Why is the koran male and the bible female?

1« Previous thread | Next thread »
- NineBerry
- Tame Wolf
- Pub Regular
- offline
Why is the koran male and the bible female?
OP - February 08, 2010, 09:48 PM

Okay, you English speakers may not be aware of that, but in many languages objects have a sex, too. Usually, this is quite arbitrary and doesn't follow any real rationality. So, for example while in German cats are female, they are male in French.

I noticed however that in all the languages I checked, the koran is always male and the bible is always female. Do you know of any language where this is not the case? Is there any explanation behind this?

bleed for me...kill for me...die for me
- Tlaloc
- Aperture Science Test Subject
- Pub Regular
- offline
Re: Why is the koran male and the bible female?
Reply #1 - February 08, 2010, 10:36 PM

bible comes from "biblia" (books)
neutral noun, plural of biblium

but i guess that since -a nouns could also be female, it gradually changed into a female singular collective noun instead of neutral plural noun

Do not look directly at the operational end of the device.
- Tlaloc
- Aperture Science Test Subject
- Pub Regular
- offline
Re: Why is the koran male and the bible female?
Reply #2 - February 08, 2010, 10:38 PM

oh, i checked wiki...
that, in turn, derived from the greek biblion... i didn't know ^_^

Do not look directly at the operational end of the device.
- Infidel
- Ex-Muslim
- offline
Re: Why is the koran male and the bible female?
Reply #3 - February 09, 2010, 01:10 AM

In Arabic they're both 'male' (Qur'an and Bible). The Torah, however, is 'female'.

"In every time and culture there are pressures to conform to the prevailing prejudices. But there are also, in every place and epoch, those who value the truth; who record the evidence faithfully. Future generations are in their debt." -Carl Sagan
- awais
- Ex-Muslim
- mulhid taqwa
- offline
Re: Why is the koran male and the bible female?
Reply #4 - February 09, 2010, 01:49 PM

what u mean OP?

I chose to get circumcised at 17, don't tell me I never believed.
- Infidel
- Ex-Muslim
- offline
Re: Why is the koran male and the bible female?
Reply #5 - February 09, 2010, 05:12 PM

Quote from: awais on February 09, 2010, 01:49 PM
what u mean OP?

Some languages associate gender with inanimate objects and general nouns. Like German, French or Arabic, but not English. So for example in Arabic a door is male, but a window is female. A book is male, but a newspaper is female. Something like that.
So it goes that, in those languages, "The Qur'an" and "The Bible" are defined as either male or female (or neutral in some cases). So I suppose he is asking why in the languages he has knowledge of is the Qur'an always male and the Bible female.

Thought I dunno if there really is a tendency in languages for Qur'an to be male and Bible female, I suppose this might be the case in European languages. But as I mentioned earlier, they're both male in Arabic, and I think it has something to do with the language itself and how the word structure or origin could affect the gender.

"In every time and culture there are pressures to conform to the prevailing prejudices. But there are also, in every place and epoch, those who value the truth; who record the evidence faithfully. Future generations are in their debt." -Carl Sagan
- awais
- Ex-Muslim
- mulhid taqwa
- offline
Re: Why is the koran male and the bible female?
Reply #6 - February 10, 2010, 02:01 AM

Does he just mean the name of the book, or general usage in the books? I'm thinking it's the former, and why does it matter?

I chose to get circumcised at 17, don't tell me I never believed.
- Infidel
- Ex-Muslim
- offline
Re: Why is the koran male and the bible female?
Reply #7 - February 10, 2010, 09:18 PM

Quote from: awais on February 10, 2010, 02:01 AM
Does he just mean the name of the book, or general usage in the books? I'm thinking it's the former, and why does it matter?

The name itself, and how it affect articles and pronouns used being those for female or those for male. It's really an arbitrary thing most of the time, and doesn't relate to the 'thing' being defined as male or female as much as it is to the word itself.

Though I don't really know why it matters. Me guesses he forgot about this thread anyways, and was probably bored/drunk at the time he posted it

"In every time and culture there are pressures to conform to the prevailing prejudices. But there are also, in every place and epoch, those who value the truth; who record the evidence faithfully. Future generations are in their debt." -Carl Sagan
- NineBerry
- Tame Wolf
- Pub Regular
- offline
Re: Why is the koran male and the bible female?
Reply #8 - February 11, 2010, 12:36 AM

I don't drink and I am never bored (except at family gatherings).

I found it interesting that the bible is female while the koran is male. I wanted to know whether this is the case in all languages.

bleed for me...kill for me...die for me
- awais
- Ex-Muslim
- mulhid taqwa
- offline
Re: Why is the koran male and the bible female?
Reply #9 - February 11, 2010, 11:49 AM

Bible is male in Arabic and Hebrew innit? Kitab al-Muqaddis, and ha-Tanakh... Just in the romance languages it's female..

I chose to get circumcised at 17, don't tell me I never believed.
1« Previous thread | Next thread »