Lesson 44 · Review
Two of these words are irregular enough to be declined by themselves, one exists only in the plural, and four of them are the monosyllables you will memorize as a set.
As in the last lesson, the -ium printed in parentheses after an entry marks that noun as an i-stem — so collis, dēns, fōns, mēnsis and mōns take the genitive plural in -ium.
Set moenia, the walls of a city, beside mūrus, the wall you already know.
mōns brings a set phrase with it: summus mōns. summus joined to a noun names the top part of the thing, so the phrase means the top of the mountain, not the highest mountain.
The English word in parentheses is a derivative: dēns gives dentist, iter itinerary, pōns pontoon, sanguis sanguinary, trāns transatlantic, vīs vim.
Both are irregular for the same reason: each is built on two different stems, and the declension looks uneven wherever the second stem takes over.
| vīs, f. force | iter, n. march | |
|---|---|---|
| Stems | vī- and vīri- | iter- and itiner- |
| Bases | v- and vīr- | iter- and itiner- |
| Nom. sg. | vīs | iter |
| Gen. | vīs (rare) | itineris |
| Dat. | vī (rare) | itinerī |
| Acc. | vim | iter |
| Abl. | vī | itinere |
| Nom. pl. | vīrēs | itinera |
| Gen. | vīrium | itinerum |
| Dat. | vīribus | itineribus |
| Acc. | vīrīs, or -ēs | itinera |
| Abl. | vīribus | itineribus |
Read the word rare standing beside the genitive singular vīs and the dative singular vī. Those two forms are hardly met, so in practice the singular comes down to three: nominative vīs, accusative vim, ablative vī.
The plural, by contrast, is complete — vīrēs, vīrium, vīribus, vīrīs (or vīrēs), vīribus — and it is built on the other stem, vīri-.
Notice the accusative plural vīrīs or vīrēs: the same double ending the i-stems showed in the last lesson.
The short stem iter- supplies exactly two forms, the nominative and accusative singular, both iter. Every other form in the table is built on the long stem itiner-: itineris, itinerī, itinere, itinera, itinerum, itineribus.
Being neuter, it also obeys the general law for neuters — nominative and accusative are alike, and in the plural both end in -a: itinera.
The vocabulary entry moenia, -ium is marked plur., and that is the whole rule: the noun has no singular forms at all. Its genitive plural ends in -ium.
There are no rules of gender here without numerous exceptions — but these three are of great service, and are worth mastering exceptions and all.
Masculine are nouns in -or, -ōs, -er, and -ĕs (genitive -itis).
Two exceptions must be learned along with the rule: arbor, tree, is feminine; and iter, march, is neuter.
So labor, mīles (mīlitis) follow the rule; arbor and iter stand against it.
Feminine are nouns in -ō, -is, -x, and in -s preceded by a consonant or by any long vowel but ō.
The following, however, are masculine: collis (hill), lapis, mēnsis (month), ōrdō, pēs; nouns in -nis and -guis, as ignis and sanguis (blood); and the four monosyllables
dēns, a tooth · mōns, a mountain · pōns, a bridge · fōns, a fountain
Neuter are nouns in -e, -al, -ar, -n, -ur, -ŭs, and the word caput.
mare, animal, calcar, flūmen, tempus, opus — and caput, named by itself at the end of the rule.
The curved mark in -ĕs and -ŭs is a breve: it says the vowel is short, and that length is part of the rule, not an ornament. The masculine -ĕs has a short e and is further identified by its genitive in -itis; the same ending with a long ē would be a case of -s after a long vowel, and would fall under the feminine rule instead. Likewise the neuter -ŭs has a short u; with a long ū it would again be feminine.
Words denoting males are of course masculine and those denoting females feminine. That fact overrides the endings.
Six out of six before you start the exercises.
Question 1
vīs is called a defective noun. What does that mean here?
Right. The table prints rare beside the genitive singular vīs and the dative singular vī, so the singular you actually meet is nominative vīs, accusative vim, ablative vī. The plural, built on the other stem vīri-, lacks nothing: vīrēs, vīrium, vīribus, vīrīs (or vīrēs), vīribus. Option a has it exactly backwards — the plural is the complete half. The noun that truly has no singular is moenia.
Not quite — look at which half of the table carries the word rare, and which half runs through all five cases without a gap.
Question 2
iter is built on two stems, iter- and itiner-. Which forms come from the short stem?
Right. The short stem supplies exactly two forms, and they are the two a neuter always has alike: nominative iter and accusative iter. Everything else is long: itineris, itinerī, itinere in the singular, and itinera, itinerum, itineribus, itinera, itineribus in the plural. Option b fails at the genitive itineris, which is singular but already long.
Not quite — read down the singular column and find the first form that is longer than iter. Everything from there on belongs to the other stem.
Question 3
You want to write of the walls and the wall using moenia. What can you do?
Right. The entry moenia, -ium is marked plur., and that mark is absolute: the noun exists only in the plural, with its genitive in -ium. For one wall the vocabulary points you to mūrus, which is exactly why the lesson tells you to compare the two. Note the difference from vīs, which is defective in the singular — the two nouns are short in opposite halves.
Not quite — the abbreviation plur. in the vocabulary entry is doing real work. Ask what the word does not have, and which earlier word the lesson tells you to compare.
Question 4
Nouns in -or are masculine — yet the vocabulary prints arbor, arboris, f. Why?
Right. Rule 1 makes nouns in -or, -ōs, -er and -ĕs (gen. -itis) masculine, and it comes with exactly two exceptions attached: arbor, feminine, and iter, neuter. Learn them with the rule rather than against it. Option c misuses the real remark that words denoting males and females take their gender from the sense — a tree denotes neither.
Not quite — this rule is printed with a short list of exceptions attached to it. How many are there, and which words?
Question 5
collis, mēnsis, sanguis, and the four monosyllables dēns, mōns, pōns, fōns all end the way the feminine rule describes. What makes them masculine?
Right. Rule 2 makes nouns in -ō, -is, -x and in -s after a consonant or a long vowel feminine — and then names its own exceptions: collis, lapis, mēnsis, ōrdō, pēs; nouns in -nis and -guis, as ignis and sanguis; and the four monosyllables dēns, mōns, pōns, fōns, best memorized as a set. Option a fails at once — nāvis and urbs are feminine i-stems and mare is a neuter one. Option c fails at sanguis, sanguinis.
Not quite — the feminine rule does not stand alone on the page. Look at what is printed immediately after it.
Question 6
Why is the breve written in the masculine ending -ĕs and the neuter ending -ŭs?
Right. The length is part of the rule, not an ornament. Masculine -ĕs has a short e and is confirmed by its genitive in -itis; the same ending with a long ē is simply -s preceded by a long vowel, which Rule 2 assigns to the feminines. The neuter -ŭs works the same way: short u is neuter, long ū would be feminine. Read the marks and two of the three rules stop colliding.
Not quite — a breve is a mark of quantity, not of stress. Ask what would change in the rules if that vowel were long instead.
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