Why is that the carcel is feminine
Why is that carcel is feminine?
2 Answers
The word was actually "carcer" in Latin, a masculine noun (-er is a typically masculine ending in Latin, with few exceptions), but at some point between the 4th and the 10th century (I don't have the exact dates with me), its gender changed to neuter, and the R changed to L ("carcel") between the 12th and 13th century, changing its gender again to feminine, presumably to match the pattern of other masculine Spanish words ending in L.
These changes are normal in all languages.
HI Ron, welcome to the forum, I edited your post for correct spelling 
Now, you are quite right, most words ending in "l" are masculine.
However, there are some exceptions. It might have something to do with its etymology.
Some more are:
La sal
la cal
la miel
la piel
I can think of some more ending in "l", but they are all jobs:
la cónsul
la bedel
