# All Slavic languages: mouse (feminine/masculine)



## dihydrogen monoxide

Is the word mouse in your language feminine or masculine? I'd like to also hear from speakers of Sorbian if they are on this forum.


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## trance0

Miš in Slovene is feminine.


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## njumi

In Polish it's feminine.
mouse = mysz


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## winpoj

In Czech it's feminine as well: myš.
The male would be "myšák". Mickey Mouse = myšák Mickey.


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## Oh là là

In Russian it's feminine.
mouse=мышь


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## Duya

It's masculine in Serbo-Croatian though. A female mouse is _mišica_.


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## dihydrogen monoxide

That's what I was getting at, I wanted to see if Serbo-Croatian was the only Slavic language where word mouse is not feminine and wanted to compare it with other Slavic languages, that's the basis of this topic.


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## Duya

Bulgarian has мишка, apparently feminine. Macedonian seems to be миш, masculine.


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## iobyo

Duya said:


> Bulgarian has мишка, apparently feminine. Macedonian seems to be миш, masculine.



Actually, Macedonian has _глушец_. 

I believe we're the only ones not to use some form of the common Slavic _миш_ ("miš").


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## Kolan

Oh là là said:


> In Russian it's feminine.
> mouse=мышь


Also in modern Russian there is no masculine form.


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## dihydrogen monoxide

Kolan said:


> Also in modern Russian there is no masculine form.


 
When did the masculine form die out?


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## njumi

iobyo said:


> Actually, Macedonian has _глушец_.




*Comment: *In Polish 'głuszec' is a species of a bird.
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grafika:Tetrao_urogallus_Richard_Bartz.jpg


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## Kolan

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> When did the masculine form die out?


I am not able to testify . However, some traces of *мышец* (which is not lexical in modern Russian, unless it is used in modern blogs literally or euphemistically like "_мышец настал_" or meaning _computer mouse_) could be seen in a family name like *Мышецкий*, or in its feminine equivalent *мышца* which acquired a different meaning (*muscle, *http://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BC%D1%83%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%83%D0%BB) long time ago.


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## dihydrogen monoxide

That's the explanation I needed, however if you were to look at the meaning of the muscle and its cognates it means little mouse. Looks like Russian changed the gender for the word mouse to form muscle while other languages that I know of kept original gender.


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## TriglavNationalPark

trance0 said:


> Miš in Slovene is feminine.


 
Funnily enough, in my gradmother's dialect -- she's from Bela Krajina (or Bela *k*rajina as it's written in Slovene) --, it's masculine. That's almost certianly due to the influence of Croatian, since Bela Krajina borders Croatia and has historically been influenced by migration from Croatia and Bosnia during the Turkish invasions.

But yes, in standard Slovene, _miš_ is always feminine. _Mišek_ is the (diminuitive) masculine form.


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## Kolan

TriglavNationalPark said:


> _Mišek_ is the (diminuitive) masculine form.


A diminutive *мышок*_, m_ exists in Russian too (c. *мышка*, f), but it is more likely a colloquial contraction of *мышонок*_, m _(little baby mouse) and sounds like a nickname or pseudonym.


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## iobyo

njumi said:


> *Comment: *In Polish 'głuszec' is a species of a bird.



Interesting.


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## TriglavNationalPark

Duya said:


> It's masculine in Serbo-Croatian though. A female mouse is _mišica_.


 
BTW, in Slovene, _mišica_ is a muscle.


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## avok

Noone said what the word itself in Croatian is. Is it "masa"?


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## Duya

avok said:


> Noone said what the word itself in Croatian is. Is it "masa"?





Duya said:


> It's masculine in Serbo-*Croatian* though. A female mouse is _mišica_.



_ 		Miš_, obviously.

Unless explicitly specified otherwise, you can assume that Serbian=Bosnian=Croatian for given word or usage.


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## avok

Yes I know no one said what it is in Serbian and Bosnian either. By the way, I have thought that the mouse is "masa" or something similar in S.C.B. language?


