gender in translation

[Ralph Cleminson]

The problem is not only one of gender: although the connotative meaning
of обезьяна is more or less the same as in English (hence обезьянничать и
т.п.), the denotatative meaning is considerably wider (the Academy
Dictionary actually defines мартышка as "маленькая обезьяна").  It would
be interesting to know how translators of Terry Pratchett have got round
that one.

In Russian of an earlier period, of course, there is a word which
satisfies both the criteria of gender and semantics, namely пифик:
perfect in every respect except that the modern reader probably wouldn't
know what it meant.

And finally (I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this before):

По улице ходила
Большая крокодила, 
Она, 
Она
Зеленая была.

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