Why is “la Gestapo” feminine?












10















Why is the word Gestapo feminine? Almost all other (non-abbreviated) loanwords I can think of ending in -o have been absorbed as masculine. Is it because it is associated with policía?










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    10















    Why is the word Gestapo feminine? Almost all other (non-abbreviated) loanwords I can think of ending in -o have been absorbed as masculine. Is it because it is associated with policía?










    share|improve this question

























      10












      10








      10








      Why is the word Gestapo feminine? Almost all other (non-abbreviated) loanwords I can think of ending in -o have been absorbed as masculine. Is it because it is associated with policía?










      share|improve this question














      Why is the word Gestapo feminine? Almost all other (non-abbreviated) loanwords I can think of ending in -o have been absorbed as masculine. Is it because it is associated with policía?







      etimología sustantivos género préstamo-lingüístico






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      asked 9 hours ago









      ukemiukemi

      10.3k22155




      10.3k22155






















          3 Answers
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          11














          In all the Romance languages, gestapo is feminine despite its ending. It is most likely that whichever language first imported it (probably either French or Italian) figured that because gestapo stands in for Geheime Staatspolizei (policía estatal secreta), the appropriate use would be to make it feminine as with the analogous words la police (FR), la polizia (IT) especially considering that coincidentally, polizei is, coincidentally, also feminine in German. Spanish and others, in turn, maintained that usage, although it's possible for separately and independently maintaining the feminine nature of policía/polizei.



          Also, even though it ends in -o which normally pushes words to be masculine, I find that acronyms and abbreviations for organizations tend to maintain the connection to the base noun's gender moreso than more common nouns.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 1





            "...the appropriate use would be to make it feminine as it also is in German." - Do you mean that when borrowing the word from German, the language actually considers the article in the original language? (As opposed to say, borrowed words always/mostly being feminine)?

            – BruceWayne
            4 hours ago











          • @BruceWayne feminine because policía is feminine. That it is also feminine in German is more of coincidental point, hence "as it also is" rather than "as it is".

            – guifa
            4 hours ago











          • Ah, thanks for clarifying, missed that!

            – BruceWayne
            4 hours ago











          • I changed one sentence to make it less ambiguous based on the comment above. Feel free to revert it if I've misunderstood etc

            – ukemi
            3 hours ago



















          0














          There are always exceptions to the rule:



          A very common one would be la mano



          I don't think there is a specific reason why La Gestapo has la as its article.



          Searching online it seems that exceptions to the rule fall into six categories:



          1 - Words that are shortened versions of other words. For example, la foto (photograph) is feminine because it's short for la fotografía.



          2 - Words that end in -ista as the equivalent of the English "-ist." For example, dentista can be either masculine or feminine depending on whether the dentist referred to is a man or woman.



          3 - Words whose meanings vary depending on the gender. For example, in some areas, la radio means "radio," while el radio means "radius" or "radium." Sometimes la radio is used to refer to the communications medium and el radio for a radio set.



          4 - Some masculine words that come from Greek and end in -a (often -ma). Most of these words have English cognates.



          5 - A few compound nouns, which are traditionally masculine, even when the noun portion comes from a feminine noun.



          6 - Words that are just exceptions, such as mano and día. Usually these exceptions come from the way the words were treated in Latin.






          share|improve this answer
























          • Drive-by downvoting with no reason? Se los agradezco de todo corazón.

            – gtgaxiola
            9 hours ago






          • 3





            Hi @gtgaxiola - thanks for taking the time to respond. I didn't downvote you, but I suspect whoever did may have done so because you didn't quite answer the question - you explained why some other groups of words may have superficially unexpected genders, but not Gestapo.

            – ukemi
            8 hours ago











          • Thank you @ukemi

            – gtgaxiola
            8 hours ago



















          0














          It's funny how people don't know the answer to something and still try to come up with a well explained, polished and presumptive argument. The answer for this is simple - but you won't understand it fully if your native language has no specified gender for every word, such as it is in portuguese. The simple reason is that "La Gestapo" refers to "La Policia Gestapo", and "Policia" (police) is a feminine word.
          There's really no specific rule for which words are masculine and which are feminine and that's why this issue may confuse those whose native language hasn't got this aspect.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Guto Lima is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.





















          • As detailed in another answer, gestapo is a contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei which is German. "-po" means police, so "La Policia Gestapo" means "the police secret state police". Maybe this is Spanish idiom, probably adopted because the "wrong" word ending sounded awful to Spanish speakers, but I am curious as to why you didn't just change the word ending: "gestapa".

