Google is OHA ??

[John Dingley]

Hi,

As with Google (Gugl), so does "euro (evro)" present Russians (and others)
with gender problems. In Russian it is officially masculine, although
neuter agreement is frequently heard and written. This is exactly
the case in German, where "Euro" is "officially" masculine but "das Euro"
is frequently used, which is not surprising given its shape.
The masculine gender is usually explained by analogy with "dollar".

7 years ago I put together a piece on the gender of Euro in the
Slavic languages. Although in Finnish, it is readily understandable
by all:

http://members.shaw.ca/johndingley/johnd07/Tempo1/Victoria/europdf.pdf

Of course things may have changed in the meantime.

John Dingley

Quoting John Dunn <j.dunn at SLAVONIC.ARTS.GLA.AC.UK>:

> A fairly rapid and superficial search did indeed come up with examples only
> of Microsoft/íÁÊËÒÏÓÏÆÔ as indeclinable and with feminine agreement, though I
> wouldn't like to guarantee that other possibilities never occur.
>
> An analogous instance is the name of the country âÁÎÇÌÁÄÅÛ, which is also
> feminine and indeclinable.  The only explanation that I have ever come across
> for this is that the gender was determined by the generic term ÒÅÓÐÕÂÌÉËÁ.
> As far as I know (and, as ever, I wait to be corrected), it remains the only
> country name ending in a consonant to be treated in this way.  Even more
> recently coined names, such as ëÏÔ-Ä'é×ÕÁÒ (which seems to have replaced
> earlier âÅÒÅÇ óÌÏÎÏ×ÏÊ ëÏÓÔÉ) appear to be declinable: ÓÂÏÒÎÁÑ ëÏÔ-Ä'é×ÕÁÒÁ
> (and not, bearing in mind a previous discussion, *ëÏÔÁ Ä'é×ÕÁÒ!).
>
> John Dunn.
>
> ________________________________________
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
> [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Mark Kingdom [k2kingdom at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: 18 October 2010 11:03
> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Google is OHA ??
>
> Google is a company. Okay. Makes sense. So, is the word truly feminine?
> Like:
>
> Google? ñ ÌÀÂÌÀ *Å£* ÓÉÓÔÅÍÕ ÐÏÉÓËÁ!
>
> And are all companies therefore feminine? For example, is Microsoft
> feminine?
> I'd be tempted to say, ñ ËÕÐÉÌ ÎÏ×ÕÀ ÐÒÏÇÒÁÍÍÕ íÁÊËÒÏÓÏÆÔ*Á*.
>
> ...but if it's feminine, I guess it wouldn't decline?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>   options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                     http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>


---------------
http://members.shaw.ca/johndingley/home.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------