# all Slavic: feminine (Štajerska) or neuter (na Štajerskem)



## iezik

The Slovenian geographic proper adjectives on -ski,-ški are rather peculiar in gender selection. When used as a head of a nominal phrase, they're feminine: Štajerska, Dolenjska, Primorska, Hrvaška, Češka, Slovaška. When used in locative phrase with preposition "na", they're neuter: na Štajerskem, na Dolenjskem, na Primorskem, na Hrvaškem, na Češkem, na Slovaškem. These are the most common forms, although some variability exists.

So, such words don't behave as other adjectives that keep their gender like "dežurni; na dežurnem" or its feminine form "dežurna; na dežurni". Are such gender changing adjectives found also in other languages?


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## jakowo

iezik said:


> The Slovenian geographic proper adjectives on -ski,-ški are rather peculiar in gender selection. When used as a head of a nominal phrase, they're feminine: Štajerska, Dolenjska, Primorska, Hrvaška, Češka, Slovaška. When used in locative phrase with preposition "na", they're neuter: na Štajerskem, na Dolenjskem, na Primorskem, na Hrvaškem, na Češkem, na Slovaškem.





One or two centuries ago, it was fairly normal to use such expressions like 'im Steierischen' for 'im steierischen Land/Gebiet'. Other examples 'im Ungarischen, im Habsburgischen, im Böhmischen',  etc.etc.
Sort of nominalization of adjectives.
Nowadays 'outmoded'.


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## Azori

Slovak:

Štajersko _(Styria)_ - v Štajersku _(in Styria)_ /neuter noun/
Chorvátsko _(Croatia)_ - v Chorvátsku _(in Croatia)_ /neuter noun/
Slovensko _(Slovakia)_ - na Slovensku _(in Slovakia)_ /neuter noun/
Slovenská republika _(the Slovak Republic)_ - v Slovenskej republike _(in the Slovak Republic)_ /feminine adjective + feminine noun/

Adjectives in geographic names don't "change gender", e.g. Oravská priehrada _(the Orava dam)_ - na Oravskej priehrade _(on the Orava dam)_


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## bibax

In fact, Štýrsko, Charvátsko, Polsko, Maďarsko, etc. are substantivized adjectives of neuter gender.

Another locative ending is *-ě* (město _city_, ve městě _in the city_):

Polsko, v Polsku, v Polště (archaic, "Švédové v Polště", a novel written by Michał Czajkowski);
Hradecko, na Hradecku, na Hradečtě;

also Lipsko (= Leipzig), v Lipsku, v Lipště;


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## ilocas2

iezik said:


> The Slovenian geographic proper adjectives on -ski,-ški are rather peculiar in gender selection. When used as a head of a nominal phrase, they're feminine: Štajerska, Dolenjska, Primorska, Hrvaška, Češka, Slovaška. When used in locative phrase with preposition "na", they're neuter: na Štajerskem, na Dolenjskem, na Primorskem, na Hrvaškem, na Češkem, na Slovaškem. These are the most common forms, although some variability exists.
> 
> So, such words don't behave as other adjectives that keep their gender like "dežurni; na dežurnem" or its feminine form "dežurna; na dežurni". Are such gender changing adjectives found also in other languages?



Czech:

Štajerska
Štýrsko (neuter noun)
loc. - Štýrsku

Hrvaška
Chorvatsko (neuter noun)
loc. - Chorvatsku

Češka
Česko (neuter noun)
loc. - Česku

Česká republika (fem. adjective + fem. noun)
loc. - České republice

Slovaška
Slovensko (neuter noun)
loc. - Slovensku

"Charvátsko" is an obsolete name for Croatia


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## Gavril

Was the original pattern something like the following?

_Slovašk*a* _"Slovakian land*s*", where -_a_ = neuter nom. plural
na Slovašk*em* "in the Slovakian land", where -_em_ = neuter loc. sg.

But if so, what neuter noun would _Slovaška _originally have been modifying?



jakowo said:


> One or two centuries ago, it was fairly normal to use such expressions like 'im Steierischen' for 'im steierischen Land/Gebiet'. Other examples 'im Ungarischen, im Habsburgischen, im Böhmischen',  etc.etc.
> Sort of nominalization of adjectives.
> Nowadays 'outmoded'.


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## vianie

Gavril said:


> Was the original pattern something like the following?
> 
> _Slovašk*a* _"Slovakian land*s*", where -_a_ = neuter nom. plural
> na Slovašk*em* "in the Slovakian land", where -_em_ = neuter loc. sg.
> 
> But if so, what neuter noun would _Slovaška _originally have been modifying?



I have always thought that

Country names like these are substantivised adjectives of feminine gender:
Slovenian - _Slovaška država_ -> _Slovaška_
BCS - _Češka zemlja -> Češka_
Polish - _Polska ziemia/kraina -> Polska_

And country names like these are substantivised archaic adjectives of neuter gender:
Czech - _Rusko (území) -> Rusko_
Slovak - _Poľsko (územie) -> Poľsko_


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## Azori

vianie said:


> And country names like these are substantivised archaic adjectives of neuter gender:
> Czech - _Rusko (území) -> Rusko_
> Slovak - _Poľsko (územie) -> Poľsko_


Poľsko územie? Are you sure?


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## Gavril

vianie said:


> I have always thought that
> 
> Country names like these are substantivised adjectives of feminine gender:
> Slovenian - _Slovaška država_ -> _Slovaška_
> BCS - _Češka zemlja -> Češka_
> Polish - _Polska ziemia/kraina -> Polska_



But _država _alone doesn't seem to account for the ending -_em_ in _na Slovaškem_. Either

- there were originally two different nouns in Slovene: one feminine (e.g., _Slovaška država_) and one masculine or neuter (e.g., _na Slovaškem ozemlju_)
or
- there was one neuter noun appearing sometimes in the plural (e.g. _Slovaška ozemlja_), sometimes in the singular (_na Slovaškem ozemlju_)


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## vianie

Azori said:


> Poľsko územie? Are you sure?



The point of that was just to pass a figurative noun of neuter gender in there. I don't even think there was neccessary to have any noun after an adjective of neuter gender (most likely a possessive one), that's why I put that in the braces.



Gavril said:


> But _država _alone doesn't seem to account for the ending -_em_ in _na Slovaškem_. Either
> 
> - there were originally two different nouns in Slovene: one feminine (e.g., _Slovaška država_) and one masculine or neuter (e.g., _na Slovaškem ozemlju_)
> or
> - there was one neuter noun appearing sometimes in the plural (e.g. _Slovaška ozemlja_), sometimes in the singular (_na Slovaškem ozemlju_)



Analogically speaking, the first seems to be right. _Na Slovaškem_ may be L sg. of _Slovaško_, an adjective of neuter gender.


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## Awwal12

*Russian* just doesn't use adjectives as country names, I'm afraid.  In case of settlements, the gender of the proper adjectives depends on the gender of the respective word for a type of the settlement; посёлок will be named "Калининский", село would be "Калининское", while деревня or станица would be "Калининская". There are no inconsistiencies about their declension.
(Etymologically, the town names ending in -ск are adjectives as well, although there are no short forms of relative adjectives in modern Russian, so now it's just a pattern of town naming, and all those names are declined as usual nouns).


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