            – Peter Wone
            1 hour ago











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          3 Answers
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          3 Answers
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          11














          In all the Romance languages, gestapo is feminine despite its ending. It is most likely that whichever language first imported it (probably either French or Italian) figured that because gestapo stands in for Geheime Staatspolizei (policía estatal secreta), the appropriate use would be to make it feminine as with the analogous words la police (FR), la polizia (IT) especially considering that coincidentally, polizei is, coincidentally, also feminine in German. Spanish and others, in turn, maintained that usage, although it's possible for separately and independently maintaining the feminine nature of policía/polizei.



          Also, even though it ends in -o which normally pushes words to be masculine, I find that acronyms and abbreviations for organizations tend to maintain the connection to the base noun's gender moreso than more common nouns.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 1





            "...the appropriate use would be to make it feminine as it also is in German." - Do you mean that when borrowing the word from German, the language actually considers the article in the original language? (As opposed to say, borrowed words always/mostly being feminine)?

            – BruceWayne
            4 hours ago











          • @BruceWayne feminine because policía is feminine. That it is also feminine in German is more of coincidental point, hence "as it also is" rather than "as it is".

            – guifa
            4 hours ago











          • Ah, thanks for clarifying, missed that!

            – BruceWayne
            4 hours ago











          • I changed one sentence to make it less ambiguous based on the comment above. Feel free to revert it if I've misunderstood etc

            – ukemi
            3 hours ago
















          11














          In all the Romance languages, gestapo is feminine despite its ending. It is most likely that whichever language first imported it (probably either French or Italian) figured that because gestapo stands in for Geheime Staatspolizei (policía estatal secreta), the appropriate use would be to make it feminine as with the analogous words la police (FR), la polizia (IT) especially considering that coincidentally, polizei is, coincidentally, also feminine in German. Spanish and others, in turn, maintained that usage, although it's possible for separately and independently maintaining the feminine nature of policía/polizei.



          Also, even though it ends in -o which normally pushes words to be masculine, I find that acronyms and abbreviations for organizations tend to maintain the connection to the base noun's gender moreso than more common nouns.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 1





            "...the appropriate use would be to make it feminine as it also is in German." - Do you mean that when borrowing the word from German, the language actually considers the article in the original language? (As opposed to say, borrowed words always/mostly being feminine)?

            – BruceWayne
            4 hours ago











          • @BruceWayne feminine because policía is feminine. That it is also feminine in German is more of coincidental point, hence "as it also is" rather than "as it is".

            – guifa
            4 hours ago











          • Ah, thanks for clarifying, missed that!

            – BruceWayne
            4 hours ago











          • I changed one sentence to make it less ambiguous based on the comment above. Feel free to revert it if I've misunderstood etc

            – ukemi
            3 hours ago














          11












          11








          11







          In all the Romance languages, gestapo is feminine despite its ending. It is most likely that whichever language first imported it (probably either French or Italian) figured that because gestapo stands in for Geheime Staatspolizei (policía estatal secreta), the appropriate use would be to make it feminine as with the analogous words la police (FR), la polizia (IT) especially considering that coincidentally, polizei is, coincidentally, also feminine in German. Spanish and others, in turn, maintained that usage, although it's possible for separately and independently maintaining the feminine nature of policía/polizei.



          Also, even though it ends in -o which normally pushes words to be masculine, I find that acronyms and abbreviations for organizations tend to maintain the connection to the base noun's gender moreso than more common nouns.






          share|improve this answer















          In all the Romance languages, gestapo is feminine despite its ending. It is most likely that whichever language first imported it (probably either French or Italian) figured that because gestapo stands in for Geheime Staatspolizei (policía estatal secreta), the appropriate use would be to make it feminine as with the analogous words la police (FR), la polizia (IT) especially considering that coincidentally, polizei is, coincidentally, also feminine in German. Spanish and others, in turn, maintained that usage, although it's possible for separately and independently maintaining the feminine nature of policía/polizei.



          Also, even though it ends in -o which normally pushes words to be masculine, I find that acronyms and abbreviations for organizations tend to maintain the connection to the base noun's gender moreso than more common nouns.







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited 2 hours ago

























          answered 8 hours ago









          guifaguifa

          25.9k13073




          25.9k13073








          • 1





            "...the appropriate use would be to make it feminine as it also is in German." - Do you mean that when borrowing the word from German, the language actually considers the article in the original language? (As opposed to say, borrowed words always/mostly being feminine)?

