I-Stems: Mixed I-Stems [5/8]

In my opinion, A&G make too big a fuss over mixed i-stems, which are essentially a broad class of nouns that usually feature a genitive plural in -ium and might feature an accusative plural in -īs, but are otherwise regular third declension nouns.

Here are five of their six morphological classes, along with all the examples they offer. (I’m excluding 71.4 because it’s ridiculous that they’ve placed it there at all):

1. Nouns in (n.) -ēs, (g.) -is.

• acīnacēs, -is (m.) scimitar
• aedēs, -is (f.) temple
• aciēs, -is (f.) point, battle line
• caedēs, -is (f.) slaughter
• cautēs, -is (f.) crag
• clādēs, -is (f.) destruction
• compāgēs, -is (f.) structure
• contāgēs, -is (f.) sense of touch
• famēs, -is (f.) hunger
• fēlēs, -is (f.) cat
• fidēs, -is (f.) faith, trust, loyalty, reputation, etc.
• indolēs, indolis (f.) inborn quality
• lābēs, labis (f.) fall, destruction
• luēs, luis (f.) liquid water
• mēlēs, mēlis (m/f.) marten, badger
• mōlēs, mōlis (f.) mass, bulk
• nūbēs, nūbis (m/f.) cloud
• palumbēs, palumbis (m/f.) dove
• prōlēs, prōlis (f.) shoot, offspring, descendants
• prōpāgēs, prōpāgis (f.) shoot, offspring, descendants
• pūbēs, pūbis (f.) young man
• sēdēs, sēdis (f.) seat, office
• saepēs, saepis (f.) hedge, fence
• sordēs, sordis (f.) filth
• strāges, strāgis (f.) overthrow, destruction
• struēs, struis (f.) pile
• subolēs, subolis (f.) shoot, offspring, descendants
• tābēs, tabis (f.) decline, decay
• torquēs, torquis (f.) necklace
• tudēs, tudis (m.) hammer
• vātēs, vātis (m/f.) prophet
• vehēs, vehis (f.) cart-load (quantity)
• veprēs, vepris  (m.) bramble-bush
• verrēs, verris (m.) boar
• vulpēs, vulpis (f.) fox

2. All monosyllable nominatives in -s or -x preceded by a consonant.

• ars, artis (f.) skill, art, technique
• pōns, pontis (m.) bridge
• arx, arcis (f.) fortress

3. On the following monosyllable nominatives in -s or -x preceded by a vowel.

• dōs, dōtis (f.) dowry
• fraus, fraudis (f.) deceit, fraud
• glīs, glīris (m.) dormouse
• līs, lītis (f.) case, quarrel
• mās, māris (m.) male
• mūs, mūris (m/f.) mouse
• nix, nivis (f.) snow
• nox, noctis (f.) night
• strix, strigis (f.) channel, furrow
• vīs, vis (f.) force

4. Polysyllable nominatives in -ns or -rs.

• cliēns, -entis (m.) client, follower
• cohors, -ortis (m.) companion

This does not apply to all present active participles!

5. Patrials (nouns denoting birth, class, abode) in -ās and -īs.

• Arpīnās (Arpīnātēs)… Aprīnātium
• Optimās (Optimātēs)… Optimātium
• Penās (Penātēs)… Penātium
• Quirīs (Quiṝitēs)… Quiritium

The (very much non-)Essential AG: 71-2

The Aratrum: A Now-Mysterious Tool

While we’re on the topic of i-stems (the dentālia, in particular), here are comparative diagrams of the English plot and Latin aratrum.

I couldn’t find two pictures that corresponding exactly, but using these two along with Lewis and Short we can offer the following definitions:

• buris, buris (m.) plow-beam: the curved hind-piece that would feature a yoke-hole for the oxen (replaced by human handles in English plow)
• tēmo, tēmōnis, (m.) plow-beam/’tongue of the plow’: the portion of the plow beam that sticks forward as the plow moves forward

(Think of it as the bow of a ship. If you need it, here’s the distinction between the prow and the bow.)

