Male or femalewhat gender to use to refer to theEtna? This is a topic that has always created debate, particularly among those who live near the volcano and those who talk about it from other regions. In the popular tradition of eastern Sicily, Etna it is called “A Muntagna”a name that unequivocally identifies it as feminine.
For many inhabitants of that area, in fact, the reference to the volcano is masculine is unacceptablesince Etna is seen as a mountain, which in Italian is a feminine gender term. However, not everyone agrees with this usage.
Many outside Sicily see Etna as a “volcano”, a noun which in Italian is di masculine gender and therefore refer to it using the masculine. This raises the question of what gender is correct to use when talking about Europe’s largest active volcano.
Neither interpretation is wrong
Then he thinks about answering us and clarifying any doubts the Crusca Academy. From a linguistic point of view, in fact, the name “Etna” It has Greek roots and its historical evolution has led to different interpretations of the genre.
In the Middle Ages, for example, Etna was also known as “Mongibello”, a name composed of the Latin element “mons” and the Arabic “gebel”, both meaning “mountain”. In this case it was a male toponym, since both “mons” and “gebel” are male.
As mentioned, however, local Sicilian tradition continued to consider Etna a mountain, feminine, and this usage took root in the Sicilian dialect. In Italian, the gender of a name is often like that of a place follows the gender of the generic term that describes it.
And here we have another problem: Etna can be both a mountain and a volcano. If we consider it as a mountain, and therefore as “the mountain”, female use becomes justified. On the contrary, if we define it as a “volcano”, the male gender appears more appropriate. This leads to a natural alternation between the two genres depending on the context and interpretation.
Another factor that influences the use of the feminine is the ending in “-a” of “Etna”. In Italian, most words ending with this vowel are feminine, a phenomenon that leads many to automatically use the feminine also for Etna.
From the analyzes conducted on texts and on the internet, one emerges slight preference for masculinebut there is no shortage of examples of the use of the feminine, especially in contexts more linked to the local Sicilian tradition. So, is everything clear? Maybe, or maybe not. Whatever you want to call it (or her), Etna will always remain a magnificent vision and one of the symbols of beautiful Sicily.