            – BruceWayne
            4 hours ago











          • @BruceWayne feminine because policía is feminine. That it is also feminine in German is more of coincidental point, hence "as it also is" rather than "as it is".

            – guifa
            4 hours ago











          • Ah, thanks for clarifying, missed that!

            – BruceWayne
            4 hours ago











          • I changed one sentence to make it less ambiguous based on the comment above. Feel free to revert it if I've misunderstood etc

            – ukemi
            3 hours ago














          • 1





            "...the appropriate use would be to make it feminine as it also is in German." - Do you mean that when borrowing the word from German, the language actually considers the article in the original language? (As opposed to say, borrowed words always/mostly being feminine)?

            – BruceWayne
            4 hours ago











          • @BruceWayne feminine because policía is feminine. That it is also feminine in German is more of coincidental point, hence "as it also is" rather than "as it is".

            – guifa
            4 hours ago











          • Ah, thanks for clarifying, missed that!

            – BruceWayne
            4 hours ago











          • I changed one sentence to make it less ambiguous based on the comment above. Feel free to revert it if I've misunderstood etc

            – ukemi
            3 hours ago








          1




          1





          "...the appropriate use would be to make it feminine as it also is in German." - Do you mean that when borrowing the word from German, the language actually considers the article in the original language? (As opposed to say, borrowed words always/mostly being feminine)?

          – BruceWayne
          4 hours ago





          "...the appropriate use would be to make it feminine as it also is in German." - Do you mean that when borrowing the word from German, the language actually considers the article in the original language? (As opposed to say, borrowed words always/mostly being feminine)?

          – BruceWayne
          4 hours ago













          @BruceWayne feminine because policía is feminine. That it is also feminine in German is more of coincidental point, hence "as it also is" rather than "as it is".

          – guifa
          4 hours ago





          @BruceWayne feminine because policía is feminine. That it is also feminine in German is more of coincidental point, hence "as it also is" rather than "as it is".

          – guifa
          4 hours ago













          Ah, thanks for clarifying, missed that!

          – BruceWayne
          4 hours ago





          Ah, thanks for clarifying, missed that!

          – BruceWayne
          4 hours ago













          I changed one sentence to make it less ambiguous based on the comment above. Feel free to revert it if I've misunderstood etc

          – ukemi
          3 hours ago





          I changed one sentence to make it less ambiguous based on the comment above. Feel free to revert it if I've misunderstood etc

          – ukemi
          3 hours ago











          0














          There are always exceptions to the rule:



          A very common one would be la mano



          I don't think there is a specific reason why La Gestapo has la as its article.



          Searching online it seems that exceptions to the rule fall into six categories:



          1 - Words that are shortened versions of other words. For example, la foto (photograph) is feminine because it's short for la fotografía.



          2 - Words that end in -ista as the equivalent of the English "-ist." For example, dentista can be either masculine or feminine depending on whether the dentist referred to is a man or woman.



          3 - Words whose meanings vary depending on the gender. For example, in some areas, la radio means "radio," while el radio means "radius" or "radium." Sometimes la radio is used to refer to the communications medium and el radio for a radio set.



          4 - Some masculine words that come from Greek and end in -a (often -ma). Most of these words have English cognates.



          5 - A few compound nouns, which are traditionally masculine, even when the noun portion comes from a feminine noun.



          6 - Words that are just exceptions, such as mano and día. Usually these exceptions come from the way the words were treated in Latin.






          share|improve this answer
























          • Drive-by downvoting with no reason? Se los agradezco de todo corazón.

            – gtgaxiola
            9 hours ago






          • 3





            Hi @gtgaxiola - thanks for taking the time to respond. I didn't downvote you, but I suspect whoever did may have done so because you didn't quite answer the question - you explained why some other groups of words may have superficially unexpected genders, but not Gestapo.

            – ukemi
            8 hours ago











          • Thank you @ukemi

            – gtgaxiola
            8 hours ago
















          0














          There are always exceptions to the rule:



          A very common one would be la mano



          I don't think there is a specific reason why La Gestapo has la as its article.



          Searching online it seems that exceptions to the rule fall into six categories:



          1 - Words that are shortened versions of other words. For example, la foto (photograph) is feminine because it's short for la fotografía.



          2 - Words that end in -ista as the equivalent of the English "-ist." For example, dentista can be either masculine or feminine depending on whether the dentist referred to is a man or woman.



          3 - Words whose meanings vary depending on the gender. For example, in some areas, la radio means "radio," while el radio means "radius" or "radium." Sometimes la radio is used to refer to the communications medium and el radio for a radio set.



