63 Neuter Nouns of the 3rd and 4th Declension
“Today we will finish studying the forms of regular nouns by looking at more Neuter Nouns. Do you remember the two basic principles of neuter nouns? I mean these:”
Nominative and Accusative endings are always the same.
The Plural endings in the Nominative and Accusative are always short a. Ok, yes I do.
“The endings of neuter 3rd Declension Nouns resemble other 3rd Declension Nouns, except for variants in the Nominative and Accusative that follow these principles. So:”
Neuter 3rd Declension endings (A)
SingularPlural
Nom. varies-a
Gen. -is-um
Dat. -ī-ibus
Acc. same as nominative-a Abl. -e-ibus
“Like masculine and feminine 3rd Declension Nouns, there is no single nominative ending for neuters. One nominative ending you will often see is –us:”
corpus, corpor-is, n.body
tempus, tempor-is, n.time
iūs, iūr-is, n.justice
dīcō iūs: to announce verdicts.
mūnus, mūner-is, n.gift, service
sīdus, sīder-is, n.star
Declension of corpus, corporis, n.
SingularPlural
Nom. corpuscorpor-abody (subj./pred.)bodies (subj./pred.) Gen.corpor-iscorpor-umof the bodyof the bodies
Dat.corpor-īcorpor-ibusto/for the bodyto/for the bodies Acc.corpuscorpor-abody (d. obj.)body (d. obj.) Abl.corpor-ecorpor-ibusf.w.i.b the bodyf.w.i.b. the bodies
“Rūs, rūr-is, countryside, which we learned yesterday, also belongs to this group.” “Write a declension of tempus, temporis, n.” (1)
“WRITE THE MARKED UP AND THE SMOOTHED VERSION OF EACH SENTENCE TODAY.”
Post bella mūnus pācis cūnctīs dabitur gentibus. (2)
Ūnō tempore tot virī interiērunt. (3)
The body yields to age. (4)
“Some neuter 3rd Declension Nouns have the nominative/accusative ending –men combined with a stem ending in –min:”
lūmen, lūmin-isn.light; lamp; eye “Lūx is light, lūmen is what makes light.”
nōmen, nōmin-isn.name
flūmen, flūmin-isn.river
lūmenlūmin-a
lūmin-islūmin-um
lūmin-īlūmin-ibus
lūmenlūmin-a
lūmin-elūmin-ibus
At Rome you sought a great name, the light of fame; you did not lay down your enthusiasm. (5) “Use the new noun for ‘light’.”
“The word for ‘head’ has caput nominative singular but capit- for its stem:”
caput, capit-isn.head; person caputcapit-a
capit-iscapit-um
capit-īcapit-ibus
caputcapit-a
capit-ecapit-ibus
The head seems to be not a great part of the body. (6)
“The Latin word for ‘sea’ is an I-Stem 3rd Declension Noun. Its stem is mar-, like ‘marine’ in English. Because it is an I-Stem, it also has i’s in some endings: –ī in the ablative, –ia in nominative and accusative, and –ium in the genitive plural. This one will be useful later when we study a new family of adjectives.”
mare, mar-isn. sea Declension of mare, maris, n. (B) maremar-ia
mar-ismar-ium
mar-īmar-ibus
maremar-ia
mar-īmar-ibus
The rivers went through the fields and the land, into the sea. (7)
“With all neuter nouns, it is important to notice that the accusative and the nominative are the same form. So, when you see these Latin forms, you have to keep in mind that they can be either of the two cases:”
Neuter Noun forms that can be either Nominative or Accusative:
SingularPlural
corpuscorpora
iūsiūra
mūnusmūnera
nōmennōmina
caputcapita
maremaria
Speak verdicts for the people, king Alexander. (8)
Corpora ex oppidō efferuntur in sepulchra. (9) “Efferō means ‘to carry out’.”
