On 17 Feb 05 at 20:34, Jim McKenney wrote: > ...can anyone tell me why Acis is being treated as a feminine word > [when it refers to a male character in mythology]? As an old Latinist, I must remind everyone that grammatical gender is not the same as anatomical sex. The linguists call it "gender", but it's really a much broader concept than mere sex. I'm not infra dig vis a vis other languages, but iiuc (if I understand correctly), it's possible for a language to have genders describable as "blue things", "black-and-white things", "red things", "things that smell", and "things that move on their own." Just where a skunk would fall in this classification remains a conundrum. Those of you with French know that the two genders in that beautiful language often conflict with the biological realities. The same is true of classical Latin and Greek from which botanical names are derived. So: it is *possible* (note emphasis) that the poetic name Acis, though referring to a male, has either feminine or neuter grammatical gender. The way to ascertain the truth would involve examining ancient classical Latin texts for the gender (grammatical!) of the adjectival forms associated with it. One must also be alert for "Akis" being used as a poetic name in the ancient Greek literature, possibly with some other gender arrangements. Confusion reigns. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island