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## Kolan

In Ukrainian it is *миша,* _f_.


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## iobyo

TriglavNationalPark said:


> In addition to BSC, "mačka" is also used in Slovene, Slovak, and possibly some other Slavic languages -- Macedonian perhaps?



That's right. We also have the masculine form of _мачор_ (mačor), something like the Serbian _mačak_, but the feminine form is used by default. 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Bulgarian has borrowed their word for cat ("котка") from Russian ("кот", "кошка"). 

But... if I remember correctly, it may be from OCS, or even a reborrowing perhaps.

Is the Hungarian _macska_ from BSC or the other way around?

Sorry for going off-topic.


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## kusurija

Hornosjerbsce(Upper Sorbian) and Dolnoserbski(Lower Sorbian) :
myš (in both languages it's femininum)


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## Polak2008

Mysz = feminine
and Myszka also ....
moja zona jest moja mala myszka.


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## Polak2008

I mean girlfriend!


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## myghetto

In Bulgarian
feminine = мишка (mishka)
masculine = мишок (mishok)


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## nimak

iobyo said:


> Actually, Macedonian has _глушец_.
> 
> I believe we're the only ones not to use some form of the common Slavic _миш_ ("miš").



_male_: *глушец *(glušec) ['glu.ʃɛt͡s]; _in some dialects_ *глуфец* (glufec) ['glu.fɛt͡s]
_female_: *глувчица *(gluvčica) ['gluf.t͡ʃi.t͡sa]
_neuter and diminutive_: *глувче *(gluvče) ['gluf.t͡ʃɛ]


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## Awwal12

Kolan said:


> Also in modern Russian there is no masculine form.


There is colloquial "мыш" (homophonous in the nominative case, but with the 2nd  declension pattern instead of the 3rd: мыша́, мышу́, мыша́, мышо́м, мыше́). But it's marginal, of course.


Kolan said:


> However, some traces of *мышец* (which is not lexical in modern Russian, unless it is used in modern blogs literally or euphemistically like "_мышец настал_" or meaning _computer mouse_) could be seen in a family name like *Мышецкий*, or in its feminine equivalent *мышца* which acquired a different meaning


Мышца had its meaning already in proto-Slavic. Мышецкий may be not related to mice at all.


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## bibax

In Czech *myšice* (f.) is a species of Muridae.

*myška* (f.) is a diminutive of *myš* (f.), also an archaic word for _muscle, musculus_ (= sval in Modern Czech, from the verb valiti);

*myška* is also a species of Muridae (Rus. мышь-малютка);

another species of Myomorpha (myšovci) is *myšivka* (f., Rus. мышовка);

The complete "family" in stories for children: *myšák* (m.), *myš/myška/myšice* (f.), *myšče* (n. - gen. myščete, pl. myščata)

_"Šel myšák s myšicí a svými šesti myščaty do městečka Myškova na myší trh."_

In Czech (like in Polish) *hlušec* is a bird (hluchý = deaf; Rus. глухарь < глухо́й).

*myšok* (m.) is a species of whale (_Balaenopteridae_), probably from an older Latin name _Balaena *musculus*_;


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## nimak

bibax said:


> In Czech (like in Polish) *hlušec* is a bird (hluchý = deaf; Rus. глухарь < глухо́й).



*Глув* (gluv) [gɫuf] _adj. masc._ - _"deaf"_ is the root of the Macedonian word *глушец* too.
With this root we have another name, for the flowering plant Taraxacum officinale (Dandelion) called *глуварче* (gluvarče) ['gɫuvart͡ʃɛ] _n. neut._


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## bibax

In Czech we have also a plant: *hluchavka* f. (Lamium, dead-nettle), from the adjective *hluchý*; it means that the plant doesn't sting like nettle. In BCS it is called _mrtva kopriva_, however it is not related to the true nettle (Cz. kopřiva = nettle).


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