12/7/2023 0 Comments Nominative latin endingsOther Romance languages had different reasons and slightly different results but to my knowledge, they are not as well explained, but similar reason would apply - case syncretism due to phonological change, even though the sound change is different in its nature. With the loss of final -s, the case syncretism would be complete in nouns. mur ( < mur-ə < mur-o < mur-u < mur-u-m), acc.pl. accusative) and they were distinguished mostly in masculine (the evolution pathways are tentative, I do not have immediate access to sources): The noun forms became too similar and the number of cases dropped to two: subject case (orig. It is estimated that Old French developped a similar feature under the influence of Frankish and given the way Latin accentuation (accent typically on the penultimate or antepenultimate syllable) and Latin declension (cases are expressed by endings, mostly monosyllabic ones) work, the loss of declension seems like a fairly natural result - post-accentual vowels were reduced/lost and with them most of the endings. The Germanic languages of the day are estimated to have had a dynamic accentuation, meaning that accented syllables were pronounced "stronger", while the unaccented ones were somewhat reduced (the result of this is well visible in today's English where most unaccented vowels merge into schwa). in Old French, this is typically explained as a result of the Germanic invasion in Gallia. Note- The nominative plural neuter cētē, sea monsters, occurs the nominative singular cētus occurs in Vitruvius.It differs from language to language but in general, it is attributed to the case forms becoming too similar to maintain the distinction due to various sound changes.Į.g. They are not found in the plural, except pelagus, which has a rare Nominative and Accusative plural pelagē. The following in -us are neuter their Accusative (as with all neuters) is the same as the Nominative. Many Greek nouns retain their original gender.Ī. Nouns ending in -us ( -os), -er, -ir, are masculine those ending in -um ( -on) are neuter.Įxceptions: Names of countries and towns in -us ( -os) are feminine.Īlso, many names of plants and gems, as well as:Ĭarbasus linen Note- When e belongs to the stem, as in puer, it is retained throughout otherwise it appears only in the nominative and vocative singular, as in ager.Ĥ8. Nouns of the 2nd declension in -er and -ir are thus declined. Modern editions disregard this principle.Ĥ7. Thus, ecus (earlier equos), equī, equō, ecum (earlier equom), eque. In most nouns whose stem ends in strong -r- the s is not added in the Nominative, but o is lost, and e is added before r, 1 if not already present. Note 2- Stems in quo-, like equo-, change qu to c before u. The nominative is formed from the stem by adding s in masculines and feminines, and m in neuters, the vowel being weakened to (see 6. The terminations - s and - m are sometimes omitted in inscriptions. Note 1- The earlier forms for nominative and accusative were -os, -om, and these were always retained after u- and v- up to the end of the Republic. These different endings are called 'cases'. Nouns of the 2nd declension in -us ( -os) and -um ( -om) are thus declined. As well as having gender and number, nouns, adjectives, and pronouns have different endings according to their function in the sentence, for example, rx 'the king' (subject), but rgem 'the king' (object). Thus:īelli-ger warlike (from bell o / e -, stem bellum war).Ĥ6. Note- In composition this - ĕ appears as - ĭ. The stem vowel - ŏ has a variant form - ĕ, 3 which is preserved in the Latin vocative singular of nouns in -us. In most nouns whose stem ends in strong -rŏ- the s is not added in the Nominative, but o is lost, and e is added before r, 1 if not already present.Įxceptions: erus, hesperus, iūniperus, mōrus, numerus, taurus, umerus, uterus, vīrus, and many Greek nouns.Ĭ. The nominative is formed from the stem by adding s in masculines and feminines, and m in neuters, the vowel ŏ being weakened to ŭ (see § 6. The Stem of nouns of the 2nd Declension ends in -ŏ.Ī.
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