Why are there gendered words for some professions like actor and actress but not e.g. doctor and doctress?
In: 1937
[removed]
Doctrix used to be a term for female doctor. There were a few others as well. Now obsolete as actress has become/is becoming
There are also some pairs which preserve the Latin -or/-rix. Executor/executrix, for example, and some like steward(ess) and waiter/waitress which have been replaced by gender neutral words (attendant, server). And some, like instructor, which AFAIK have only ever had that one gender-neutral form. Language evolves somewhat haphazardly.
[removed]
To be fair, when doctorates were made women weren’t allowed to get them. So there were no recognized female doctors.
In German, and a few other European languages, there are many more gendered terms than English, like doctor, dentist, boss etc.
It’s ultimately to do with the etymology of the word. Remember that English as a language over hundreds of years has stolen parts from Greek, Latin, French, and much more.
Some languages like French are more highly gendered.
I don’t understand people who think the female version of a word is negative. It’s literally language usage that conveys meaning… but that’s becoming the modern obsession
A lady doctor? Preposterous!
Recently, I think the video game Trine 5 is the first time I actually seen something seriously use the word “Wizardess.”
Last time I’ve seen that used, it was when I was in highschool 20 years ago, and a classmate of mine wanted to make a Wizardess character.
It also makes me think of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novel, Equal Rites, where there was the challenge where a girl is born a wizard (eighth child of an eighth child), but the Discworld inhabitants have no idea what to call her (and even mock male witches being called warlocks.)
Because English is, frankly, a mess.
In essence, it’s a pidgin of four different language families all rolled together. Words rooted in those different languages each bring their own bits of grammar along for the ride… which then may be adhered to to varying degrees, discarded later, or even amalgamate with the rules from a similar word borrowed from another language.
Latest Answers