Questions tagged [neutrum]
For questions about neuter, one of grammatical genders together with masculine and feminine.
15
questions
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3answers
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Is any animal neuter in Latin?
The word animal itself is neuter in Latin, but at least all of the common animal species seem to be masculine or feminine (or common gender):
canis, feles, equus, pardus, leo/leaena, lupus/lupa, ursus/...
8
votes
1answer
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Does Latin have any neuter words for humans?
In Ancient Greek, diminutives are almost always neuter, regardless of the original noun's gender. This leads to words like paidíon, "small child" (from país "child"), which are neuter even though they ...
4
votes
1answer
250 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, ...
7
votes
2answers
256 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 ...
5
votes
1answer
150 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 ...
10
votes
2answers
287 views
When were neuter nouns used in the vocative?
It seems that neuter nouns have vocative forms that are identical to their nominative/accusative forms.
Most neuter nouns don't have a meaning that seems to me to fit easily with the use of the ...
5
votes
3answers
204 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 ...
11
votes
2answers
762 views
Is it possible to predict the gender of nouns?
As you are probably aware, Spanish owes a significant portion of its vocabulary to Latin. An interesting difference however is that Spanish has only two genders for nouns - feminine and masculine. The ...
4
votes
1answer
296 views
Relative Clause of Purpose with Quo
Moreland has this sentence in Relative Clause of Purpose (Unit 14):
Properatis quo celerius adveniatis.
which it translates as:
You hasten by which you may arrive more quickly.
The adjective '...
8
votes
1answer
125 views
Why is -d used instead of -m for most neuter pronouns
There is a notable set of pronouns that use -d for the neuter nominative and accusative:
iste > istud
ille > illud
quis > quid
is > id
Other pronouns do not:
hic > hoc
ipse > ipsum (though L&S ...
12
votes
1answer
972 views
Where do the plurals of locus come from?
The word locus is masculine in the singular, but it can be masculine or neuter in the plural.
Geographical places are loca, but places in a text are loci.
As far as I know, this is the only Latin word ...
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4answers
645 views
Forms of 2nd Declension Neuter Nouns ending in -ium
The 2nd Declension Neuter endings are:
Singular
Nom: -um
Gen: -ī
Dat: -ō
Acc: -um
Abl: -ō
Plural
Nom: -a
Gen: -ōrum
Dat: -īs
Acc: -a
Abl: -īs
With a word such as auxilium (meaning help, aid), which ...
5
votes
1answer
51 views
How to search for neuters ending in -tus?
For reasons of rhyming I sometimes need to search for Latin words with specific kinds of endings.
Translating songs to Latin is a hobby that seems to inevitably lead to this need.
I would like to ...
16
votes
1answer
708 views
Are there any other neuter words of the second declension that end on -us than “virus”?
Virus is a neuter word of the second declension even though it ends on -us, as evidenced by its genitive on -i (it has no plural). Are there any other such words?
Bonus question: is it possible that ...
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votes
4answers
1k views
Accusative equals nominative for neuter words – how universal is this and why?
The first mnemonic for Latin case ending I learnt was that for neuter words, the accusative form is always identical to the nominative form. This applies even to exotic word endings like animal or id, ...
