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I am looking for a book which gives comprehensive noun declensions, any suggestions?

update: I may need 2 recommendations, one which just gives noun lists and enough info to unambiguously compute all declensions, and another recommendation for a dictionary, preferably with bigger font as I dont like having to use a lens to read books. I would rather have a bigger book than a smaller font.

There are 2 problems: declining a noun, and defining a noun. If a book does both, a brief list of one word translations would be fine. eg "perīculum,-ī,n.2=danger,peril". where n.2 is the 2nd declension table for neuter.

when I say unambigously compute, I want all declension rules explicitly given, I dont want any unwritten rules eg that neutral words have nominitive=accusative. ALL such rules must be given in the book and not deferred to other books, and I would prefer the approach of the 1425 words book, where 2nd declension neuter is given a separate table. 1425 is optimal it just doesnt give more obscure nouns.

also I want ALL macrons given, even implied ones.

clarification of what I mean:

eg for verbs, the 555 verbs book (The Big Gold book of latin verbs, 555 fully conjugated verbs), gives 555 verbs explicitly conjugated, and then a list of many further verbs giving a verb which each is declined the same as, eg many decline the same as amō.

but I havent found such a book for nouns.

I have the 1425 words book (Essential Latin Vocabulary, the 1,425 most common words..., by Mark AE Williams)

which for nouns gives declension tables, followed by words of a specific gender following that table, where each gives the genitive singular ending, from which I can compute a noun's declensions. a word will list also any irregular forms.

eg male first declension words are just 4: agricola, nauta, poēta, scurra, all with genitive singular ending -ae

so far I have dealt with all nouns via the 1425 words which I find an optimal format, but I reached the first one in the course, which isnt in the 1425 word book, and where the course just says "stream" is "fluvius" with ablative "in fluviō"

its not in the word list at the back, and not in "1425 words". words ending in -us can be neutral, eg corpus, so I cannot determine if a big stream is "fluvius magnus" or "fluvius magnum" or both. update: cmw has pointed out that "fluvius magnum" isnt possible, because words with nominitive -us and ablative -ō are either feminine or masculine. But "fluvius magna" is potentially possible.

I need a beginner's book which for nouns at least is reasonably comprehensive, possibly a dictionary, but it must give enough info to unambiguously complete the declension table for singular and plural and all the cases.

it also mustnt be prohibitively expensive.

I would prefer something like 555 verbs, but done for nouns, where you can have lists of fully conjugated nouns, then a list of further ones and which they decline the same as, or a book like 1425 words, which has tables and lists where it somehow indicates which table for each word, and presumably gives genitive singular, gender, and any irregular forms.

according to some reviews, some books dont give genitive singular, eg this one apparently doesnt: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0716X35NG/ I think you need at least genitive singular plus gender in order to deal with adjectives.

the 1425 word book doesnt give vocative, the course says 2nd declension nouns ending in -us have vocative -e. I dont know if this is a fully correct rule, ie no exceptions at all either way, eg if you were yelling at a field of grass (campus) would you yell campe!

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    I second Sebastian answer. I once had the energies to develop a tool to practice noun declinations and gender which are based on Wiktionary. The user might practice only the more common nouns (top 10%). Once a noun is displayed for the user the decline - it is clickable to reach Wiktionary.
    – d_e
    Commented Jan 28, 2022 at 22:01
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    If you look carefully, you'll see that the ablative of corpus is corpore, so fluvius can't follow that pattern.
    – cmw ♦
    Commented Jan 29, 2022 at 1:51
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    Before I answer, I just want to make sure I understand your questions. You just want a book that will show you declension paradigms and a list of words from which you can positively place in those paradigms, correct?
    – cmw ♦
    Commented Jan 29, 2022 at 2:26
  • @d_e I checked the URL you gave, which does give fluvius. But when I test with fluvius and just nom_s and abl_s, it rejects fluviō when given with a macron yet gives the correct form with the macron in red, but accepts it without the macron. It would be nice if it could do a strict macron test, where all macrons have to be given. As I am trying to learn all macrons. I feel one should either show ALL macrons, or NONE, and not go for the middle ground. eg 2 options for the test, show all macrons or none.
    – Commenter
    Commented Jan 30, 2022 at 0:30
  • @cmw a list of nouns without definitions stating just nominitive singular and genitive singular plus gender and any irregular forms plus say some tables where one can determine the table for the noun would be the minimum. but a brief definition of the noun would also be useful. I realise translation of words is many to many, so in general definitions can get complicated, but I am thinking of the kind of nouns in an introductory course. So perhaps 2 recommendations, one for a list of nouns, with sufficient info for declensions, and another recommendation for a dictionary.
    – Commenter
    Commented Jan 30, 2022 at 0:39

