2.4 Word endings
You might have noticed already that some Latin words used in the passages of Pliny and Catullus differ slightly from their dictionary entries. This is a sure sign that changes in the form of words play a role in the Latin language. Look, for instance, at the word for ‘uncle’. Compare the word as it appears in the text (auunculī) with its dictionary entry (auunculus) in Table 5. They differ by one letter at the end, which makes a crucial difference to the meaning of the word.
| Latin | English | Dictionary entry |
|---|---|---|
| auunculī | of (my) uncle | auunculus – ‘uncle’ |
Activity 8
a.
Fewer than half
b.
More than half
The correct answer is b.
Answer
More than half of the words are used by Pliny in a different form from their dictionary entry. They are listed below.
| Latin | English | Dictionary entry |
|---|---|---|
| petis | you ask | petō – ‘I seek, ask’ |
| tibi | to you | tu – ‘you’ (singular) |
| auunculī | of (my) uncle | auunculus – ‘uncle’ |
| meī | my | meus – ‘my’ |
| exitum | death | exitus – literally ‘departure’, here meaning ‘death’ |
| scrībam | I describe | scrībō – ‘I write’ |
| uērius | more truthfully | uērus – ‘true’ |
| trādere | transmit | trādō – ‘hand over’, ‘transmit’ |
| posterīs | to future generations | posterī – literally ‘those who come later’, i.e. ‘future generations’ |
| possis | you can | possum – ‘I can’ |
Your results could differ from these if you have used your own dictionary. Some dictionaries will contain entries for certain forms like tibi, although this would refer back to the entry for tu.
Now try the same activity with the English translation.
Activity 9
a.
Fewer than half.
b.
More than half.
The correct answer is a.
Answer
Very few and, certainly, less than half. The precise number may differ depending on the dictionary you use. ‘Generations’ will appear under ‘generation’; ‘truthfully’ might appear under ‘truthful’.
Activity 10
What problem would arise with a dictionary containing an entry for the word ‘generations’?
Discussion
A dictionary containing ‘generations’ would need to include every plural noun, such as ‘cats’, ‘dogs’, ‘bicycles’, and so on.
When learning English, it would be a pointless to learn all the forms of nouns that have plurals ending with ‘-s’. Instead, it is more sensible to learn a rule: that regular English nouns in the plural follow a pattern of adding ‘-s’ (or ‘-es’ if the noun ends in -ch, -sh, -s, -x or -z). There are exceptions like ‘mouse / mice’ and ‘goose / geese’ which must be learned individually and may well have their own entries in an English dictionary. But the majority follow a pattern that English speakers need to learn.