I was looking through some old documents and noticed that for female workers titles they used the trix ending. ex. Administrator is an administratrix, testor is a testrix, aviator is an aviatrix. I was wondering when did that gender differentiation stop being used.
Welcome to the forum. A great place to find the answer to this type of question is: http://books.google.com/ngrams/
There I found "administratrix" still in use, with a peak in the 1800s.
Only a single hit for "testrix" (which I'd never seen before).
And "aviatrix" peaking in 1940, with a decline in the 1960s, but apparently also still in use.
I'd have guessed all those terms would've been phased out with the rise of the women's movement in the 1970s. I have to say I rarely hear/see these terms these days.
I wrote it down wrong I meant testatrix. I work in an archives and come across old legal documents sometimes and just found it strange since I have rarely if ever heard it used anymore.
So, was "testor" spelled wrong too?
Emmett
Here is a list of -trix words I found. Of course, I often hear matrix, but it is not a male-female paired form. I do still occasionally hear executrix, and I understand (ahem) that some use dominatrix.
adjutrix
administratrix
admonitrix
arbitratrix
autocratrix
aviatrix
beatrix
bellatrix
bisectrix
cicatrix
coexecutrix
competitrix
creatrix
curatrix
dictatrix
directrix
dominatrix
executrix
generatrix
hystrix
impropriatrix
indicatrix
inheritrix
janitrix
legislatrix
matrix
mediatrix
moderatrix
natrix
negotiatrix
oratrix
osculatrix
persecutrix
prosecutrix
quadratrix
rectrix
relatrix
rixatrix
separatrix
strix
tectrix
testatrix
tortrix
tractrix
trix
turbatrix
tutrix
victrix