Gender of Russian loan words

[Francoise Rosset]

On Sun, 10 May 2009 18:45:29 -0500
  Annie Burke <annis.f.burke at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> We were going over gender of nouns this afternoon, and read in our
> Pulkina textbook from the 80s or 90s that loan words are neuter. But
> then he started asking whether words like музей, библиотека, альбом,
> etc. are neuter. I thought no, of course not! But when I looked in 
>my dictionary I found that they were!

Annie, going back to your original question, it bothered me that any 
dictionary would list these words as neuter.
In fact, Katzner does NOT indicate that these words are neuter. There 
is a little "n." after them but that means "noun." The gender of a 
noun is not specified when it's obvious.
So, "biblioteka" is followed by n only.
But the next word, "bibliotekar'," which ends in a soft sign and 
presumably could be masculine or feminine (yes, yes, I know "-ar'" is 
a masculine ending ...), is followed by n. m,, for "noun, masculine."

AND EVERYONE:
Thanks for the comments on cities and "kofe" -- helpful and 
entertaining. It's particularly useful to see how usage favors certain 
combinations, i.e. "odno kofe" vs. "cherny kofe."

-FR
  
Francoise Rosset, Associate Professor
Chair, Russian and Russian Studies
Coordinator, German and Russian
Wheaton College
Norton, Massachusetts 02766
Office: (508) 285-3696
FAX:   (508) 286-3640

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