ships

[Caran]

Why are ships etc referred to as she? Why not he? Just wondering.

[joko]

my cars are named after the 'word' in their number plate letter...so ive had peebu and now howod (howard)

although i rarely actually use them

[jd_here]

And all Eddie Stobart trucks have girls names...

[Quizmonster]

In Old English, nouns still had gender...that is, they were masculine, feminine or neuter, just as they still are in German, for instance. When using appropriate pronouns, these would be he, she and it, respectively. When that system broke up, 'it' was used as the pronoun to refer to all nouns. However, some things considered somehow especially masculine were still referred to as 'he' for a long time afterwards - eg mountains, oak-trees etc - and others were still referred to as 'she' - eg boats, carriages etc.
The use of 'she' for a ship, for example, is at least as old as the 14th century in ‘modern' English and it was the same in Roman times. This may have been because their ships were dedicated often to goddesses, who were possibly the first figureheads carved on ships' prows. Even before that, in the language of the ancient Babylonians, ‘boat' was a feminine word, just as it was in Biblical Hebrew. That means Noah's ‘ark' was a feminine word, as boat is today in Italian and Arabic. (The French - typically! - have masculine ships and the Germans have neuter ones.) The answer to your question as to why ships are called ‘she' is, therefore, a combination of language-development and history.

[netibiza]

Good morning Quizmonster, that was certainly informative, thank you. Am I right in thinking that in Spanish a boat (el barco) is therefore masculine?

[Quizmonster]

Cheers, Neti. I'm no expert in Spanish, but - as I understand it - the definite article, 'el', IS a masculine indicator whilst 'la' is the feminine one. Thus, if el barco = the boat, I'd asssume it WAS masculine.

[netibiza]

Thanks quizzy, glad you are still around! :o)

[Quizmonster]

My pleasure, ma'am, and so am I...glad I'm still around, that is! Good to see you, too.