28.04.24: Review: Ecce Romani [3]; noun declensions

These posts are for review; how these nouns decline i.e. the endings which they have, are all covered in earlier posts. This post shows how the nouns are divided into declensions, the term used in grammar to refer to which group a noun belongs, and depending on the group, the nouns will have a particular set of endings common to all of them.

A reminder that, in dictionaries and vocabulary lists, nouns are listed with [i] their nominative singular and [ii] their genitive singular; all the groups have a different genitive singular and so it is the genitive singular that will explicitly show what declension the noun belongs to, which is why it is crucial to learn Latin nouns with both pieces of information:

There are five declensions in Latin.

Note: the fifth declension is not in the original text and so I have added a line marked * so that it can be included.

Note: I have also included a line marked ** which shows the use of the dative case which did not appear in the previous text that covered all the other cases. That is briefly discussed in the next post.

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Aenēās est vir Troiānus quī urbem Troiam contrā Graecōs dēfendit. Decem annōs Graecī urbem obsident. Decem annōs Troiānī Graecōs repellunt. Tandem per dolum Graecī urbem nocte intrant. Multōs Troiānōs capiunt, multōs necant. Nōn iam urbem dēfendere Aenēās potest. *Diēs fit nox.* Necesse est igitur ex urbe effugere et urbem novam petere. Multī amīcī quoque ab urbe Trōiā effugiunt. Omnēs ad Ītaliam nāvigāre parant. Aenēās, dum ex urbe effugit, senem portat. Senex est Anchīsēs, pater Aenēae. **Aeneās patrī auxilium praestat**. Portāre Anchīsēn necesse est quod senex ambulāre nōn potest. Aenēās Anchīsēn portat; portat Anchīsēs Penātēs, deōs familiārēs. Deī Aenēān et Anchīsēn et omnēs amīcōs servant. Aenēās etiam parvum puerum dūcit. Puer est Ascanius, fīlius Aenēae. Dum ex urbe ambulant, Ascanius patrem spectat et manum tenet. Perterritus est Ascanius quod magnōs clāmōrēs, magnōs fragōrēs audit. Valdē Graecōs timet. Ubi Aenēās et Anchīsēs et Ascanius ex urbe effugiunt, "Ubī est māter?" subitō clāmat Ascanius. Multī amīcī adveniunt, sed nōn advenit Creūsa [i], māter Ascaniī. Aenēās sollicitus patrem et fīlium et Penātēs relinquit et in urbem redit. Graecī ubīque sunt. Creūsam frūstrā petit. "Ēheu!" inquit. "Troiam habent Graecī. Fortasse tē quoque habent, Creūsa. Valdē amō Creūsam, valdē Troiam. Sed neque urbem neque Creūsam servāre iam possum. Ad amīcōs igitur redīre necesse est." Tum ad amīcōs redit. Mox ad Ītaliam nāvigāre parant Aenēās et amīcī.

[i] Creūsa, wife of Aeneas and mother of Ascanius

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[1] First declension: all first declension nouns end in -a and almost all are feminine

Troia, -ae [1/f]: Troy

· Troia (nominative singular), Troiae (genitive singular) [1/f] 1: first declension; f: feminine

Ītalia, -ae [1/f]: Italy

[2] Second declension:

[i] almost all second declension nouns end in either -us [masculine] or -um [neuter]

amīcus, -ī [2/m]: friend

• amīcus (nominative singular), amīcī (genitive singular) [2/m] 2: second declension; m: masculine

annus, -ī [2/m]: year

deus, -ī [2/m]: god

dolus, -ī [2/m]: trickery

fīlius, -ī [2/m]: son

Graecus, -ī [2/m]: (a) Greek

Troiānus, -ī [2/m]: (a) Trojan

From the previous text:

baculum, -ī [2/n(euter)]: stick

[ii] some end in –(e)r

vir, -ī [2/m]: man

• vir (nominative singular), virī (genitive singular) [2/m] 2: second declension; m: masculine

puer, -ī [2/m]: boy

[3] Third declension: the third declension was covered extensively; it is different from all the other declensions because [i] the nominative singular can have a variety of endings and [ii] the genitive case ending very often involves a change of stem to which all the other case endings are added:

clāmor, clāmōris [3/m]: shout; cry

fragor, fragōris [3/m]: uproar; din

māter, mātris [3/f]: mother

nox, noctis [3/f]: night

pater, patris [3/m]: father

senex, senis [3 m/f]: old man / woman

urbs, urbis [3/f]: city

The 3rd declension is a big area of study and thousands of Latin words are in that declension.

[4] Fourth declension

manus, -ūs [4/f]: hand

This one shows you precisely why the genitive needs to be known:

[i] amīcus, -ī [2/m]: friend; second declension │ [ii] manus, -ūs [4/f]: hand; fourth declension

If you’re on “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” and you’re asked which one it is, then go for second declension! There are thousands of those and far fewer 4th declension ones. If you’re into facts and figures: wiktionary lists in excess of 5,000 2nd declension nouns in -us, and about 600 4th declension nouns.

[5] Fifth declension

I have *added a sentence*

• diēs, -ēī [5 m/f]