Constructions with Abstineō

Abstaining from an object in Latin can leave you with one of three grammatical constructions, given here in the order of frequency:

• abstinēre aliquid/sē + ablative of object
• abstinēre aliquid/sē (absolute)
• absintēre aliquid/sē + genitive of object (cf. Greek ἀπεχἐσθαι τινός)

Here some examples of how and from what the Romans refrained—

• virgō nuptā abstinet — virgins abstain from marriage
• vir sapit quī urbis rēbus abstineat — the wise man holds off from politics
• mē ostreīs et muraenīs facile abstinēbam — I easily abstained from oysters and eels — Cicero, Ad Familiārēs 7.26 (they make him nauseated)
• mihi abstinē invidere! — don’t bother pitying me!
• animum coluit abstinentem pecūniae — she cherished a frugal mind

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Ūsus est maiōre usū

The phrase ūsus est + ablative is the rarer counterpart to the well known opus est + ablative, signifying need.

 

• Nunc vīribus ūsus est: now there is need of strength.
• Quid istīs cōnscrīptīs ūsust: what is the use of getting these in writing?

Ūsus vēnit is another still rarer alternative.

The Essential AG: 411

I-Stems with Ablative -i

Here’s the other half of that list that I started in (this post). These are the class of consonantal adjectives that tend not to operate as quasi-nouns, and therefore tend to take -i in the ablative, rather than -e.

• āmēns, āmentis, frantic, crazed
• anceps, ancipis, double, doubtful
• concors, concordis, agreed, joint
• dēgener, dēgeneris, low-born, weak
• hebes, hebetis, dull, blunt
• ingēns, ingentis, huge, vast
• inops, inopis, needy, helpless
• memor, memoris, mindful of
• pār, paris, alike, equal to
• perpes, perpetis, lasting
• praeceps, praecipitis, headlong
• praepes, praepitis, nimble, winged
• teres, teretis, smooth

Sorry for the relative obscurity of these last two posts. The thing is, they cover a few footnotes in Allen and Greenough that I feel should be out there on the Internet, preferably with a basic entry format and definition.

The Essential AG: 121a3

I-Stems with Ablative -e

Consider section 121a4, which lists a variety of consonant stem adjectives that do not take -i in the ablative singular. They are completely regular, and the entry is really there only to keep you from having second guesses.

I’ll list them here so they get some web mileage, despite not being especially interesting, however rare:

• caeles, caelitis relating to the heavens or their Gods
• compos, compotis possessing control of
• dēses, dēsidis lazy
• dīves, dīvitis wealthy
• hospes, hospitis amicable, relating to guest-friendship
• particeps, participis participating in
• praepes, praepitis nimble, winged
• pauper, pauperis poor, destitute
• prīnceps, prīncipis princely, noble
• sōspes, sospitis safe and sound
• superstes, superstitis surviving

As someone pointed out in a comment, the general but non-binding idea is that those adjectives which most often operate as nouns (like these) take the ablative in -e, whereas those that are properly adjectival take the ablative in -i. You find hints of this throughout the consonantal and i-stem entries in Allen and Greenough (see 121a1-2), but they make no effort to propagate it as a formal rule.

The Essential AG: 121a1-2, a4

I-Stems: Summary [8/8]

Like A&G, I would like to conclude my series on i-stems with a short assessment of the basic rules and variations associated with the i-stem class.

A&G paint a picture of cultural amnesia regarding Roman relations with the i-stem. As I have shown in previous posts, in all but the genitive plural (ium), and the neuter accusative/nominative plural (ia), the unique i-stem endings are rare or optional. (cf. the status of English ‘who/m’).

• The nominative singular could be -is (sitis, is) but also ēs/-s/–x, etc.
• The accusative singular could be -im but also -em.
• The ablative singular could be -ī or it could be -e.
• The accusative masc/fem plural might be -īs but it’s usually -ēs.

AG: 76

I-Stems: Ablative -ī [6/8]

We see that -im and -ī tend to be common in the same words. That is, where -im is of frequency, so too is -ī.

• For more on where the -im ending shows up, see this post.
• Beyond the contents of that post, the -ī ablative ending also appears:

Always—

1. with secūrī
2. with the adjectives (nominative -is) where these are used as nouns:

• aequālī (a contemporary)
• annālī (annals)
• aquālī (washbasin)
• cōnsulārī (former consul, member of the consular rank)
• gentīlī (relative)
• molārī (millstone)
• prīmpīlārī (chief centurion)
• tribūlī (fellow tribesman)

(As adjectives proper, they would be aequāle, annāle, etc. in the ablative.)

3. in the ablative of i-stem neuters (animālī, baccārī, etc.)

Sometimes—

1. With the following nouns: avis, clāvis, febris, fīnis, īgnis, imber, lūx, nāvis, ovis, pelvis, puppis, sēmentis, strigilis, turris (definitions)

2. With the following adjectives (nominative -is or -ens) where they are used as substantives:

• affīnī (son-in-law)
• bipennī (battle-ax)
• canālī (pipe)
• familiārī (immediate family member)
• nātālī (birthday, anniversary)
• rīvālī (rival, competitor)
• sapientī (wise man)
• tridentī  (trident)
• trirēmī (trireme)
• vōcālī (vowel, vocalist (pl.))

(As adjectives, they would be affīne, bipenne, etc.)

Apparent Exceptions—

1. The ablative of famēs (hunger) is always famē (not famī nor fame)
2. The case defective māne (morning) is sometimes mānī (the word is found only in the ablative).
3. Canis (dog) and iuvenis (youth) always take the ablative -e, never -ī. (contrast with avis, clāvis, etc.)

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: 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

The More, The More

The two phrases quō..eō (hōc), tantō…quantō (hōc) can be broadly translated as ‘the more…the more.’ They are ablatives of degree of difference used to correlate to comparatives.

• quō minus cpiditātis, eō plus auctōritātis, the less greed, the more authority
• quantō erat gravior oppūgnātiō, tantō crēbriōrēs litterae mittēbantur, the severe the siege was, the more frequently letters were sent

The third variation is simply emphatic.

• quantō plus crustulōs murī dabis, tantō hōc plus crustulīs eget: the mouse’s desire for cookies will increase in exact proportion to the number of cookies that you give him.

A&G note that this correlative construction later mutated to describe Cause instead of Degree of Difference.

• eō mē minus paenitet, for that reason I regress less.

(Severe addicts should check out A&G’s note on this section 414an1, which details how the English ‘the…the’ is actually a direct descendent of these expressions, emerging from the instrumental case of a pronoun in Angle-Saxon, thȳ.)

The Essential AG: 414a, 414an