• dentālia, dentālium (n.) plow-share: the hind-wood of the plow-share
• vōmer, vōmeris (m.) plow-share: the fore-wood of the plow-share
• culter, cultrī (m.) coulter: the knife that cuts the furrow

(These three parts work together like the prow of a ship to cut a widened furrow in the field. The coulter makes the initiate cut, and the plow-share spreads this. Imagine opening a Ziploc bag… you can open it with a pencil and it will open but remain narrowly open, or you can open it with your whole hand and it will open wide.)

• aurēs, aurium (another i-stem!): the plow-ears, which further widen the furrow, and are curved to curl the dirt in an outward direction.

I’m sure this description is inadequate, and a Youtube video with a live plow would be so much more helpful. I failed to find such a video, but if anyone has seen one, please leave the link in the comments!

I-Stems: Neuter Exceptions [4/8]

So, unfortunately, I stated earlier that the neuter i-stem class is entirely regular. In fact, a footnote in A&G reveals about ten exceptions.

These nouns are almost regular, except that with consonantal stems -al and -ar they also add the ending -e to the nominative and accusative singular. Note that because of this ending, the -ā- is long in all cases.

Where the singular is uncommon or does not exist, I have used the plural.

• alveāre, alveāris, beehive
• augurāle, augurālis, augur’s staff
• capillāre, capillāris, pomade
• cochlearē, cochleāris, spoon
• collāre, collāris, collar
• dentālia, dentālium, sharebeam of a plow (What?)
• fōcāle, fōcālis, cravat (What?)
• nāvāle, nāvālis, dock
• penetrāle, penetrālis, inner shrine
• rāmālia, rāmālium, twigs
• scūtāle, scūtālis, thong of a sling
• tibiālia, tibiālia, shin-length stockings

The Essential AG: 68n2

I-Stems: Neuter Exemplāria [3/8]

In this post, I want to expand on a footnote in A&G, which lists a whole herd of neuter i-stems, but then offers them no definitions.

Sample i-Stem neuters:

(if given in the plural, singular is rare or non-existent)

in -al

• animal, animālis, animal
• Bacchānal, Bacchānālis, Bacchanalian orgy
• bidental, bidentālis, sacred space struck by lightening
• capital, capitālis, capital punishment
• cervīcal, cervīcālis, pillow, cushion
• cubital, cubitālis, elbow cushion
• frontālia, frontālium, frontlet of a horse (What the hell is that?)
• genuālia, genuālium, leggings
• Lupercal, Lupercālis, cave on the Palatine Hill
• minūtal, minūtalis, stew
• puteal, puteālis, structure surrounding the mouth of a well
• spōnsālia, spōnsālium, wedding
• quadrantal, quandrantālis, unit of liquid measure (a cubic (Roman) foot)
• toral, torālis, valance of a couch (What the hell is that?)
• vectīgal, vectīgālis, tax

in -ar

• altāria, altārium, fittings for burnt offerings (also, apparently now a Pokemon… *nostalgia*)
• cochlear, cochleāris, spoon
• exemplar, exemplāris, example, standard
• lacūnar, lacūnāris, paneled ceiling (example)
• laquear, laqueāris, (also) paneled ceiling
• lūcar, lūcāris, actor’s fee
• lūminār, lūmināris, window shutter
• lupānar, lupānāris, brothel
• palear, paleāris, dewlap (What the hell is that?)
• plantāria, plantārium, sandals
• pulvīnar, pulvināris, couch for image of deity
• Sāturnālia, Sāturnālium, optimo diērum, Catullus 14.15
• speculāria, speculārium, window panes
• tālāria, tālārium, winged sandals of Hermes
• torcular, torculāris, wine press

The Essential AG: 68n1

I-Stems: Masculine and Feminine Declension(s) [1/8]

As A&G note, “The i-stem was confused by even the Romans themselves.” There are a variety of variations with this stem present in all three grammatical genders, making it incredibly difficult to organize the data except in broad patterns and rote memorization. To that effective, I’m going to design a series of posts on the i-stem declension.

