italic languages.grammar cons on antic stems

8/2/2019 Italic Languages.grammar Cons on Antic Stems

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COMPARATIVE GRAMMAR OF LATIN 19

The Third Declension

I . The third declension is made up of a fusion of the PIE consonant stems, the endings of which we

have already discussed, and the i-stems which were basically of the same type except that theathematic endings were added to a suffix ending in -i- (in the -grade) or -ey- (in the full-grade)

A. Obstruent stems

1. Paradigm

N mles mlits

G mlitis mlitum

D mlit mlitibus

Ac mlitem mlits

Ab mlite mlitibus

2. Other simple obstruent stems (By simple I mean -VC- suffixes)

a . Root nouns: rx, rgis 'king,' trabs, trabis 'beam,' urbs, urbis 'city,'ps, pedis 'foot,' lx,

lcis 'light,' dux, ducis 'leader,' dns, dentis 'tooth.'

Neut: cor, cordis 'heart' and lac, lactis 'milk.'

b. Compound root nouns: prnceps, prncipis 'leader.' artifex, artificis 'artisan,' idex, idicis

'judge' etc. Cf. Osc. meddks 'chief magistrate' < *med- 'law' and *di- 'point, say.'

c. Root nouns with -t-extensions in 2nd part of compound: sacerds, sacerdtis 'priest,'

locupls, locupltis 'rich,' comes, com-itis 'companion.' In PIE a root ending in R(H) was

extended by -t- when it served as the second member of a compound: Ved.(AV) madhu-

kt- 'bee,' literally 'honeymaker' from the root kar-'make,' Grk. mobrw, -tow

'eating raw flesh' from the root ofbibrskv 'eat'


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d. Possibly after the model ofcomes Latin has pedes, peditis 'foot soldier,' eques, equitis

'knight,' mles mlitis 'soldier,' satelles, satellitis 'follower.'

e. -k-: In OL the suffix -k- is fairly productive in deverbal function:

Ennius: pertinax (teneo), pervicacia [pervicax 1st in Terence] (vinco)

Plautus: audax (aude) edax (edo), fallac-ia [fallax 1st in Lucilius]fallo,ferax (fero), loquax

(loquor), mordax (mordeo), rapax (rapio), tenax (teneo), trahax (traho)

Terence: percontumax (contemno), perspicax (perspicio), pervicax (vinco)

Cato: emax (em), vendax (vendo)(hapax agr .2.7),

Lucil.: tagax (tango)

Accius: vorax (voro)

Afran.: vivax (vivo)

bibx (bibo) only in Nigidius apud Gellius 3.12.1 but inferable from Furius

Bibaculus Quaestor of 216 BCE1

But the base is nominal: lingux 'talkative'


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looking' (ferus 'wild'). Cf. Grk. bo-piw 'ox-eyed.'

B . The -s-stems

In Latin these have partially merged with the -r-stems as a result of Rhotacism. The

masculine s-stems in -s formed verbal abstracts, especially to verbs of the 2nd conjugation, andthese became regularly -s -ris, e.g. hons, honris 'honor,' arbs arbris 'tree.' In Classical

Latin the r was generalized throughout out the paradigm: tepor, tepidus, tepe 'be warm.'

Sometimes the s is preserved in a derivative like honestus arbustum etc. The neuter s-stems,

which also formed verbal abstracts in PIE, preserved their -s- unchanged in the nom. acc. sing.

genus generis < * nos, *n-es-es from the verbal root *en- 'be born' = Grk. gnow, gnouw,

Ved. jnas, jnasas. An interesting neuter s-stem which has developed in a somewhat different

way isfar farris 'emmer' < *aros, bhareses with syncope, cf. Goth. barizeins 'of barley.

Similarly is, iris 'law' < *ywos. Some neuter s-stems have the vowel o before

the -r, e.g., corpus corporis. This may indicate that these forms are to be further analyzed as

made up of a thematic stem plus -s-.

C. Liquid stems - See Hale and Buck p. 39 for paradigms

1. -r-stems.

a . Within the class of-r-stems there are agent nouns (nmina agentis) in -tor which are

matched by similar forms throughout PIE e.g. Grkdtvr = Ved. dtr- etc. Umbr.aaaaffffeeeerrrrttttuuuurrrr 'priest' < *ad-fer-tr. Remember that the feminine of these forms was made

in PIE via the devsuffix *-i. In Latin this was extended by the suffix -k- so *genetr

> genetr-x (= Grk. genteira = Ved.janitr): ctor,artor, auctor. Already in Old Lat in

there are some denominative forms like salntor 'operator of a salt works'


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analyzed with some degree of plausibility as 'the woman of one's own group. *swe-

would be a form of the reflexive stem *swe- 'one's own' and there is some evidence for a

word *sr 'woman': Ved. ti-sr- 'three ' f., OIr. toir < *tisres. Hitt.au-ara- 'queen' ,

Cat, Catnis 'sharpy'; vrus 'bow-legged'


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> Varr, Varrnis; mandcus (name of masked character with champing jaws at

Atellan farce) > mandc 'glutton. These are probably derived from a PIE

characterizing suffix in ()e/on- from mainly thematic adjectives. When this was

added to a thematic stem the result was -n-. The suffix has individualizing force. Cf .

Greek strabw 'squinty-eyed' > Strabn 'the squinty eyed one. This suffix isprobably at the root of the Germanic weak inflexion of adjectives: Goth. blinda < -n-

vs. blinds.

b. There is another suffix -n- in Latin which also served to form terms for individuals,

but in this case from nominal bases. This suffix -n- is possessive in force: caput >

Capit 'Big-Head, frns 'forehead' > Front 'having a big fore-head'; nasum/s 'nose'

> Nas 'having a big nose. alea 'dice' > ale 'gambler' praeda 'booty' > praed

'pirate. The suffix here was the PIE Hoffmann suffix *-on-. Cf. Grk. gastr

'stomach' > Gastrn. This suffix could be added to either thematic or athematic

bases. *yu-n- 'having life force' > 'young' (Ved. yv, ynas, Lat. iuvenis). When

added to an athematic base the full-grade *-en- would come out as -en in Latin which

would be weakened to -in-. This is what lies at the source ofhom,hominis. Cf.

homunculus < *em-on- 'earthling' from the locative of *em- of *dhghm

'earth' (Hitt. tkan) and possibly some other nouns in - like virgo 'girl' which is

related to virga 'branch.'

c. There were also some masculines in -en likepecten 'comb' andflmen. These probably goback to -n. Cf. Greekktew 'comb < *pktens or pomhn 'shepherd.' Notice that the n was

preserved in the nominative after an e but lost after an o in Lat. This was probably

already the case in PIE and is confirmed by the evidence of Hitt. ara, arana'eagle

italic languages.grammar cons on antic stems

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