Latin is a dead language, dead as it can be. First it killed the Romans, and now it’s killing me.” I heard that refrain numerous times in the two years of high school that I took instruction in that archaic form of communication. One of the things that always bugged me about Latin was the requirement that nouns have a gender associated with them. For example a table was tabula, a masculine form. Other nouns were feminine, and yet others were neutral. Why? It didn’t really matter to me, but it must have mattered to the Romans, because the plural and possessive forms of nouns were determined by their gender.
This parlor set made by Alexander Roux is typical of the elaborate seven-piece sets from the height of the Victorian period of the middle part of 19th century. Each piece of seating is clearly identifiable by size and shape. Photo courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive.
Today it matters even less to most of us what the supposed gender, if any, of a piece of furniture, happens to be. A chair is a chair, and a table is a table. That sexist stuff doesn’t work anymore – except in certain cases like a “gentleman’s chest” or a “lady’s writing desk.” But those are easy to figure out, and most of those items are from a time past.
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