4

In English, we can take a verb like "swim" and refer to it as a noun in reference to occurrences. For example,

  1. "That was a good swim,"
  2. "I have three swims next week."

Is there a similar construct for Latin? The infinitive and the gerund come to mine. But in the first example, "swim" is nominative, so it doesn't fit the usual gerund pattern. "Natare bonum erat" implies "swimming was good" rather than referring to a particular instance of a swim that was good.

In the second example, "swim" is accusative. But references I found about the accusative gerunds indicate this was more commonly used for purpose than to refer to instances of occurrence.

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    If the verb has a fourth principal part, then you can probably use the fourth-declension verbal noun ending in -tus; e.g., venatus bonus fuit 'the hunt was good', but I don't think this can be pluralized. Note that in my dialect I don't often here the English version pluralized either.
    – Anonym
    Dec 2, 2017 at 0:22
  • Visus (seen) and visus est (he seemed, was seen) exist alongside Visus (4) appearance, visage (also plural.). And Liquor n, // Liqueo, make liquid. But generally it needs -esco, -ficio, as a conjugating suffix. Vis (strength), viresco (strengthen).
    – Hugh
    Dec 2, 2017 at 0:58

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

The first thing that comes to mind is the -or suffix that forms abstract nouns, like amare -> amor.

This probably would not work well with natare. I propose natatio,-onis . Accoring to L.S., this could convey the meaning of an instance of swimming.

The same suffix -tio also forms nouns from other verbs.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.