hairman_, to
represent persons of either sex.

NOTE.--There is perhaps this distinction observed: when we speak of a
female _as an active agent_ merely, we use the masculine termination,
as, "George Eliot is the _author_ of 'Adam Bede;'" but when we speak
purposely _to denote a distinction from a male_, we use the feminine,
as, "George Eliot is an eminent _authoress_."

III. Gender shown by Different Words.

32. In some of these pairs, the feminine and the masculine are
entirely different words; others have in their origin the same root.
Some of them have an interesting history, and will be noted below:--

bachelor--maid
boy--girl
brother--sister
drake--duck
earl--countess
father--mother
gander--goose
hart--roe
horse--mare
husband--wife
king--queen
lord--lady
wizard--witch
nephew--niece
ram--ewe
sir--madam
son--daughter
uncle--aunt
bull--cow
boar--sow

Girl originally meant a child of either sex, and was used for male
or female until about the fifteenth century.

Drake is peculiar in that it is formed from a corresponding feminine
which is no longer used. It is not connected historically with our
word _duck_, but is derived from _ened_ (duck) and an obsolete suffix
_rake_ (king). Three letters of _ened_ have fallen away, leaving our
word _drake_.

Gander and goose were originally from the same root word. _Goose_
has various cognate forms in the languages akin to English (German
_Gans_, Icelandic _gas_, Danish _gaas_, etc.). The masculine was
formed by adding _-a_, the old sign of the masculine. This _gansa_ was
modified into _gan-ra_, _gand-ra_, finally _gander_; the _d_ being
inserted to make pronunciation easy, as in many other words.

Mare, in Old English _mere_, had the masculine _mearh_ (horse), but
this has long been obsolete.

Husband and wife are not connected in origin. _Husband_ is a
Scandinavian word (Anglo-Saxon _husbonda_ from Icelandic _hus-bondi_,
probably meaning house dweller); _wife_ was used in Old and Middle
English to mean woman in general.

King and queen are said by some (Skeat, among others) to be from
the same root word, but the German etymologist Kluge says they are
not.

Lord is said to be a worn-down form of the Old English _hlaf-weard_
(loaf keeper), written _loverd_, _lhauerd_, or _lauerd_ in Middle
English. Lady is from _hloefdige_ (_hloef_ meaning loaf, and
_dige_ being of uncertain origin and meaning).

Witch i