Considerações sobre a categoria gramatical de género: sua evolução do Latim ao Português Arcaico

Abstract

This short essay deals with the grammatical gender in Portuguese nouns and adjectives, from an historical point of view, based on the study of Portuguese texts and literature from the Middle Ages, and also on a survey of many glossaries, dictionaries and historical grammars. Departing from the definition of what is in fact the grammatical gender and what it is related to, this essay also refers to the evolution of this morphological category from Indo-European to Latin, then to later Latin and from this variety to Portuguese. The main point is the discussion of gender in the old Portuguese language. The analysis takes into account word-ending (words finishing in -or, - ol, -nte, -es, -e, -ão), words coming from the ancient Latin neuter, word derivation and suffixation and gender, words with gender variation in the old language, the relation with semantics and morpho-phonological issues. The conclusion refers to some chronological facts concerning gender evolution.