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Current theory is that Proto-Indo-European had two genders: animate and inanimate. Wonder how its child languages developed three.
by FeteCommuniste 3y ago
Current theory is that Proto-Indo-European had two genders: animate and inanimate. Wonder how its child languages developed three.
- prox 3y agoInteresting! From wiki: In Northern Kurdish language (Kurmanji), the same word can have two genders according to the context. For example, if the word dar (meaning 'wood' or 'tree') is feminine, it means that it is a living tree (e.g., dara sêvê means 'apple tree'), but if it is masculine, it means that it is dead, no longer living (e.g., darê sêvê means 'apple wood'). So if one wants to refer to a certain table that is made of wood from an apple tree, one cannot use the word dar with a feminine gender, and if one wants to refer to an apple tree in a garden, one cannot use dar with a masculine gender.