“There are not many Neuter 4th Declension Nouns. We’ll start with the noun cornū, ‘horn’.”
cornū, corn-ūsn.horn Declension of cornū, cornūs, n. (C)
corn-ūcorn-ua
corn-ūscorn-uum
corn-ūcorn-ibus
corn-ūcorn-ua
corn-ūcorn-ibus
“Here are nine more words that you will see shortly:” 1st Declension Nouns
aqua, aqu-aef.water
cōpia, cōpi-aef.abundance; (plural) forces (e.g. of soldiers)
Neuter 2nd Declension Nouns
auxilium, auxili-īn.aid, help
iūdicium, iūdici-īn.judgment
5th Declension Noun
faciēs, faci-eīf.face, façade
Adverbs and Conjunctions
utas; when; so that
forteby chance
igiturso
itaqueand so
“Now translate these sententiae or sentences:” Sīdera, cum nox est, hominum vident amōrēs. (10)
Good Fortune, as they say, holds the Horn of Abundance. (11)
Dinocrates carried letters from friends to (ad) men of great rank. (12)
Dīnocratēs fīdem in muneribus nātūrae habuit. (13)
When he noticed the man, by chance the king was announcing verdicts; he ordered a place to be given to him. (14)
And so he ordered him to prepare a city (with) the name Alexandria. (15) “Put ‘name’ in the ablative.”
Dinocrates acquired a commission (using) good judgment and the aid of his face. (16)
- The Demonstrative is ea id
“One more thing today. Do you remember the 3rd person pronouns? Let’s review them together:”
SingularPlural
is ea ideī eae ea
eius eius eiuseōrum eārum eōrum
eī eī eīeīs eīs eīs
eum eam ideōs eās ea
eō eā eōeīs eīs eīs
“These are pronouns, as you know, but they can also be used as Demonstrative Adjectives. If a form of is, ea, id agrees in case, gender, and number with an adjacent noun, it is likely functioning as a demonstrative adjective, and should then be translated “this” or “that”; or, in the plural, “these” or “those.”(C)”
is cōnsulthis/that consul (subject)
id mūnusthis/that gift (subject or object) eōrum deōrumof these/those gods
eius reīof this/that thing
“Sometimes the pronoun will aid you by helping you to identify the case and number of the noun when there are multiple possibilities. For example, deae can be genitive singular, dative singular, or nominative plural, but when combined with the form of ea, it can only be one of these:”
PhraseCase and NumberTranslation
eius deaeGenitive Singularof this/that goddess eī deaeDative Singularto/for this goddess
eae deaeNominative Pluralthese/those goddesses (subj.) Eī patrēs mihi virtūtēs dabunt.Those/these fathers will give me virtues.
Id sepulchrum caput manūs membra virī eius habet. (17) Modum parāre eī īrae dēbuistī, amīce, ac servāre. (18) Erant eō tempore in terrā marīque cōpiae magnae. (19)
Eā in cīvitāte vīvēbam ubi eī duō virī nōn pācem sed bellum petēbant. (20)
“Now let us read the Latin of the anecdote Vitruvius told Octavian about Dinocrates. As you read it, underline and translate for me all the neuter nouns you encounter. Translate any other words you recognize, based on vocabulary you learned, or your best guess; many words here have English equivalents. (21) Take your time; little words count just as much as long ones:”
Dīnocratēs architectus cōgitātiōnibus et sollertiā frētus, cum Alexander rērum potīrētur, profectus est ē Macedoniā ad exercitum, rēgiae cupidus commendātiōnis. Is ē patriā ā propinquīs et amīcīs tulit ad prīmōs ōrdinēs et purpurātōs litterās, aditūs habēret faciliōrēs, ab eīsque exceptus hūmānē petit utī quamprīmum ad Alexandrum perdūcerētur. Cum pollicitī essent, tardiōrēs fuērunt idōneum tempus expectantēs. Itaque Dīnocratēs ab hīs sē exīstimāns lūdī ab sē petit praesidium. Fuerat enim amplissimā statūrā, faciē grātā, fōrmā dignitāteque summā. Hīs igitur nātūrae mūneribus cōnfīsus vestīmenta posuit in hospitiō et oleō corpus perūnxit caputque corōnāvit pōpuleā fronde, laevum umerum pelle leōnīnā tēxit, dextrāque clāvam tenēns incessit contrā tribūnal rēgis iūs dīcentis. Novitās populum cum āvertisset, cōnspexit eum Alexander.
