Latin Nouns and Adjectives
In many languages, nouns and their modifying adjectives are inflected: They have different endings (or in some cases very different forms) in different cases. In Latin, there are seven cases: nominative, vocative (nominative of address: "Et tu, Brute?"), genitive (possessive case, meaning "of _______"), three different objective cases (dative, accusative, ablative), and locative (ablative of place). In Cell Structure and Function, we shall be concerned only with the nominative case and (to a minor extent) the genitive case. Latin nouns and adjectives are inflected in any of several different ways, depending on the stem of the word. We will concern ourselves only with three of these noun and adjective forms: "a-stem", "o-stem", and "consonant-stem". Latin nouns have gender (feminine, masculine, or neuter). Adjectives are inflected in the gender form to agree with the noun they modify. Most a-stem nouns are feminine. Most o-stem nouns are masculine or neuter. Consonant-stem nouns are about evenly distributed among the three gender types. The nominative plurals of neuter nouns and adjectival forms always end in -a, thus differing from the gender forms of o-stem and consonant-stem nouns. Adjectives with vowel stems use a-stem endings for the feminine and the appropriate o-stem endings for masculine and neuter forms.
|
A-STEM FORMS |
CONSONANT-STEM FORMS |
|||||
| Singular |
Plural |
Singular |
Plural (M, F) |
Plural (Neuter) |
||
|
Nominative |
-a |
-ae |
(-) |
-es |
-a |
|
|
Genitive |
-ae |
-arum |
-is |
-um |
-um |
|
|
O-STEM FORMS |
|||||
|
Masculine |
Neuter |
||||
|
Singular |
Plural |
Singular |
Plural |
||
|
Nominative |
-us (-) |
-i |
|
-um |
-a |
|
Genitive |
-i |
-orum |
|
-i |
-orum |
Most consonant-stem
nouns and adjectives (and some o-stem forms) have stems slightly different from
the form in the nominative singular. Most conspicuous consonant-stem words for
our purposes:
|
Word |
Stem |
Gender |
Nominative Plural |
Meaning |
|
|
NOUNS |
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|
apex |
apic- |
M |
apices |
point |
|
|
cadaver |
cadaver- |
M |
cadaveres |
corpse |
|
|
calix |
calic- |
M |
calices |
cup |
|
|
corpus |
corpor- |
N |
corpora |
body |
|
|
genus |
gener- |
N |
genera |
genus |
|
|
lex |
leg- |
F |
leges |
law |
|
|
lumen |
lumin- |
N |
lumina |
light |
|
|
mors |
mort- |
F |
mortes |
death |
|
|
opus |
oper- |
N |
opera |
work |
|
|
pax |
pac- |
F |
paces |
peace |
|
|
pes |
ped- |
M |
pedes |
foot |
|
|
pons |
pont- |
M |
pontes |
bridge |
|
|
ADJECTIVES |
|||||
|
adherens |
adherent- |
adherentes (-a) |
adhesive |
||
|
occludens |
occludent- |
occludentes |
occluding |
The early Romans incorporated many Greek words into Latin. In most cases, these Greek words are inflected as one of the Latin stem forms, but they retain certain Greek peculiarities. These peculiarities have been retained in carry-over of these words into English and in formation of new scientific words from Greco-Roman roots. Of interest to us are neuter nouns in which the Greek form in the nominative singular has an "-on" ending; the plural is formed from the stem by addition of the ending "-a":
|
Singular |
Plural |
||
|
criterion |
criteria |
||
|
mitochondrion |
mitochondria |
||
|
phenomenon |
phenomena |
|
|
|
