What gender is féra? While biologists will tell you it's Coregonus, French linguists will tell you it's feminine: LA Féra. Yes, but don't we say LE Corégone? will reply the teasing biologists. 𝗗'𝗼𝘂̀ 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗰 𝗹'𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘂𝘅 𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘀 𝗱'𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘂𝘅 𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰̧𝗮𝗶𝘀.
Biological gender plays no part in the allocation of the determiner, as we saw with the example of the Féra. In fact, the allocation of grammatical genders is often arbitrary and unmotivated. Most animal names do not vary in gender and 𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗮̀ 𝗱𝗲́𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶 𝗯𝗶𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗮̂𝗹𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗹𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲.
It's at this point that fans of the "females of animals" quiz will make their entrance: 𝗲𝘁 𝗹𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝗰'𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗶𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗱? There are indeed some species whose grammatical gender refers to the sex of the animal in everyday language. These include two types of construction of the male/female opposition.
For certain species, the female is distinguished by a feminisation of the name (change of determiner). For example: the rabbit and the female rabbit. Other species have a distinct name to differentiate the male from the female. For example: the 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗲𝘁 𝗹𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁, the heather cock and the heather hen.
For most species, the same determinant is used for both sexes and if you want to distinguish between them, you need to add the adjectives male and female. For example, we would say a male Pike and a female Pike. Similarly, 𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗮̂𝗹𝗲 𝗲𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲. This is also the nomenclature used in scientific language, which refers to male and female Mallard ducks.
𝗣𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗾𝘂𝗼𝗶 𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲̀𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲̀𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘂𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝗺 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲́𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝗲𝘁 𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗮̂𝗹𝗲? Is this due to a difference in appearance between the male and female? Well, no. For example, the visual differences between male and female scaups are much greater than those seen between rabbits and rabbits.
In fact the existence in the French language of distinct terms for the male and female of the same species exists mainly for the following species 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗲 𝗹'𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗲 𝗹'𝗲́𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗴𝗲. As people have come to know these species (often mammals), they have given them this name by sex and even by age (wild boar, goose, wild boar, for example).
All this has therefore been culturally constructed in the French language over the course of usage. 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗱'𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀, we can see that Canard Colvert becomes die Stockente in German, only to revert to the masculine form in Italian: il Germano Reale.
And so, 𝗹𝗮 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲, 𝗰'𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝘂 𝗚𝗼𝗲́𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱? The answer is no, each being a very distinct species. The question even becomes absurd in the case of hermaphroditic species such as the Corbicula and the Planorbe, which can be observed in Lake Geneva.
Photo credits :
Kai Taimsalu
🌐 J. Dubois (1989), le genre dans les noms d'animaux, Linx
🌐 S.D. Bernardina (2012), "Les joies du taximonistes: classer, reclasser, déclasser", Aux frontières de l'animal.
🌐 Orthodidact, gender of animal names