Admīrāns eī iussit locum darī, ut accēderet, interrogāvitque, quis esset. At ille: “Dīnocratēs”, inquit, “architectus Macedō quī ad tē cōgitātiōnēs et fōrmās adferō dignās tuae clāritātī. Namque Athōn montem fōrmāvī in statuae virīlis figūram, cuius manū laevā dēsignāvī cīvitātis amplissimae moenia, dexterā pateram, quae exciperet omnium flūminum, quae sunt in eō monte,
aquam, ut inde in mare profunderētur.” Dēlectātus Alexander nōtiōne fōrmae statim quaesiit, sī essent agrī circā, quī possint frūmentāriā ratiōne eam cīvitātem tuērī. Cum invēnisset nōn posse nisi trānsmarīnīs subvectiōnibus: “Dīnocratēs,” inquit, “adtendō ēgregiam fōrmae conpositiōnem et eā dēlector. Sed animadvertō, sī quī dēdūxerit eō locō colōniam, forte ut iūdicium eius vituperētur. Ut enim nātus īnfāns sine nūtrīcis lacte nōn potest alī neque ad vītae crēscentēs gradūs perdūcī, sīc cīvitās sine agrīs et eōrum frūctibus in moenibus affluentibus nōn potest crēscere nec sine abundantiā cibī frequentiam habēre populumque sine cōpiā tuērī. Itaque quemadmodum fōrmātiōnem putō probandam, sīc iūdiciō locum inprobandum; tēque volō esse mēcum, quod tuā operā sum ūsūrus.”
Ex eō Dīnocratēs ab rēge nōn discessit et in Aegyptum est eum persecūtus. Ibi Alexander cum animadvertisset portum nātūrāliter tūtum, emporium ēgregium, campōs circā tōtam Aegyptum frūmentāriōs, inmānis flūminis Nīlī magnās ūtilitātēs, iussit eum suō nōmine cīvitātem Alexandriam cōnstituere. Ita Dīnocratēs ā faciē dignitāteque corporis commendātus ad eam nōbilitātem pervēnit. Mihi autem, imperātor, statūram nōn tribuit nātūra, faciem dēfōrmāvit aetās, valētūdō dētrāxit vīrēs. Itaque quoniam ab hīs praesidiīs sum dēsertus, per auxilia scientiae scrīptaque, ut spērō, perveniam ad commendātiōnem.
I got a few dozen words right and Latinitas nodded in satisfaction.
After we were done, I looked up and saw a bit of blue sky breaking through the clouds. I could hear Agrippa’s voice in the distance giving orders to a work crew; I moved to get a better view and spotted them working on the flood gates of an aqueduct. After a few minutes of noise and shouting, water from the aqueduct began to spill down the road at the foot of the hill, rushing between the raised sidewalks and over the cobblestones. Sparkling in the sun, the water picked up the residue of last night’s violence and other bits of urban trash and sent it all tumbling down the hill, down into the great sewer that ran under the Roman Forum, the Cloāca Maxima, from which it fell into the Tiber river, to be taken on its final journey ad mare, to the sea.
- The well-preserved remains of a Roman aqueduct in Segovia, Spain. The word aqueduct is made of the noun aqua, ‘water’, the prefix ē, ‘out’, and the verbal root dūc-, ‘lead’; an aquēductum ‘leads water out’.
- A navicula or small fishing boat on the flūmen Nīlus, the Nile river, in Asyut, Egypt. Vesper est hoc tempus diēī; this time of day is dusk.