2 Answers 2

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For your purposes I recommend Wiktionary, which has a declension table for every noun and adjective (examples: fluvius, puer, fraxinus, tempus, virus, vetus, domus, deus). It is otherwise not a very helpful Latin dictionary, but I have yet to find a fault with the declension tables. (Note in particular how the “amateur” Wiktionary lists the gen. pl. fluvium, which the automatically generated declension table at the “academic, professional” Collatinus lacks.)

Now, printed dictionaries do not contain individual declension tables, because that would be a terrible waste of paper. However, every proper Latin dictionary will contain “enough info to unambiguously complete the declension table for singular and plural and all the cases.” All you need, as was discussed in this question, is the nominative and genetive singular and the gender (plus information on irregular forms, if any). They'll all give you those. Unfortunately, deducing all the forms from this information requires knowing all the five declensions and a number of rules and exceptions. A good Latin grammar will teach you all those, but when in doubt, something like Wiktionary will be handy.

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  • I couldnt find fluvius on this page of Wiktionary: la.wiktionary.org/w/… have I misunderstood?
    – Commenter
    Commented Jan 30, 2022 at 0:25
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    @Commenter: That's the Latin Wiktionary. There are different Wiktionaries based on what language the definitions are written in. The English Wiktionary, which has entries written in English about Latin words, is larger and has an entry for fluvius which Sebastian Koppehel linked to
    – Asteroides
    Commented Jan 30, 2022 at 6:44
  • The English Wiktionary even sometimes lists the locative forms of Latin words, which is only semi-predictable by the grammar rules for third declension nouns. It also sometimes includes information on variants. Look up "rus" and "mare" to get an idea.
    – Vegawatcher
    Commented Jan 30, 2022 at 7:12
  • @Asteroides how do I reach a word? do I just replace fluvius by whichever word in the URL of the link for fluvius?
    – Commenter
    Commented Jan 30, 2022 at 23:00
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If you learn the first 1,425 words, you will have learned the most common words. In any course, you're bound to come across a word here or there that is not included in any large set of word lists, unless you decide to get a dictionary.

There just isn't a book that has all Latin words, yet only lists the words with their genitive and gender. That book is called a dictionary, and we already have a thread for best online dictionary. You'll notice, by the way, that the top answer is a real, printed dictionary that was converted to digital format. If you want something that includes the unusual forms, that's your best bet.

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  • but is there a good paper dictionary, which I can access first, and then defer to an online dictionary? Because I often study without the computer or smartphone on. I can then check the dictionary, and if that fails, to boot up the computer. Preferably a dictionary with bigger font. Currently I dont have any latin dictionary. What would be nice is say something like 1425 words, but just for nouns, eg say 3000 nouns or something. Because the nouns of 1425 words are more or less a subvolume. nouns are a clearly delineated segment of latin, worthy of their own book like verbs have their 555 book.
    – Commenter
    Commented Jan 30, 2022 at 1:36
  • @Commenter My recommendation would be Cassell's or Smith-Lockwood (aka Chamber Murray).
    – cmw ♦
    Commented Jan 30, 2022 at 2:19
  • have placed an order for both, getting a luxury thumb indexed version of Cassell's! The online reviews of Cassell's look good, there are no amazon reviews for Chamber Murray, maybe you can put a review?
    – Commenter
    Commented Jan 30, 2022 at 23:18
  • one further thing, as a beginner I need a Latin to english dictionary, and english to Latin, where Cassells hopefully is ideal. But for adept language learning, you need a native dictionary where you remove the scaffolding of the source language, and dwell entirely in the target language. eg for german I use the Duden german-german dictionary, in particular this evades the problem of language being many to many. As latin isnt native for anyone, I dont know whether any good latin to latin dictionaries have been done? When I have learnt much more, I would like to at least dabble with such.
    – Commenter
    Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 2:02
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    @Commenter Shouldn't you wait until you know Latin better before getting a Latin-Latin dictionary? But if you insist, check this thread on Textkit.
    – cmw ♦
    Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 18:01

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