Comparison of Adverbs: Irregular and Defective

Here are some irregular adverbs that defy the rules set up in this post.

• diū, diūtius, diūtissimē, for a long time, for a longer time, for the longest time
• potius, —— potissimum, rather, first of all
• saepe, saepius,saepissimē, often, more often/again, most often
• satis, satius, —— enough, preferable
• secus, sētius, —— otherwise, worse
• multum (or multō), magis (or mage), maximē, much, more, most
• parum, minus, minimē, not enough, less, least
• nūper, ——, nūperrimē, newly, most newly
• temperē, temperius, —— seasonably, more seasonably

Most of these are either disconnected from their corresponding adjectives (semantically), or are defective in either comparative or superlative form. However, the real outlier here is the multum/ō, magis/e, maximē set, which is an aggregate of various options. Multō is of course the ablative singular neuter for the positive adjective, and mage the neuter accusative of the comparative adjective.

Magis and maximē may also be paired with other adjectives to create their comparatives, especially in adjectives ending in -eus or -ius (in the positive.)

• idōneus, magis idōneus, maximē idōneus, fit, more fit, most fit

The Essential AG: 128, 218a

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Imperative of Sciō, Habeō and Meminī

The imperative of sciō is scītō in the singular and scītōte in the future. These are the future forms, but they are used in the present tense.

Even if you’re a whiz and you know that already, it might be a little less where how to use this imperative in a Latin sentence. The Romans don’t appear to have ordered others to do things like ‘know these by heart before Friday’s exam.’ Instead, the imperative of ‘know’ was more often something like ‘rest assured’ or ‘recall,’ confirming or searching for what is already known rather than standing for the imperative ‘learn.’

• Scītōte vobīs semper deum propitium esse, sī bonīs: Know that the god will always favor you, so long as you are good.
• Scītō tibi gratiās dābō: trust that I will return the favor.
• Scītō exemplum tuī patris: recall the example of your father.

This is also true of habeō, where it means understand, and mēminī. 

• Habētō tibi me nōn irātum esse: realize that I  am not angry with you.
• Habetōte vostrum finem: know your limits.
• Mementō ora candentia parentis: recall your mother’s glowing features.

From the examples in Lewis and Short, I cannot be sure, but it appears that the imperatives of sciō will always take a direct object or an infinitive construction, and never the dē + ablative construction that may appear with other moods of sciō.

The Essential A  & G: 182a.

Irregular Imperatives in Compounds

What you probably know:

Somewhere in Latin class, you likely came across the most common irregular imperatives: dīc, fer, dūc, fac — Speak, Carry, Lead, Do. I repeat them in this order to recreate the mnemonic DFDF, SCLD — Dufus! Dufus! Scold him!, which I was introduced to early on.

What you might not know is whether these irregular forms are maintained within compounds. Indeed, they are, with one exception.

• Cōnfer haec exempla: compare these examples.
• Infer tribūtum reditūs foederāle semel in annō: pay your federal income taxes once a year.
• Eam addūc ut moveat: persuade her to move.
• Dēdūc maiōrīs verbīs fābulam: expand on your story with more words.
• Maledīc donec potes: curse them while you still can.

The exception is therefore fac, which is derived from faciō, a verb that more often than not takes its compounds in –ficiō. Such compounds do not display an irregular imperative.

• Effice tria carmina: complete three poems.
• Infice regem priusquam cīvēs cōnficiat: poison the kill before he kills the citizens.

If you’d like a refresher on the plurals: cōnferte, addūcite, maledīcite, facīte, efficite, etc.

Also, note that early late features the occasional face, dūce, and dīce (but never fere).

The Essential A & G: 182.

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

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

Faciō

The essential verb faciō, facere, fēcī, factum, is generally regular, though features a few variant forms you may not have known, and a distinct set of rules for compounds which you may have always ‘sensed’ but never understood.

Exceptional Features

The two exceptional features of faciō are its imperative singular (just the fac, ma’am—not face, which sounds like a Canadian swearing), and its passive forms, derived from fīō (to be discussed in a later post).

Faciō also features a variant future perfect faxō (in place of the more common fēcerō) and a variant perfect subjunctive faxim (in place of the more common fēcerim).

Compound Rules

Compounds of faciō (i) replace a with i and (ii) replace the supine -actum with –ectum, and while retaining the -iō declension, sometimes they feature passive forms that are not derived from fīō.

• cōnficiō, cōnficere, cōnfēcī, cōnfectum (finish)
• cōnficior, cōnficī, cōnfectus sum (die) [but note that ‘ficior’ is not a word!]

• afficiō, afficere, affēcī, affectum (affect)
• afficior, afficī, affectus sum (be affected

• inficiō, inficere, infēcī, infectum (dye, poison)
• inficior, inficī, infectus sum (be poisoned)

Relation to PIE

For those interested in the topic discussed in the last post, the Latin faciō is derived from the PIE dʰeh₁, which also produced τίθημι, do, and (the German) tun.

The Essential AG: 204, 204a