29.03.24: the third declension [1]

First take a look at the images of the bust of the Roman boy and part of the statue of Hadrian and note the vocabulary.

2nd declension

• nāsus: nose
• oculus: eye
• collum: neck
• labrum: lip

From Principia, a little schoolbook written by Peckett and Munday in 1949…and you can tell it was originally developed in a boys’ school! Peckett was the Headmaster and Munday was the Senior Classics master.

RIXA (a quarrel)

pulsō, pulsāre [1]: beat; batter; strike

You can almost hear the pupils reciting these in their classroom…

• Mārcus nāsum Sextī pulsat. │ Macus punches (strikes) Sextus’ nose.
• Sextus nāsum Mārcī pulsat. │ Sextus punches Marcus’ nose.
• Mārcus oculum Sextī pulsat. │ Marcus thumps Sextus’ eye.
• Sextus Mārcī oculum pulsat. │ Sextus thumps Marcus’ eye.

So, nothing unusual about the grammar; oculus and nāsus are 2nd declension nouns and they’re in the accusative.

Now, look at the next sentences:

frōns: forehead

• Mārcus frontem Sextī pulsat. │ Marcus strikes Sextus’ forehead.
• Sextus frontem Marci pulsat. │ Sextus strikes Marcus’ forehead.

auris: ear

• Mārcus aurēs Sextī vellit. │ Marcus tugs Sextus’ ears.

[vellō, vellere [3]: pluck out (e.g. feathers); pull]

dēns: tooth

• Sextus dēntēs Mārcī excutit. │ Sextus knocks out Marcus’ teeth.

[excutiō, excutere [3]: shake out; knock out; drive out]

crūs: leg

• Marcus crūs Sextī torquet. │ Marcus twists Sextus’ leg.
• Sextus crūra Mārcī torquet. │ Sextus twists Marcus’ legs.

[torqueō, torquēre [2]: twist]

caput: head

pēs: foot

venter: stomach; belly

lapis: stone

• Mārcus caput Sextī lapide pulsat. │ Marcus strikes Sextus’ head with a stone.
• Sextus caput Mārcī pede calcat. │ Sextus treads on Marcus’ head with (his) foot.
• Marcus ventrem Sexti pedibus calcat. │ Marcus treads on Sextus’ stomach with (his) feet.
• Mārcus ex capite labōrat. │ Marcus has pain from his head [ = has a headache].

[calcō, calcāre [1]: trample on]

Neither Marcus nor Sextus hit each other in the mouth (ōs), but Plautus tells you to keep your mouth shut:

Opprime ōs, is est (Plautus) │ Shut your mouth! It’s him.

What you have here is the first sight of the third declension of nouns. Third declension nouns have cropped up in earlier posts but they have only been mentioned in passing.

auris (ear), caput (head), crūs (leg), dēns (tooth), frōns (forehead), lapis (stone), ōs (mouth), pēs (foot), and venter (stomach) belong to the third declension.

There are two points to note at this early stage:

[i] Third declension nouns have a range of endings e.g. caput: head, dēns: tooth and, [ii] when they decline many of them will change e.g. dēns (tooth) > dēntēs (teeth), crūs (leg) > crūra (legs); pēs (foot) > pede (with [his] foot); pedibus (with [his] feet)

The greatest number of Latin nouns are in the third declension and, once you have become familiar with how they work, your vocabulary will expand enormously. But there’s quite a hill to climb here and so, over the next few posts, we will look at this slowly and in detail.