An English Grammar by J. W. (James Witt) Sewell;W. M. (William Malone) Baskervill
page 41 of 559 (07%)
page 41 of 559 (07%)
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king--queen
lord--lady wizard--witch nephew--niece ram--ewe sir--madam son--daughter uncle--aunt bull--cow boar--sow Girl originally meant a child of either sex, and was used for male or female until about the fifteenth century. Drake is peculiar in that it is formed from a corresponding feminine which is no longer used. It is not connected historically with our word _duck_, but is derived from _ened_ (duck) and an obsolete suffix _rake_ (king). Three letters of _ened_ have fallen away, leaving our word _drake_. Gander and goose were originally from the same root word. _Goose_ has various cognate forms in the languages akin to English (German _Gans_, Icelandic _gás_, Danish _gaas_, etc.). The masculine was formed by adding _-a_, the old sign of the masculine. This _gansa_ was modified into _gan-ra_, _gand-ra_, finally _gander_; the _d_ being inserted to make pronunciation easy, as in many other words. Mare, in Old English _mere_, had the masculine _mearh_ (horse), but this has long been obsolete. |
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