30.03.24: the third declension [5]; more ways of learning the stem changes

Getting your head around these stem changes isn’t entirely unsystematic. So far, you’ve seen that a lot of these changes exist in English derivatives e.g. dēns, dentis: tooth; English derivative: dentist.

However, there are large groups of 3rd declension nouns which, as soon as you see them, you can confidently know the stem ending because they all do the same thing. Within these nouns there are many abstract concepts, and since Roman authors often like to write in very elaborate ways, they come up a lot.

[1] -tās > -tāt¦is

• vēritās, vēritāt¦is: truth
• libertās, libertātis: freedom
• sēcūritās, sēcūritātis: security

[2] -tūdō > -tūdin¦is

• fortitūdō, fortitūdin¦is: bravery; “fortitude”
• magnitūdō, magnitūdinis: greatness; “magnitude”
• multitūdō, multitūdinis: great number of people, “multitude”

[3] -tiō > -tiōnis

• dēscrīptiō, dēscrīptiōn¦is: description
• explicātiō, explicātiōnis: explanation
• invītātiō, invītātiōnis: invitation

[4] -tūs > -tūtis

• iuventūs, iuventūt¦is: young men; youth
• senectūs, senectūtis: old age
• virtūs, virtūtis: manliness; courage; virtue; excellence

virtūs: one of the toughest words to convey neatly in English. For the Romans, virtūs was the most important human characteristic. Wiktionary lists fourteen possible translations: good luck with that.

[5] -tor; -sor > -tōris; -sōris

So, the only change here is to a long /ō/ but these are useful suffixes to spot because they describe masculine agent nouns i.e. nouns that are performing the action e.g.

• gladius: sword > gladiātor, gladiatōris: gladiator
• lūctor: I wrestle > lūctātor, lūcātōris: wrestler
• piscis: fish > piscātor, piscātōris: fisherman
• saltō, saltāre [1]: dance > saltātor, sāltatōris: dancer
• scrībō, scrībere [3]: write > scriptor, scriptōris: writer
• agō, agere [3]: act > actor, actōris: actor
• currō, -ere [3]: run > cursor, cursōris: runner
• tondeō, tondēre [2]: shave > tonsor, tonsōris: barber

[6] Latin had a female equivalents of some of these jobs and the ending to look out for is -īx with a stem change to -īc¦is

• imperātor, imperātōris: emperor; imperātrīx, imperātrīcis; empress
• saltātrīx, saltātrīcis: female dancer
• piscātrīx, piscātrīcis: fisherwoman
• tōnstrīx, tōnstrīcis: female hair-cutter
• obstetrīx, obstetrīcis: midwife
• ōrnātrīx, ōrnātrīcis: hair-dresser

also:

• haruspex, haruspicis: soothsayer