Questions tagged [substantivum]
For questions about nouns.
59
questions
13
votes
1answer
478 views
Why are so many Latin men's names (cognomina) in the usually-feminine first declension?
The first declension, with the -a ending, is usually feminine.
Why are so many men's names (cognomina), however, in the first declension -- Seneca, Cinna, Aggrippa, Sulla, and more? This is far out of ...
10
votes
2answers
735 views
How to decline a whale?
The Latin word cētus (a whale or some other major sea creature) behaves peculiarly.
In singular it is a normal-looking masculine cētus, but in plural it is a neuter cētē.
The ...
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
59 views
How to determine the ending of a Latin noun?
In LLPSI, I have seen Latin be Latina, Latinum, and Latinae. What are the differences of these words and how do I determine which to use?
2
votes
1answer
87 views
Is the word nihilanus/nihilumanus properly constructed? (From “nihil/nihilum” meaning “nothing” and the suffix “-anus” to denote origin)
I've been reading that the word silvanus comes from Latin silva (“forest”) + -ānus (“from, of the”). So, "silvanus" literally means something like "who comes from the forest" or something similar.
I ...
5
votes
2answers
143 views
masculine and feminine form of παῖς and μαθηματικός
As in a previous question, I'm wondering what is the feminine form of a noun, and this time it is not a word for an animal but for human.
In words like ὁ παῖς and ἡ παῖς, only their article ...
4
votes
1answer
224 views
feminine form of λύκος
λύκος is the Ancient Greek word for 'wolf' in singular masculine form. What is then the feminine form of wolf? I've guessed it as λύκη but what I've found in a dictionary is that it means 'light'. Is ...
8
votes
3answers
550 views
Is there a diminutive form for agent nouns?
I recently read a joke about the use of Latin -tor and -trix nouns in modern English. The punchline was that "trix is for kids".
This got me wondering: Is there a way to make diminutives from agent ...
4
votes
1answer
182 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.
...
9
votes
1answer
236 views
Why “per capita”?
I don't speak Latin and I can't think of a non-dumb way to ask this.
But my understanding is that capita is the plural form of caput.
So I'm wondering how "per capita" makes any sense, then, as it ...
5
votes
3answers
173 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 ...
3
votes
2answers
112 views
Can “ave, vire” be used colloquially as “hey, bro”?
There's a Spanish webcomic called ¡Eh, tío!, an expression that can be translated into English as hey, man or maybe as hey, bro. The webcomic had some time ago a story arc set in an alternate universe ...
4
votes
0answers
158 views
What is known about the feminine natural gender for trees in classical Latin?
It is a well known fact of Latin grammar, that trees follow natural gender and are always feminine, even when the word form would suggest masculine gender, as in populus "poplar".
What does motivate ...
6
votes
2answers
767 views
What is a romance in Latin?
The word "romance" seems to come from Latin, but no similar Latin word appears to mean anything related.
Is there a good Latin word for a romance, a kind of an intimate relationship?
I cannot think of ...
6
votes
1answer
135 views
When were different agent noun endings used in Ancient Greek?
In Ancient Greek, it seems that there were various endings for agent nouns. Thomas Dwight Goodell's School Grammar of Attic Greek (1902) mentions -τηρ, -τωρ, -της, -εύς, -τειρα, -τρια, -τρις (-τριδ-), ...
5
votes
1answer
119 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 ...
5
votes
3answers
185 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 ...
3
votes
3answers
230 views
What did σκάλα exactly mean in Byzantine Greek?
In Spanish we have a word escala that means "stopover" as "a break in a journey", specially when travelling by sea. According to the dictionary by the Royal Spanish Academy, the word comes from ...
2
votes
2answers
165 views
Did the word “citione” meaning “bump in the head” exist in Latin?
In the Spanish language site someone asked about the etymology of the word chichón (link in Spanish), meaning bump (typically in the head as a result of a hit). The most common theory is that it is ...
7
votes
1answer
1k views
Why did “cattus” replace Latin “feles”?
The word for cat is now, in almost every European language, derived from Latin cattus, as stated in Etymonline. It also says that the word was
[...] in general use on the continent by c. 700, ...
2
votes
1answer
94 views
Is the third person passive perfect of a verb a source of nouns, e.g. “benedictus” from “bendico”?
I always get confused with benedictus. It Christian prayers, it is found both as a noun and as a (passive) verb, e.g. benedictus est. When est is omitted (not uncommon in Latin, it seems), both look ...
5
votes
4answers
460 views
Could “essentia” be understood in Latin as “the act of being”?
Almost every verb has a noun that implies "the act and effect of" whatever the verb is. So, an existence is the act of existing. Nonetheless, the most simple verb, to be seems to lack such a noun, at ...
4
votes
2answers
90 views
Was there any difference between “grātĭa” and “făvor”?
The Lewis & Short dictionary defines gratia as:
grātĭa, ae, f. gratus; lit., favor, both that in which one stands with others and that which one shows to others.
I. Favor which one finds ...
3
votes
2answers
116 views
How do you address someone in a case other than the vocative?
Suppose I'm talking to someone directly, and use a pronoun to refer to someone. I would use tu or vōs with an appropriate case based on its role in the sentence: for example, sciō tē adesse, "I know ...
5
votes
2answers
86 views
What categories of substantives of the second declension are feminine?
Some categories of substantive nouns are always feminine, even when they are of the second declension, such as trees.
What other categories are there? And are there also many exocategorical examples? ...
6
votes
2answers
211 views
Noun adjuncts in Latin
So this question asks about forming adjectives from nouns, but no clear answer is really given for a general method. In english, you can just use a noun as a adjective without any modification by ...
5
votes
1answer
72 views
What sort of Greek words are regularly distinguished only by tone?
