ICZN spelling follow up

[Thomas Lammers]

At 12:23 AM 5/24/01 -0400, Ron Gatrelle wrote:

>My impression was
>that a neuter as a _neither_ would allow an  _either_ in combination.

At the risk of seeming pedantic, I must point out that this is due to
confusing natural gender with grammatical gender.  In English, the only
nouns that are masculine or feminine are those pertaining to living things
that are either male or female, i.e., natural gender: men, women, buck,
doe, etc.  All others are neuter.  In Latin, as in German, Spanish, and
other languages, EVERY noun has a gender and many are reckoned masculine or
feminine, despite being inanimate, i.e., grammatical gender.  Though on our
automobile gearboxes we think of "Neutral" as neither "Drive" nor
"Reverse", this analogy does not extend to grammar.  Neuter gender is fully
coordinate with masculine and feminine, with its own endings, etc.

I did not refer to the ICZN because, as a botanist, I am not very familiar
with it.  My answer was based strictly on the rules of Latin grammar, which
I presume the ICZN embodies.


Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-1002
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.

Webpages:
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/Lammers.htm
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Resort/7156/lammers.html
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/herbarium/herbarium.html
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