          4 - Some masculine words that come from Greek and end in -a (often -ma). Most of these words have English cognates.



          5 - A few compound nouns, which are traditionally masculine, even when the noun portion comes from a feminine noun.



          6 - Words that are just exceptions, such as mano and día. Usually these exceptions come from the way the words were treated in Latin.






          share|improve this answer
























          • Drive-by downvoting with no reason? Se los agradezco de todo corazón.

            – gtgaxiola
            9 hours ago






          • 3





            Hi @gtgaxiola - thanks for taking the time to respond. I didn't downvote you, but I suspect whoever did may have done so because you didn't quite answer the question - you explained why some other groups of words may have superficially unexpected genders, but not Gestapo.

            – ukemi
            8 hours ago











          • Thank you @ukemi

            – gtgaxiola
            8 hours ago














          0












          0








          0







          There are always exceptions to the rule:



          A very common one would be la mano



          I don't think there is a specific reason why La Gestapo has la as its article.



          Searching online it seems that exceptions to the rule fall into six categories:



          1 - Words that are shortened versions of other words. For example, la foto (photograph) is feminine because it's short for la fotografía.



          2 - Words that end in -ista as the equivalent of the English "-ist." For example, dentista can be either masculine or feminine depending on whether the dentist referred to is a man or woman.



          3 - Words whose meanings vary depending on the gender. For example, in some areas, la radio means "radio," while el radio means "radius" or "radium." Sometimes la radio is used to refer to the communications medium and el radio for a radio set.



          4 - Some masculine words that come from Greek and end in -a (often -ma). Most of these words have English cognates.



          5 - A few compound nouns, which are traditionally masculine, even when the noun portion comes from a feminine noun.



          6 - Words that are just exceptions, such as mano and día. Usually these exceptions come from the way the words were treated in Latin.






          share|improve this answer













          There are always exceptions to the rule:



          A very common one would be la mano



          I don't think there is a specific reason why La Gestapo has la as its article.



          Searching online it seems that exceptions to the rule fall into six categories:



          1 - Words that are shortened versions of other words. For example, la foto (photograph) is feminine because it's short for la fotografía.



          2 - Words that end in -ista as the equivalent of the English "-ist." For example, dentista can be either masculine or feminine depending on whether the dentist referred to is a man or woman.



          3 - Words whose meanings vary depending on the gender. For example, in some areas, la radio means "radio," while el radio means "radius" or "radium." Sometimes la radio is used to refer to the communications medium and el radio for a radio set.



          4 - Some masculine words that come from Greek and end in -a (often -ma). Most of these words have English cognates.



          5 - A few compound nouns, which are traditionally masculine, even when the noun portion comes from a feminine noun.



          6 - Words that are just exceptions, such as mano and día. Usually these exceptions come from the way the words were treated in Latin.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 9 hours ago









          gtgaxiolagtgaxiola

          1866




          1866













          • Drive-by downvoting with no reason? Se los agradezco de todo corazón.

            – gtgaxiola
            9 hours ago






          • 3





            Hi @gtgaxiola - thanks for taking the time to respond. I didn't downvote you, but I suspect whoever did may have done so because you didn't quite answer the question - you explained why some other groups of words may have superficially unexpected genders, but not Gestapo.

            – ukemi
            8 hours ago











          • Thank you @ukemi

            – gtgaxiola
            8 hours ago



















          • Drive-by downvoting with no reason? Se los agradezco de todo corazón.

            – gtgaxiola
            9 hours ago






          • 3





            Hi @gtgaxiola - thanks for taking the time to respond. I didn't downvote you, but I suspect whoever did may have done so because you didn't quite answer the question - you explained why some other groups of words may have superficially unexpected genders, but not Gestapo.

            – ukemi
            8 hours ago











          • Thank you @ukemi

            – gtgaxiola
            8 hours ago

















          Drive-by downvoting with no reason? Se los agradezco de todo corazón.

          – gtgaxiola
          9 hours ago





          Drive-by downvoting with no reason? Se los agradezco de todo corazón.

          – gtgaxiola
          9 hours ago




          3




          3





          Hi @gtgaxiola - thanks for taking the time to respond. I didn't downvote you, but I suspect whoever did may have done so because you didn't quite answer the question - you explained why some other groups of words may have superficially unexpected genders, but not Gestapo.

          – ukemi
          8 hours ago





          Hi @gtgaxiola - thanks for taking the time to respond. I didn't downvote you, but I suspect whoever did may have done so because you didn't quite answer the question - you explained why some other groups of words may have superficially unexpected genders, but not Gestapo.