In the postscript to this answer, Varro comments:
…the L&S entry for ἰχθυβολος shows two possible accents, a paroxytone ἰχθυβόλος for an active meaning, and a proparoxytone ἰχθύβολος for a ...
6
votes
1answer
173 views
Latin etymology of Spanish “tarde”
In Spanish, the word "tarde" has two different meanings:
The part of the day between noon and dusk. Equivalent to the English noun "afternoon".
Happening after the due, usual, or proper time. ...
6
votes
2answers
913 views
Tantibus: genuine Latin word, or made-up?
I came across the word tantibus while reading this page (as part of a bigger word, amalgotantibus), where it's claimed to be Latin for "nightmare"; a little bit of digging also revealed that it's the ...
5
votes
1answer
1k views
Does the word “negotium” literally mean “not otium”?
Spanish word ocio (English: 'leisure') and negocio (English: 'business` among other meanings) come from Latin otium and negotium. Spanish ocio also gave ocioso, as in estar ocioso (English: 'to be ...
13
votes
2answers
1k views
Do plural names referring to a singular thing require a plural verb?
Another question related to my geography of the Roman Empire which I am writing has arisen: during the time of Trajan, 117 AD, there were several provinces which had names in the plural, especially ...
13
votes
1answer
2k views
Etymology of “salarium” and its connection to salt
It has been asked before both in the English Language & Usage site and the Spanish Language site about the etymology of salary and salario, respectively. In both cases, this site was mentioned as ...
11
votes
3answers
256 views
Why νώ (rather than νῶ) from νόω? (Greek)
Consider these masculine nominative singular and masculine nominative dual forms:
νοῦς, νώ
κανοῦν, κανώ
μνᾶ, μνᾶ
γῆ, γᾶ
I understand that the circumflex in these forms represents an acute ...
9
votes
1answer
150 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 ...
19
votes
6answers
2k views
Was “oscŭlum” a cultured word in Latin?
The Spanish language has two words for kiss:
Beso, from Latin basium.
Ósculo, from Latin oscŭlum.
The second one is very seldom used, and only in literature as it is a cultured word. Nonetheless, it ...
5
votes
2answers
103 views
What is the diminutive of κῆτος?
A classic diminutive suffix in Ancient Greek is -ίδιον, which forms a neuter second noun.
But what happens when this is applied to a noun with a vowel in the stem? For a concrete example, if I wanted ...
8
votes
1answer
234 views
The length of the final vowel in first declension nouns (Greek)
How can you tell whether a first declension noun ends in a short or long vowel?
Background
When the word is written and accented, I may be able to tell. (Not always. E.g. θύρᾱ if without the macron)...
4
votes
1answer
427 views
Instances of Actions - Verbs into Nouns
In English, we can take a verb like "swim" and refer to it as a noun in reference to occurrences. For example,
"That was a good swim,"
"I have three swims next week."
Is there a similar construct ...
8
votes
1answer
371 views
Can infans refer to children who can speak?
The word infans means basically "speechless", as the connection to the verb fari immediately suggests.
One specific meaning of this word is a small child (III in the linked L&S entry).
I assume ...
7
votes
3answers
2k views
Are “vir” and “virgo” etymologically related?
Are vir and virgo etymologically related?
St. Isidore says, in his Etymologies p. 242, that virago and vir are related:
A ‘heroic maiden’ (virago) is so called because she
‘acts like a man’ (...
5
votes
2answers
4k views
What’s the Latin word for “information”?
I'm creating a Latin quiz game and want to know the best word/noun for “information”. The word will be used as a title for an information/welcome page on my quiz. I searched the word on the internet ...
7
votes
1answer
81 views
Expressing a number of years with a single word
An answer to an earlier question about age of wine introduced me to adjectives for specific ages in years.
Similarly, there are nouns for periods of time in years.
For example:
bimus & biennium
...
7
votes
1answer
270 views
Nominalized adjective in Latin?
How to nominalize adjectives in Latin? In English, adjectives can be nominalized with a slight different in meaning: "the sick man", "the sick".
In German, it's possible to nominalize the present ...
4
votes
3answers
2k views
Good examples of common gender nouns
Some Latin nouns are common gender: their grammatical gender varies depending whether they refer to a male or a female (human or other animal).
This is mentioned in many Latin grammars (including ...
6
votes
1answer
514 views
Is 'Delphī' a second declension word?
From the genitive 'Delphōrum', it seems to belong to the second declension. But is it used as a singular or a plural?
7
votes
2answers
90 views
Translating “mankind evolves” and two other two-word phrases
Are you willing to take a look at my efforts at translating 6 words from English to Latin?
Here goes:
Mankind evolves: Homines evolvant
God disappoints: Deus frustrat
Reason refutes: Ratio ...
15
votes
1answer
316 views
Translating “Nocte volat caelī mediō”
Line 184 of Vergil's Aeneid, Book IV, begins as follows:
Nocte volat caelī mediō
Would this be translated as "She of the sky flies in the middle of the night", or "At night she flies in the middle ...
7
votes
1answer
563 views
How to derive nouns from adjectives?
I know several ways to derive nouns from adjectives:
audax > audacia,
laetus > laetitia,
pius > pietas,
magnus > magnitudo.
Questions:
Are there any rules that govern which one of -ia, -itia, -tas ...
4
votes
1answer
227 views
Latinitas for other languages
Latinitas could be described as high quality Latin.
If I want to refer to the same thing for other languages, can I use nouns like Graecitas, Anglicitas or Finnicitas?
(I am not sure if Anglitas and ...
11
votes
1answer
405 views
-eris, -oris, -uris?
Much to students' annoyance, nouns ending in -us can belong to either the second (servus), third (tempus), or fourth (circus) declensions. I understand the origin of the second and fourth: Proto-Indo-...
