Questions tagged [declinatio]
For questions about declension—the inflection of Latin nouns and adjectives to mark grammatical features such as case and number.
97
questions
14
votes
4answers
2k views
Meaning of “dies illa” from Dies Irae
The first verse from "Dies Irae" goes like
Dies irae, dies illa
I'm trying to understand what "illa" is referring to.
According to the declension table for pronouns, "illa" corresponds either to ...
8
votes
2answers
1k views
How should one latinize this name?
A friend of mine, whose name is Raoni (he's brazilian, his name comes from a native root, also the tonic vowel is the very last [i]), started learning latin and I've been studying for a while. I ...
17
votes
1answer
577 views
What are the relative frequencies of cases in Latin?
Latin has seven cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, vocative, locative.
What are their relative frequencies in classical Latin?
I suppose an answer would have to be based on ...
10
votes
2answers
422 views
Which Latin declension is most common?
Does anyone know the rough proportions of Latin words that fall into each of the five declensions? Which is most common? Which is least common?
8
votes
1answer
67 views
Why is the proper name Apollos not declined in the Vulgate
Saint Apollos was a companion of Saint Paul mentioned several times in the New Testament. In the Latin Vulgate, his name is transliterated as an indeclinable noun, Apollo. My question is, why was his ...
1
vote
0answers
50 views
Checking Greek declensions: software or reference?
Although quite a few Greek words follow the same simple patterns of declension, I'm finding that there are enough complications that I'm often unsure of whether I'm getting it right. Is there a ...
3
votes
0answers
37 views
προσώπατα versus πρόσωπα, προσώπασι versus προσώποις in Homer
I'm working on learning Homeric vocabulary, and for this purpose I've written a script using CLTK to search for forms of a particular word through the Iliad and Odyssey. The idea is that I don't want ...
2
votes
1answer
68 views
Declination of “potentia” with preposition “in”
In philosophy, e.g. in Spinoza, there is the Latin word "potentia" that is often translated as a power, or capacity, to act (potentia agendi) and to suffer actions.
I am wondering what is the right ...
4
votes
2answers
443 views
How do you latinize the name “Cole”?
Salvete,
I can't figure out how I would go about latinizing my name. I would also
appreciate a declension of my latinized name. I was thinking that maybe "Colus,"
"Colis," or "Coleus" could work, ...
0
votes
0answers
64 views
Negotia Essentialia and Essentialia Negotii
As Per Essentialia negotii transaction's essentials.
Did the Classical Roman Scholars in Roman Law use Essentialia Negotii?
Wouldn't it be more gramatical to use Negotia Essentialia to refer to ...
2
votes
0answers
31 views
What order of the cases did the Romans use when declining nouns? [duplicate]
In modern books, two orders of the cases can be found: nom, gen, dat, acc, abl, and nom, acc, gen, dat, abl. Which one did the Romans use? Or did they use some entirely different order?
4
votes
0answers
63 views
Why is the form “Antares” used as an ablative in some Latin texts?
Jam inquiro nomen stellae Antares. Multa documenta quae "ab Antares" dicunt comperi. At non scio ablativi qui in "es" terminantur. Potestne nomen "Antares" indeclinabile esse? Quare?
Exempla:
"Lanx ...
2
votes
2answers
119 views
Essentialia negotii transaction's essentials
So essentialia negotii is transaction's essentials. How would one say The transaction's essential things, transactions' essential things, essential things of the transaction and essential things of ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
Is the adjective in latin put after the noun or before?
E.g Is the legal term essentialia negotii correct use of the grammar(declension, agreement, word order) rules or not?
Should it not be negotiorum essentialium so that the case, the number and the ...
4
votes
1answer
83 views
Declension uncertainty regarding Ablative / Nominative
I'm struggling, particularly, with determining the correct case for some of the words in the following expressions:
Natura est semper invicta
Here, is the word "invicta" in Ablative or Nominative ...
4
votes
1answer
179 views
How did vāti-s become vātēs?
To my understanding, vātēs "bard" started out as an i-stem noun, built on the stem vāti- (probably from something like *weh₂t-i-). So I would expect the nominative to look something like *vāti-s.
...
5
votes
3answers
168 views
Where does the word “tudes” 'hammer' show up in texts?
