THE GENDER OF THE SHIP
9 ALWAYS SPOKEN OF AS "SHE." In English, saya tho "Literary Digest" (New York), overy noun thut indicates aii inanimate object is of the neuter gentler, but it is often figuratively represented as having sex. ' To-day ships are liersonih'ecl ns feminine, but usage has varied. In the seventeenth and eighteenth cenhiriea the masculine pronoun was used probably on account of tho application of man,'to ships, ae in tho case of the legendary epectral ehip supposed to be 6cen near tho Cape of Good Hope in stormy weather—tho Elying Dutchman; also, in the words''merchantman and man-of-war. Jiuery shyp wayed his anker, They hoysed they sayles eayled a lofte. —"Agincourt" (1426). In a sliyppe the Rudder ought to be nolesse then may suffise to direct hys course. —Kyd, "Household Philosophy," p. 278 (1588). Shakospoaro used- the fominine pronoun. Tho shinpo. was under eail, and here she comes amain. —"Love's 'Labour Lost," Act V, so, 2 (1592). Tho term man-of-war designating a vessal equipped for warfare lias been traced back to 1-JS4:—• " "As ho cam to Calle 3 wardd ij [two] men of warre of Frensche meet wt hym nnd fawght wt hym."—"Cely Papers" (1484). ■:.'.. Established usage applies the neuter pronoun "it" to man-of-war and "they" to men-of-war, but, when the namo of tho warship alone is cited tho feminine pronoun she is ■invariably used, notwithstanding the fact that the name may bo masculine, fominine, or neuter. Thus, when speaking or writing of such warships as the Ariadne, .the Calliope, tho Diamond, the Lion, the Nelson, the Neptune,, tho Eochnmbeau, the Texas, or tho Washington, we invariably refer to them by namo andV thereafter with tho feminine pronoun; as "The United States armoured cruiser Washington dropped anchor in the Hudson River off 91st street this morning;. sho will eail south to-morrow." ' Roosevelt House, in New York, the birthplace of tho i'o-nnor President, will lie restored nnd maintained ns a centre for the teaching of American uatriotism. A fund of JJ200,0.00 is, to bo raised.
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 253, 21 July 1919, Page 11
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336THE GENDER OF THE SHIP Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 253, 21 July 1919, Page 11
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