something in me, maybe learned long ago, tells me that -or nouns in Spanish are generally masculine. Again, this would require some comparitive research, and since I can't think of any other examples, I'm not sure of this part.

But I am decently confident of the French -eur words being feminine.

Oh, and very important, keep in mind these understandable exceptions to my -eur rule.
1. This does not necessarily include -heur and -oeur words, such as "le bonheur" which is "happiness", and "un coeur" which is "a heart".
2. This does not include nouns that are made from verbs, which are often neutral anyhow, such as "un acteur" which is "actor" and has a specialized feminine conterpart just as in English (ie, one who acts), "coureur" which is "runner" and neutral (ie, one who runs), and "un congélateur" which is "a freezer" (ie, that which freezes ).

I think that covers it for now. ;D

Killerzzz

[cleglaw]

Killerzzz, I think you nailed it. Thank you.

[killerzzz]

No problem, cleg. Just wish I coulda been more sure of it.

Theories are fun. ;D

Killerzzz