He was incognito? She was incognita?
1) Should the adjective/adverb incognito be used only for males? M-W says:
Definition of incognita : [...] —used only of a woman
But M-W's definition of incognito simply says
with one's identity concealed
So is incognito truly unisex ? What about plurals/mixed-sex/unknown - are they all incognito too?
On ngram I see hits for he was incognito but negligible hits for he/she was incognita or she was incognito.
2) Since it has a Latin root and from what I can figure out from Wikipedia, in Latin the feminine and neuter versions are both the same, i.e. incognita, so, it seems strange English default is incognito?
Solution 1:
The pair incognito/incognita came to English through Italian, which is why it doesn't match up with Latin cases. Italian, of course, got the word from Latin, hence the Latin root. (You can see this this on the Merriam-Webster pages for incognito and incognita.)
Currently, I would say that incognita is going the same path as other feminine-exclusive words such as authoress: disuse. Most people would not think twice about using the word incognito for anyone, whereas incognita will probably raise eyebrows, and may even be considered offensive.
Just use incognito for everyone, and avoid pushing into the issue of gender-neutral language.
Solution 2:
Incognito is an adverb meaning: in disguised or under an assumed name, and has no gender declination in English.
"This term is said especially of great personages who sometimes adopt a disguise or an assumed character in order to avoid notice." (Wiktionary)
in a way that prevents other people from finding out who you are.
- Movie stars often prefer to travel incognito.
Note that the feminine term incognita was used in the past as suggested by etymonline:
- Feminine form incognita was maintained through 19c. by those scrupulous about Latin.
Word Origin
- mid 17th cent.: from Italian, literally ‘unknown’, from Latin incognitus, from in- ‘not’ + cognitus, past participle of cognoscere ‘know’.
OLD
Curiously, also the Italian idiomatic expression "in incognito" which corresponds to the English usage, has no gender declination.
De Mauro