Lewis and Short has an entry for a noun tŭdes, with the genitive singular given as "is (ĭtis, acc. to Fest. p. 253 Müll.)". It is defined as "a hammer, mallet". The two citations in the entry show the ...
5
votes
1answer
90 views
Can Greek letter names be declined?
There seems to be solid evidence that Latin letter names were indeclinable.
But in Greek, several letters' names do fit into standard declension patterns: sigma, for instance, might actually be a -ma ...
6
votes
1answer
126 views
Dies and the fifth declension
In an answer to this question on Ζεύς Draconis mentions (quoting his own post on another site):
The accusative form of the root, *dyēm (cf AGrk Zēn), also survived in Latin, in the form *diēm > ...
3
votes
1answer
70 views
Words belong to the first and second declension at the same time
Exter, magnus, diduus, they all belong to the first declension and also the second declension.
Why these adjectives are so special?
4
votes
1answer
155 views
Do first-declension neuter nouns or adjectives have plural forms?
Although almost all first-declension nouns are feminine or masculine, there seem to be a handful of adjectives that belong to the first declension for all genders, and at least one substantive noun, ...
6
votes
2answers
218 views
Was “Pascha” ever used as a neuter first-declension noun?
Before today, I thought that there was no neuter substantive1 noun with a nominative singular in a and a genitive singular in ae. However, I have encountered references to a possible exception: some ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
How to find the stem of any word?
I am wondering if the stem of every word has an exact form?
For example:
For the word genus, how could you determine is it gen or gener?
For the word līber, how could you determine is it līber or ...
2
votes
1answer
119 views
Declining “dulcis” in context
I want to translate the phrase
It's just like a big recorder
where "recorder" is the musical instrument. The generic Latin for "flute" seems to be "tibia" (pipe), so I settled on using the Latin ...
5
votes
1answer
86 views
How are “Arsaces” and “Gotarzes” declined, and why?
Declinatione nominum latinorum a nominibus graecis quae -ης finiuntur perturbor.
Dictionarium L&S exhibet "Arsăces, is m." a nomine graeco Ἀρσάκης. (E in syllaba ultima de "Arsăces" longum esse ...
5
votes
1answer
128 views
How did vulgus get its ending?
Vulgus "crowd, mob, common people" is a neuter second-declension noun. But unlike most second-declension neuters, it ends in -us, like a masculine.
How did this happen? Is there an etymological ...
5
votes
1answer
114 views
Genitives like “axeos”
I recently encountered a text written in Latin in Finland about two centuries ago using the form axeos.
From context it was clear that it was a genitive, and it looks just like the Greek genitive of ...
6
votes
2answers
374 views
What consonants can a noun stem end in?
As TKR mentions, third-declension nouns in Latin have stems ending with a consonant (*). Off the top of my head, I can think of stems ending in various different consonants: rex, for example, has a G ...
5
votes
3answers
159 views
Do any non-second-declension neuter nouns end in m?
I have the impression that the ending -m appears on neuter nouns (in the nominative/accusative form) only in the second declension, but I don't know whether there are any exceptions. Is there any ...
4
votes
1answer
112 views
Why aren't cardinal numbers over three inflected?
I've been looking through some etymologies and it seems to me that cardinals past trēs aren't inflected. Is this correct, and if so, what's the logic in forming words with indeclinable numbers? Take, ...
4
votes
1answer
299 views
“Deus meus”, aut “Deus mī”?
I was taught that meus had a special irregular vocative, mī. (So "my father" in the vocative would be pater mī, not pater meus.)
However, there's a line that shows up a few times in the Vulgate that ...
2
votes
1answer
251 views
Different greek cases for Theos
Trying to improve my understanding of biblical greek and ran across something odd.
Theos - Θεός is nominative.
Theon - Θεόν is accusative.
TheO - Θεῷ is dative.
Theou - Θεοῦ genitive.
Theoi - θεοί ...
10
votes
1answer
667 views
Exactly what is a declension?
I was reading a Latin grammar book (Jenney's First Year Latin, for the curious) having recently resolved to learn a bit about the language and what I understood was as follows:
Latin is an inflected ...
7
votes
1answer
296 views
What declension are θορυβος and κοσμος?