In this section, we’ll introduce the i-stem as a morphological class, and discuss the declension of ‘regular’ masculine and feminine i-stem nouns.

First off, all i-stems are either pure or mixed.

Most pure i-stems are immediately identifiable by their lexical entry, because they feature parisyllabic  (having the same number of syllables) nominative and genitive forms. This is true of masculine, feminine and neuter i-stem nouns. However, most masculine and feminine nouns also have nominative and genitive forms that are completely identical. Let’s take a look:

sitis, sitis (f.) thirst (declined only in the singular, for sensible reasons)

ignis, ignis (m.) fire

A few unique features to note:

• nominative singular -is (except in four cases, see below)
• accusative singular -im (though not always)
• ablative singular -ī (though not always)
• genitive plural -ium (strictly)

As you can see, there aren’t many markers (just one) that guarantee any given noun is an i-stem noun. In fact, it would be possible to decline ignis in a way such that only it’s nominative singular and genitive plural gave any hint of the i-stem status.

With four nouns in particular (imber, rain; linter, skiff; ūter, wineskin; venter, belly) this problem is even more evidence because here even the nominative is lost as a distinctive feature. The only morphological form that demonstrates imber‘s i-stem status is its genitive plural imbrium.

So to review masculine and feminine i-stem declension: difficult, difficult, difficult. As we’ll see, the neuter declension isn’t much easier…

The essential AG: 66-7.

I-Stems: Neuter Declension [p2/8]

As A&G note, “The i-stem was confused by even the Romans themselves.” There are a variety of variations with this stem present in all three grammatical genders, making it incredibly difficult to organize the data except in broad patterns and rote memorization. To that effective, I’m going to design a series of posts on the i-stem declension.

The basic neuter i-stem declension takes the stem (mari-) and converts the final i- to an e- in the nominative and accusative singular.

mare, maris (n.) sea

sedīle, sedīlis (n.) seat

(photo credit: Wiktionary).

In this basic output, the neuter i-stem is far more regular than its masculine and feminine counterparts:

• Nominative and accusative singular: -e
• Ablative singular: -ī
• Nominative and accusative plural: -ia
• Genitive plural: -ium

These are all regularized and there are no exceptions…except for the majority of nouns in the neuter i-stem declension, which don’t decline like this at all. Most neuter i-stem nouns have a consonantal base in -al or -ar, which is retained in all morphological forms. This causes only one change: these forms are animal, animalis, and not *animale, animalis. Everything else remains the same.

tribūnal, tribūnālis (n.) judge’s platform

There’s one feature that Wiktionary fails to capture in this chat. The -a- at the end of the stem is short in the nominative and accusative singular, but along everywhere else (see my lexical entry above). This is true of all i-stem nouns ending in -al or -ar.

calcar, calcāris (n.): spur

(Here they got the -a- right. Go figure.)

There you have it! The neuter i-stem declension. It’s fairly regular; it merely entails a large quantity of regular rules.

The Essential AG: 68-9

Archaic and Derived Superlatives

Recall the standard stem for Latin comparatives is -issimus. However, most student of Latin are familiar with a  variety of alternative, irregular forms. For instance:

• Bonus, melior, optimus
• Malus, peior, pessimus
• Magnus, maior, maximus

These are all more archaic forms of the superlatives. (Hence there appearance in very basic, common adverbs, which we can predict would be more resistant to phonological change due to frequency of use.)

• timus
• īmus
• summus

Furthermore, A&G note that certain superlative adjectives are derived from their comparative forms, not from their positives. They aren’t explicit about how this works, but the example they offer is extrēmus, which might go exterior –> *exterīmus –> extrēmus.

• A&G compare this to the derivative development of ‘childish’ superlatives like the English furtherer and furtherest. Again, this is all a little mysterious to me, as a non-phonologist. If anyone has thoughts, I would love to hear them.

The Essential AG: 130an2