Dr Greg Bailey wrote :
 
A student who does not know Sanskrit has asked the following question: "I am doing some research into the etymological history of the term 'gender'. Currently I am trying to find out whether the term was used in Sanskrit to denote the socio-sexual meaning of the term, or whether the usage was restricted to the grammatical meaning."

Apart from the name of the three grammatical genders and the other common means of 'mark, characteristic' and 'penis,' can anybody please recommend any articles that may be of use?
The question of the student  seems to be:
 
I am doing some research into the etymological history of the term 'linga' 
 
Only then, the sentence
 
"Apart from the name of the three grammatical genders and the other common means of 'mark, characteristic' and 'penis,' can anybody please recommend any articles that may be of use?"
 
makes sense.
 
Now the answer:
 
Apart from the meanings mentioned in the sentence, the word carries the following meanings too:
 
1. Shiva's unanthropomorphic image
 
2. In Ayurveda, an indicator of a bodily /mental condition
 
3. In Nyaya, hetu =reason, cause (ref. Apte)
 
4. In Nyaya itself, the middle term of a syllogism (ref. Apte)
 
5. Any image of any god
 
6. As part of the word lingazarIra in Vedanta, to mean aggregate of  seeds of rebirth carried by the self after 'death' ( the loss of the sthUlazarIra =gross body) 
 
7. One of the relations or indications which serve to fix the meaning of a word in a passage (ref. Apte)
 
and more
 
 

--
Nagaraj Paturi
 
Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
 
Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies
 
FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,
 
(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )