Words that begin with sound of A

Question

Words that start with the a sound use the direct article of 'el' for example:

el agua
el área
el hacha

but are those words still femine when you apply adjectives to them or are the masculine

el área es larga
o
el área es largo

Gracias de antemano

Answer 1

You obviously didn't read a past post between Heidita and the now missing Cherry. It was about a definition from the RAE and another Bona Fide well known (in Spain that is) Spanish dictionary, just wish I could remember the one. It was very lenghty and got quite heated. Both stood by their dictionary's interpretation. Also, not too sure it is relevant to your argument, but it was funny.

Answer 2

Cuando el artículo "el" se encuentra ante palabras femeninas que empiezan con a- ha- tónicas: el agua, el hada, pero en plural se dice: las aguas, las hadas. El artículo "el" no es masculino, sino una variante de "la", ya que ambas formas proceden del pronombre demostrativo latino illa (illa > ella/ela > el/la), mientras que "el" como artículo masculino viene de ille (ille > ell > el/él).