          – ukemi
          8 hours ago













          Thank you @ukemi

          – gtgaxiola
          8 hours ago





          Thank you @ukemi

          – gtgaxiola
          8 hours ago











          0














          It's funny how people don't know the answer to something and still try to come up with a well explained, polished and presumptive argument. The answer for this is simple - but you won't understand it fully if your native language has no specified gender for every word, such as it is in portuguese. The simple reason is that "La Gestapo" refers to "La Policia Gestapo", and "Policia" (police) is a feminine word.
          There's really no specific rule for which words are masculine and which are feminine and that's why this issue may confuse those whose native language hasn't got this aspect.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Guto Lima is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.





















          • As detailed in another answer, gestapo is a contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei which is German. "-po" means police, so "La Policia Gestapo" means "the police secret state police". Maybe this is Spanish idiom, probably adopted because the "wrong" word ending sounded awful to Spanish speakers, but I am curious as to why you didn't just change the word ending: "gestapa".

            – Peter Wone
            1 hour ago
















          0














          It's funny how people don't know the answer to something and still try to come up with a well explained, polished and presumptive argument. The answer for this is simple - but you won't understand it fully if your native language has no specified gender for every word, such as it is in portuguese. The simple reason is that "La Gestapo" refers to "La Policia Gestapo", and "Policia" (police) is a feminine word.
          There's really no specific rule for which words are masculine and which are feminine and that's why this issue may confuse those whose native language hasn't got this aspect.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Guto Lima is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.





















          • As detailed in another answer, gestapo is a contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei which is German. "-po" means police, so "La Policia Gestapo" means "the police secret state police". Maybe this is Spanish idiom, probably adopted because the "wrong" word ending sounded awful to Spanish speakers, but I am curious as to why you didn't just change the word ending: "gestapa".

            – Peter Wone
            1 hour ago














          0












          0








          0







          It's funny how people don't know the answer to something and still try to come up with a well explained, polished and presumptive argument. The answer for this is simple - but you won't understand it fully if your native language has no specified gender for every word, such as it is in portuguese. The simple reason is that "La Gestapo" refers to "La Policia Gestapo", and "Policia" (police) is a feminine word.
          There's really no specific rule for which words are masculine and which are feminine and that's why this issue may confuse those whose native language hasn't got this aspect.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Guto Lima is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.










          It's funny how people don't know the answer to something and still try to come up with a well explained, polished and presumptive argument. The answer for this is simple - but you won't understand it fully if your native language has no specified gender for every word, such as it is in portuguese. The simple reason is that "La Gestapo" refers to "La Policia Gestapo", and "Policia" (police) is a feminine word.
          There's really no specific rule for which words are masculine and which are feminine and that's why this issue may confuse those whose native language hasn't got this aspect.







          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Guto Lima is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer






          New contributor




          Guto Lima is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          answered 3 hours ago









          Guto LimaGuto Lima

          1




          1




          New contributor




          Guto Lima is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.





          New contributor





          Guto Lima is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.






          Guto Lima is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.













          • As detailed in another answer, gestapo is a contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei which is German. "-po" means police, so "La Policia Gestapo" means "the police secret state police". Maybe this is Spanish idiom, probably adopted because the "wrong" word ending sounded awful to Spanish speakers, but I am curious as to why you didn't just change the word ending: "gestapa".

            – Peter Wone
            1 hour ago



















          • As detailed in another answer, gestapo is a contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei which is German. "-po" means police, so "La Policia Gestapo" means "the police secret state police". Maybe this is Spanish idiom, probably adopted because the "wrong" word ending sounded awful to Spanish speakers, but I am curious as to why you didn't just change the word ending: "gestapa".

            – Peter Wone
            1 hour ago

















          As detailed in another answer, gestapo is a contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei which is German. "-po" means police, so "La Policia Gestapo" means "the police secret state police". Maybe this is Spanish idiom, probably adopted because the "wrong" word ending sounded awful to Spanish speakers, but I am curious as to why you didn't just change the word ending: "gestapa".

          – Peter Wone
          1 hour ago





          As detailed in another answer, gestapo is a contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei which is German. "-po" means police, so "La Policia Gestapo" means "the police secret state police". Maybe this is Spanish idiom, probably adopted because the "wrong" word ending sounded awful to Spanish speakers, but I am curious as to why you didn't just change the word ending: "gestapa".

          – Peter Wone
          1 hour ago


















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