Talk:soprano

why is it sopranos not sopranoes


 * Words borrowed from other languages often don't take the e, so we have potatoes but cigarillos. Equinox ◑ 00:28, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Why soprano and not soprana? It seems natural to use a feminine ending for a female voice (or with the noun for voice, which is feminine in Romance languages), but obviously that's not we've got. Do we have the masculine ending because the term was first used for an instrument (or with some other noun) with masculine grammatical gender, or because of a (possible) preferred use of castrati over women for the higher voices, or some other reason entirely? Thanks. --Curmudgeonly Pedant (talk) 16:46, 12 May 2019 (UTC)