posted
Is the moon male or female ? I know that in english it's "it" but in french it's "she" and in german "he". What do you think about it you anglo-saxon people (and others)? You can think if you want that it's a stupid question, but it's a debate I had with a german person, one day...
Posts: 28 | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote: The Moon was but a Chin of Gold A Night or two ago -- And now she turns Her perfect Face Upon the World below --
Her Forehead is of Amplest Blonde -- Her Cheek -- a Beryl hewn -- Her Eye unto the Summer Dew The likest I have known --
Her Lips of Amber never part -- But what must be the smile Upon Her Friend she could confer Were such Her Silver Will --
And what a privilege to be But the remotest Star -- For Certainty She take Her Way Beside Your Palace Door --
Her Bonnet is the Firmament -- The Universe -- Her Shoe -- The Stars -- the Trinkets at Her Belt -- Her Dimities -- of Blue --
I think that the gender of the Moon changes. After all, there is the "man in the moon", and yet I would say the Moon is a female symbol.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I think there's a strong literary tradition for anthropomorphosizing the moon as either gender.
I've heard the moon referred to as "the White Lady" or something. I'm sure I've heard other references, as well. And, of course, there's always the man in the moon. Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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The fact that the moon is actually a post operative transexual does nothing but further muddy the waters, I'm afraid.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I dunno, I've always thought of the moon as female...
But then, there's an old spanish folksong (I believe it's a folksong anyway) about the child of the moon where the moon is the father.
Posts: 7085 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Of course, I'm french ! That's why my english is so bad ! I live in Lorraine (north-east of France). But my name here is Lille Mu which is a character in a swedish book, it means Little Mu (la petite Mu), nobody knows the serie of Mumin's adventures by Tove Jansson ? The are great books for children (and others).
Posts: 28 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Tove Jansson was born and raised in Finland, although she belonged to the Swedish speaking minority and wrote her books in Swedish. The exact name of the character is "Lilla My", "Lilla", as opposed to "Lille", grammatically indicating that she's female, not male. With "My" giving the English speaking world an entirely wrong idea as to its pronunciation, I suppose "Mu" is a good approximation (and for all I know, it's how it has translated into French). I certainly recognised the reference.
posted
As an Anglo-Saxon person myself (ethnically as well as linguistically), I think the moon is a large ball of rock, and as such has no sex. And furthermore I think that any native speaker of a language with grammatical gender who argues that an inanimate object is one sex or the other just because their language assigns it one gender or the other, doesn't understand their own language.
That's my pedantic, over-correct, "Verily, shut up" answer.
My real answer is that the moon is female. Why? Because it's bright, it's beautiful, it's romantic, and it goes through a regular series of drastic changes that make it darker for part of every month. Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Of course the moon is female. It's a basic fact of art. Stories in which the moon is male are clearly written by people who just don't get it.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Donc, bienvenue, Lille! Une autre hatrackienne qui s'appele Anna vient de Lille, mais j'essayerai de ne pas confondre vous deux.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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"Au clair de la lune, Mon ami Pierrot, Prête-moi ta plume Pour écrire un mot. Ma chandelle est morte, Je n'ai plus de feu : Ouvre-moi ta porte Pour l'amour de Dieu"
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Au clair de la lune, Pierrot répondit : "Je n'ai pas de plume, Je suis dans mon lit. Va chez la voisine, Je crois qu'elle y est, Car dans sa cuisine, On bat le briquet."
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Au clair de la lune, L'aimable Lubin Frappe chez la brune Qui répond soudain : "Qui frappe de la sorte ?" Il dit à son tour : "Ouvrez votre porte Pour un dieu d'amour."
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Au clair de la lune, On n'y voit qu'un peu. On chercha la plume, On chercha du feu. En cherchant d'la sorte Je n'sais c'qu'on trouva, Mais je sais qu'la porte Sur eux se ferma !"
I hope you like it.
I know that the word "Plume" (Old pen) was not the original word. At the beginning, we have "lume", an old word for "lumière" (light).
I also know there are some variants but this is the common one.
Posts: 1189 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Salut ! J'habite à Malzèville, banlieue nord de Nancy. Pour la correction de Lille Mu, c'est pas étonnant que je me sois trompée, j'apprend le norvégien pas le suédois. Et je savais que Jansson était finlandaise mais je savais plus comment on le disait en anglais (finnish ??). Et ça doit se prononcer (plus ou moins je pense) : lileu mu (pour pas confondre avec la ville de Lille, n'est-ce-pas, Annie ?) Sorry for this mail entirely in french ! Of course, as a french girl, I think the moon is female but I'd like to know the opinion of a german person, if there is one here...
Posts: 28 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Hello Lille Mu ! I don't think I had the opportunity to welcome you here. So here we go : Welcome ! Posts: 3526 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Of course, as a french girl, I think the moon is female but I'd like to know the opinion of a german person, if there is one here...
The moon = Der Mond in german, which grammatically is in the masculine genus. The sun = Die Sonne, on the other is feminine. Since I'm not German, I'm not sure if this reflect current views on the subject, but I expect it's likely.
Posts: 896 | Registered: Feb 2001
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The "assigned gender" in German is done with no rhyme or reason, however. Ties are feminine. Pants are feminine. Dresses are nueter. Women's overcoats are masculine. So I don't know how much influence that actually has on the way the moon is thought of.
Posts: 119 | Registered: Oct 2004
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But the same is true of French, and all other languages with grammatical gender. The fact that the German word for moon is masculine while the French word for the same thing is feminine doesn't signify anything. It's an arbitrary grammatical distinction. To say that the moon is either a male or a female, based purely on that, is to misunderstand the grammar of the languages. It's confusing sex with gender, and those are not the same thing. "La lune" is feminine, "der Mond" is masculine, but the moon itself, the actual ball of rock that orbits the earth, not being a biological organism, is neither a male nor a female.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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The moon is usually considered female because the time it takes to make a complete trasition, from new to full and back, is the exact length of time of a woman's menstrul cycle.
Celene, Greek Goddess of Magic is associated with the moon.
Luna is a female Greek God.
Silver, which is the light of the moon, is historically considered the second best of the valuable metals. Gold, which is the light of the Sun, is historically considered the best. Since historically, women have been given 2nd place to men, their symbols have also been seen as second--Moon/Silver.
I am writing a story in which the hero defeats a Werewolf using love of a female. THe werewolf is a big, brutish, violoent, grunting, hairy being--a manly man. Why do werewolves become so beastly during a full moon? Testostorone. They see the moon as the ultimate feminine, and they have to claim it Macho style. If you pierce the heart of the Werewolf with Silver you kill off the beast and leave the man. If you pierce the heart of a man with love for a woman, the man will loose much of his beastly behavior--and he may even shave.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote: The moon is usually considered female because the time it takes to make a complete trasition, from new to full and back, is the exact length of time of a woman's menstrul cycle.
Coincidence? I think not. Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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also, the moon bosses around the water. That proves that she is female. A guy would never bother trying to boss around the water...we would be to busy watching football to care.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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Also note that, like women, men know very little about the moon outside of what a little surface venturing has taught them.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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IN can refer to atmosphere as well. But it does make more sense in most cases that it would be female. I think of it as neither, but not just rock.
Posts: 1132 | Registered: Jul 2002
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