Why does "Hominem unius libri timeo" use comparativus unius instead of positivus unum? Does it mean "I fear a man of one book (more)"? Or does that unius belong to hominem because it is accusativus+comparativus?
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1 Answer
It looks like a comparative (cf. facilius, melius, and many others) but it is in fact a genitive. Thus unius libri is "of one book".
The word unus has an unusual declension:
- nom: unus, una, unum
- acc: unum, unam, unum
- gen: unius
- dat: uni
- abl: uno, una, uno
The same genitive in -ius is used by a couple of pronouns.
There is no comparative form of unus in Latin, nor do I know what "onner" should mean.
answered Sep 4, 2020 at 15:08
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Ah ok looks like the online dictionary is wrong, I checked somewhere else, most probably they generated the declinations. thanks!– oguzalbSep 4, 2020 at 15:10
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2just to add the other eight that share the same irregularity: alius, alter, ullus, nullus, uter, neuter, solus, totus.– d_eSep 4, 2020 at 15:14
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2@oguzalb I recommend Wiktionary (gets it right) or Collatinus (also gets it right but cannot be linked). Note that the pronunciation is different, by the way: the comparative has a short i and is stressed on the third to last syllable. Sep 4, 2020 at 15:47
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3@d_e: In addition, is, ille, iste, hic, and qui also have genitives on -ius.– Cerberus ♦Sep 4, 2020 at 16:19