Originally Posted by
Ninthace
If you were quoting my post the ideal genderless name I suggested was aeronaut. Not a man in sight!
Why aviatrix? Aviator is not a Greek root and I believe the word was not coined until 1927. Predated by aviatrice and aviatress so they have seniority.
Aviatrix, Aviatrice and Aviatress - all feminine nouns of the male noun Aviator. Which is why we agree.
As for Aeronaut - well
naut is from
nautes in Ancient Greek, which means
sailor. So to me, an
Air Sailor is more likely to be a flyer or operator too?
PS. Trenchard, Henderson, Sykes,
et al went around this buoy many times in 1918/1919 on the formation of the RAF and Airman was chosen at that point as a
person of the air. So really who are we to change that?