I'm curious about what declension θορυβος and κοσμος are in Attic Greek. They appear to be second declension (θορυβος, -ου and κοσμος, -ου), but in the Athenaze workbook (which I'm slowly working my ...
2
votes
0answers
46 views
Sappho Lobel-Page 136: to amend, or not to amend?
The fragment is reported by the tradition as:
Ἦρος ἄγγελος ἱμερόφωνος ἀήδων
Or sometimes with ἡμερόφωνος. It would seem we just need to fix a psilosis for the third word. However, Edmonds and ...
8
votes
3answers
140 views
Can I pluralize letters of the alphabet?
In English, it's very common to talk about letters of the alphabet in the plural: he writes his R's backwards, for example, is a perfectly natural sentence. But the Latin names for the letters don't ...
5
votes
1answer
199 views
Translation: Out of my death, new life
I took a Latin course a few years ago, and now I'm trying my hand for a friend's tattoo.
Is my translation of the title correct?
English: Out of my death, new life.
Latin attempt: Ex mei mortis ...
7
votes
1answer
402 views
Extra syllable in “foedus”
Foedus is both a noun and an adjective. As a noun, it is classified as third declension, since its genitive ends in -is: foederis.
I am intrigued however on the added "er" syllable. Why not foedis? ...
2
votes
1answer
135 views
Can cases be replaced with prepositions + nominative?
Consider the word domus. Standard cases are domi, domo, domum, domo, domis.
I wonder whether we could replace the above (and perhaps every single noun), with the "equivalent" preposition + nominative....
9
votes
1answer
148 views
Interchange between u- and o-stem forms in suffixed derivatives (e.g. “lectus”, “lectuarius”)
A little while back, I asked a question about the alleged Latin word "tribalis" (which it seems was not actually used), and I mentioned that it seemed to me that it would be an irregular formation ...
0
votes
1answer
165 views
NSFW - Trying to create a Latin motto for a coat of arms - Edited for clarity
So, I took a couple years of Latin in school, but it's been awhile. I was trying to create this motto, and I'm not sure if I'm declining the nouns properly. Also not sure I remember if word order is ...
5
votes
1answer
175 views
Adjectives that decline as consonant stems in the neuter plural nominative/accusative
From what I have read, most third-declension Latin adjectives other than comparatives take the i-stem endings -ī, ium and -ia in the ablative singular, genitive plural and neuter nominative/accusative ...
5
votes
1answer
222 views
Are there any indeclinable adjectives?
I had until recently believed that only nouns could be "declinable" versus "indeclinable": most nouns follow set declensions patterns, while a few (mostly foreign, like Abraham from Hebrew, but some ...
5
votes
2answers
441 views
In which case should book authors be written?
At the beginning of every book, there is the name of the author followed by the title itself. However, the case, in which the author's name is written may vary. Let me illustrate with two examples:
...
2
votes
1answer
159 views
Why does Latin use declensions instead of just cases and gender?
What is the purpose of declensions? I know that 1st declension is female second is male and 3rd is neuter, but then why 4 and 5? What is the purpose of several declensions?
5
votes
1answer
191 views
Plura or pluria?
Before answering this recent question about the US motto, I had to check whether the neuter version of plures is plura or pluria.
I had recalled right: plura appears to be indeed the sole form used in ...
4
votes
1answer
195 views
16th stanza of Dies irae
The 16th stanza of Dies irae reads:
Confutatis maledictis,
Flammis acribus addictis,
Voca me cum benedictis.
Why are the first two lines in 2nd person plural, while the last one is 2nd ...
4
votes
2answers
179 views
Genitive of Sappho: Sapphonis or Sapphus?
As I posted on the Wiktionary Tea Room:
Consulting Bergk's edition of Sappho, I have seem various instances of this genitive "Sapphonis" (e.g. «Sapphonis esse videtur») in the critical notes. This ...
6
votes
1answer
203 views
How common is the genitive plural ending -um in the first declension?
In an answer, Draconis said the genitive plural -um (instead of -arum) is sometimes used in the first declension. Now, while -um is fairly common in poetry and with certain specific words, like deum, ...
5
votes
1answer
62 views
General term for each inflected form of a lexeme
illī is a X of ille declension.
illī is singular dative masculine form of ille.
In the first sentence what we should say instead of X?
