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Rh MASCULINE NOUNS. (a) Names of males are masculine: as, a man; , a prince; , a father; , a cock.

The names of occupations, offices, &c., peculiar to men, are masculine: as, a doctor; , a poet; , a bard; , a judge; saiġdiúir [sic], a soldier.

Personal agents ending in, , (or , ), or  are masculine: as , a story-teller; , a boatman.

Diminutives ending in, and all abstract nouns ending in or , are masculine—e.g.:


 * , a hillock., goodness.

The diminutives ending in are usually said to be of the same gender as the noun from which they are derived. Notwithstanding this rule they seem to be all masculine. , a girl, is masculine, i.e. it suffers the same initial changes as a masculine noun, but the pronoun referring to it is feminine. She is a fine girl, (not ).

Many nouns which end in a consonant or two consonants preceded by a broad vowel are masculine: as, a limb; , a price; , a tree &c.

Exceptions:—(1) All words of two or more syllables ending in or.