Talk:Sprea

Latin gender

The gender should be somewhat doubtful. Most Latin names for rivers are masculine (Are there any exceptions?). But dictionaries list different genders for modern names.

• books.google.de/books?id=xt0qAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1013 and books.google.de/books?id=hr5UchTUhvcC&pg=PA1032 has "Spree, ein Fluß, Sprea, ae, f."
• books.google.de/books?id=ZHBeAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PA101 just has "Sprea, ae, die Spree"

For comparision also:

• books.google.de/books?id=AEE18-ddrNcC&pg=PR10 has "Oder. Fl. Odera, ae, m. br Viadrus, i, m."
• books.google.de/books?id=K-9PAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1247 has "Oder, Odera, ae, m. -- Viadrus, i, m."
• books.google.de/books?id=J9VgAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA831 has "Oder, ein Fluß, Odera, ae, f.; Viadrus, i, m."
• books.google.de/books?id=Em1NAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA654 has "Oder, eene rivier in Duitschland, Odera, ae, f. Viadrus, i, m. volgens Scheller"
• books.google.de/books?id=ePdDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA690 has "Odera, ae, m. L'Oder. Riviere d'Allemagne. Viadrus, i, m."
• books.google.de/books?id=K-9PAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1248 has "Pleiße, Plissa, ae, m."
• books.google.de/books?id=J9VgAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA832 has "Pleiße, ein Fluß, Plissa, ae, c."

Compared with Latin names like "Mosa, ae, m.", it should be more likely that it is also "Sprea, ae, m." and "Odera, ae, m.". But because of the German gender (die Spree, die Oder, die Pleiße) and because of the ending "-a, ae" it's not unlikely that those names were also used as feminines (That might be barbarisms though). -80.133.123.243 01:15, 18 March 2016 (UTC)