FIRST DECLENSION. 42. Nouns of the first declension end in ă and ē, feminine; ās and ēs,-masculine. But purę Latin nouns end only in a, and are declined as follows: 1. CASE-ENDINGS. From an inspection of this example, it will be seen that the several cases are distinguished from each other by their caseendings. 2. EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE. With these endings decline: Ala, wing; aqua, water; causa, cause; fortūna, fortune. 3. IRREGULAR CASE-ENDINGS. -The following occur: 1) As for ae in the Gen. of familia, in composition with pater, māter, filius, and filia: paterfamilias, father of a family. 2) Ai for the genitive ending ae, in the poets: aulāï for aulae, of a hall. 3) Um for ārum in the Gen. Plur.: Dardanidum for Dardanidārum, of the descendants of Dardanus. 4) Abus for is in the Dat. and Abl. Plur., especially in dea, goddess, and filia, daughter, to distinguish them from the same cases of deus, god, and filius, son. 4. ARTICLE. The Latin has no article. A Latin noun may therefore, according to the connection in which it is used, be translated either without any article, with a or an, or with the: corona, crown, a crown, the 5. EXCEPTIONS IN GENDER.-Hadria, Adriatic Sea, is masculine; sometimes also dāma, deer, and talpa, mole. See also 35, 1. crown. words; as, John's book. Here the possessive case (John's) shows that John sustains to the book the relation of possessor. 43. GREEK NOUNS. - Nouns of this declension in e, as, and es are of Greek origin, and are declined in the singular as follows: Epitome, epitome. Aeneas, Aeneas. Pyrītes, pyrites. SECOND DECLENSION. 45. Nouns of the second declension end in ěr, ir, ŭs, os, -masculine; ŭm, on,-neuter. But pure Latin nouns end only in er, ir, us, um, and are declined as follows: Servus, slave. Puer, boy. Ager, field. Templum, temple. 4. AGER.-Most nouns in er are declined like ager. 5.-IRREGULAR CASE-ENDINGS. -The following occur: 1) I for ii by contraction in the Gen. Sing., without change of accent: inge'ni for inge'nii, of talent. 1 In the plural they are entirely regular. 2) I for ie, common in proper names in ius, without change of accent: Mercu'ri for Mercurie, Mercury. Also in fili for filie, son; gěni for genie, guardian spirit. 3) Us for e in the Voc. of deus, god, rare in other words. 4) Um for ōrum, common in a few words denoting money, weight, and measure: talentum for talentorum, of talents; also in a few other words : deum for deōrum; liběrum for liberōrum; Argīvum for Argivorum. 6. DEUS has, Voc. Sing., deus; Nom. and Voc. Pl., dei, dii, di; Gen., deōrum, deum; Dat. and Abl., deis, diis, dis; otherwise regular. 46. GREEK NOUNS. - Nouns of this declension in os and on are of Greek origin. 1. Nouns in os are generally declined like those in us, except in the accus. sing., where they have on: Dēlos, Deli, Delo, Delon, etc., island Delos. 2. Nouns in on are declined like templum, with on for um in the nominative, accusative, and vocative. 3. Most Greek nouns generally assume in prose the Latin forms in us and um, but sometimes, especially in poetry, they retain in one or more cases the peculiar endings of the Greek. Thus, Greek nouns in eŭs admit certain forms of the third declension: Orpheus; G., Orpheos; D., Orphei; A., Orphea; V., Orpheu.-Panthūs has Voc. Panthū, and pelagus, Plur. pelăge. 47. EXCEPTIONS IN GENDER. İ. Feminine: (1) See 35, II., but observe that many names of countries, towns, islands, and trees follow the gender of their endings. (2) Most names of gems and ships are feminine: also alvus, belly; carbăsus, sail; colus, distaff; humus, ground; vannus, sieve. (3) Many Greek feminines. II. Neuter: pelāgus, sea; vīrus, poison; vulgus (rarely masc.), common people. THIRD DECLENSION. 48. Nouns of the third declension end in a, e, i, o, y, c, 1, n, r, s, t, x. I. MASCULINE ENDINGS: o, or, os, er, es increasing in the genitivc. II. FEMININE ENDINGS: as, is, ys, x, es, not increasing in the genitive, s preceded by a consonant. III. NEUTER ENDINGS: a, e, i, y, c, 1, n, t, ar, ur, us. 49. Nouns of this declension may be divided into two classes: : I. Nouns which have a case-ending in the nominative singular. These all end in e, s, or x. II. Nouns which have no case-ending in the nominative singular.1 50. CLASS I. - WITH NOMINATIVE ENDING. I. Nouns in es, is, s impure, and x:-with stem un regibus. A. nubibus. avibus. urbibús. 1 In class II. the Nom. Sing. is either the same as the stem, or is formed from it by dropping or changing one or more letters of the stem: consul, Gen. consŭlis; stem, consul, a consul; leo, leõnis, stem, leon (Nom. drops n), lion; carmen, carminis, stem, carmin (Nom. changes in to en), song. 2 Impure, i. e., preceded by a consonant. 3 X in rex = gs,-g belonging to the stem, and s being the nom. ending; but in judex, x = cs, -c belonging to the stem, and s being the nom. ending. 4 Sometimes avi. |