[Ads-l] locomotives as female

[Laurence Horn]

> On Apr 21, 2015, at 12:39 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Latin "navis" is feminine too; but in that system no one could have thought
> much of it.
> 
> The same goes for Hellenic "naûs " and hypothesized PIE "*néh₂us" - the
> latter according to Wiktionary.
> 
> OE "scip," however, was neuter.
> 
> 

...whence the androgyny of "Scip to My Lou"

LH
> 
> On Tue, Apr 21, 2015 at 12:17 PM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: locomotives as female
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> On 4/21/15 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
>>> Date:    Mon, 20 Apr 2015 17:20:25 -0400
>>> From:    Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject: Re: locomotives as female
>>> 
>>> OED's earliest "she" for a ship is from Barbour's_Bruce_  of 1375.
>>> 
>>> JL
>> Thanks for doing my homework for me. :-) That early does surprise me.
>> 
>> ---Amy West
>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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