25
votes
Accepted
Why do so many names end with -us?
In Latin, -us marks the name as being (likely to be) masculine and the subject of a sentence. When Latin names are used in English, the second part is treated as irrelevant, but the association with ...
- 29.8k
13
votes
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What does the suffix -mentum add to a word's meaning?
According to Miller (2006: 76, 78), the endings -men and -mentum form a deverbal (with one exception) noun with the semantics of means, instrument or result of action of the verb. Relevant quotations ...
- 2,019
13
votes
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'Fomites'? From 'fomes'?
The etymological derivation of the noun fōmes, fōmitis from the base of the verb foveo is too difficult for me to answer. So in this post, I'll focus on something else in your post that I think I ...
- 29.8k
12
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What is the origin of the -a in words like "collega, advena"?
It is generally believed is that
"The Italic "1st declension" continues PIE feminine formations ("ā-stems") built with an invariable suffix *-eh2(-)" (Vine 2017: 755)
cf. Beekes 2011 proposal of ...
- 11.7k
10
votes
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Latin suffixes in the noun "vertebra"?
There are two distinct words here:
The noun vertebra.
The adjective vertebralis, "related to vertebra".
The adjective is derived from the noun, and both the noun and the adjective have ...
- 116k
10
votes
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Is there a suffix that means "like", or "resembling"?
Despite verisimilis (which Lewis and Short note should be separated), I would instead recommend going the Greek route using -ειδής suffix. This means "in the shape or form of" and can be ...
cmw♦
- 57.6k
9
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Constructing Latin diminutives
I think abdomunculum would be the most regular diminutive of abdomen. But it seems a bit difficult to me to give a clear answer because the rules about "proper" diminutive suffixes are often based on ...
- 29.8k
9
votes
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Is "-landia" good Latin?
The suffix -landia is definitely derived from Germanic land. It has no clear cognates outside the Germanic languages and there are some hypotheses that it is a loan from some pre-indogermanic European ...
- 2,307
9
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Did the "-ālis" and "-āris" suffixes have the same meaning in Latin?
They not only had the same meaning in Latin, they were the same suffix.
In Latin, the suffix -āli- (the -s at the end is the nominative ending, so not part of the suffix) formed adjectives from nouns....
- 31.5k
9
votes
'Fomites'? From 'fomes'?
I believe you and the OED are talking about two different things. As you can see from the very same passage, the genitive is fomitis. This is par for the course for 3rd declension nouns. You find the ...
cmw♦
- 57.6k
8
votes
Is there a suffix that means "like", or "resembling"?
Appendicitis is an inflammation of the processus vermiformis, the appendix in the shape of a worm.
A search for words that end in -formis in L&S yields 20 results. Some of these have numbers: ...
- 1,378
8
votes
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Adjectives in dictionaries
When you see an English word in the dictionary, you can make a good guess as to how its other forms will look: the plural of spoon is almost certainly spoons, the dictionary doesn't have to list this ...
- 69k
7
votes
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Etymology and pronunciation of words ending in “-iasis”
Pronunciation
Below you can see the vowel lengths marked by L&S and by OLD. Note that OLD doesn't cover post-Classical vocabulary.
(In this table L&S = the online L&S via Perseus; OLD = ...
- 1,021
7
votes
How did the Latin past participle suffix -atus develop into modern French -é?
There is a regular sound change by which Latin a (long or short), when stressed and in an open syllable, became [e] or [ε]. A few examples out of many:
mare > mer
amāre > aimer
nāsum > nez
The past ...
- 31.5k
7
votes
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What does the -met ending mean in "vosmet" or "temet"
It's for emphasis, and older than the use of ipse as an intensifier. From Allen & Greenough §143.d:
Emphatic forms of tu are tute and tutemet (tutimet). The other cases of the personal pronouns,...
cmw♦
- 57.6k
7
votes
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Feminine form of -ίδης
Yes, feminine forms exist. This is covered in sections 845–848 of Smyth's Greek Grammar. Here are some examples:
Βορέας > Βορεάδης, 'son of Boreas'; Βορεάς -δος, 'daughter of Boreas'
Θέστιος > ...
- 20.5k
7
votes
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Suffixes -τρον, -θρον, and -εθρον
The endings -τρον, -θρον (and actually, a bunch of others also) are thought to share a common origin, but the origin of the τ/θ difference in particular is hypothesized to involve Proto-Indo-European ...
- 29.8k
6
votes
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Is visne > vin unique?
Weiss writes that
"The interrogative enclitic particle -ne becomes -n in Plautus when apocope produces an acceptable coda" (p. 147, footnote 79), i.e. *-Vsn- > *-V ̅n- (I.B.8.b, p. 169).
He ...
- 11.7k
6
votes
Where does the suffix "-etum" come from?
Allen & Greenough lists -etum/-tum under the heading 'Nouns with Adjective Suffixes' (section 254). It notes that the suffix denotes 'place of a thing, especially with names of trees and plants to ...
- 20.5k
6
votes
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Is cultura a future participle?
Gary Miller, in Latin Suffixal Derivatives in English and Their Indo-European Ancestry says that there is no direct relation between nouns formed from verbs with -ura and the similar future active ...
- 42.6k
6
votes
What is the diminutive of κῆτος?
The adjective κήτειος for kēte(s)-ios, with the usual contraction of ε + ι > ει suggests that we should expect *κητείδιον as well.
- 18k
6
votes
Opposing meanings of the suffix -gena
The variants -gena and -genus
This ending has two forms: -gena (inflected as a first-declension masculine/common gender noun, potentially used adjectivally) and -genus, -gena, -genum (inflected like a ...
- 29.8k
6
votes
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Why do numbered months in the ancient Roman calendar have different suffixes?
This is going to be an unsatisfying answer, but I'll post what I've found anyway.
The usual best source for Latin etymologies is De Vaan. Unfortunately, he only covers developments from Proto-Indo-...
- 69k
6
votes
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Is there a suffix in Latin like the "-ization" suffix in English?
There are a few Latin verbs ending in -izare, and they are almost all Greek loanwords. (This list was generated by using the search for “words ending with …” on the Perseus server—do note that it ...
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6
votes
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Is the constellation named Lupus a male wolf? or could it be female?
There is in fact a word lupa which is the normal word for a female wolf. (If you use it in your story, however, you might want to be aware that for whatever reason, it's also a common word for "...
- 31.5k
6
votes
What is the gender and singular declension of the scientific Latin suffix -idae?
I think it is the patronymic -ides, which is in the first declension in Latin. The plural forms are regular, so bovidae 'sons of a cow' would be bovides in the singular. It would be a masculine noun.
...
- 891
5
votes
Constructing Latin diminutives
On the model of homō, hominis (stem = homin), the recorded diminutives of which are homullus (< homōnlus) and homunculus, I'd guess abdōmullus or abdōmunculus (update: or maybe abdōmullum or ...
- 20.5k
5
votes
Unde "-cundus"?
The common ending -bundus, similar meaning, (see Logeion entry for pudibundus, toggling the left-hand column switch to "Inverse") also suggests that De Vaan has it right, the suffix is just -undus.
5
votes
Is there a prefix, suffix or adjective to indicate that something is the most numerous?
If the original question is about English, it's in the wrong stack. However, if you're looking for a Latin form, I'd like to offer another alternative: taking the noun, making it into an adjective ...
cmw♦
- 57.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Has "tribalis" ever been used in Latin?
As the OED explains, “tribal” is an English formation (first attested 1632). French “tribal” is a recent borrowing from English (1872). Latin “tribulis” is not an adjective, but a noun, meaning “...
- 18k
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