PART FIRSTWORDS AND FORMS

SECOND DECLENSION (o-STEMS)

The Stem of nouns of the Second Declension ends in -: as, viro- (stem of vir, man), servo- (stem of servus or servos, slave), bello- (stem of bellum, war).

The Nominative is formed from the stem by adding s in masculines and feminines, and m in neuters, the vowel being weakened to (see 6. a, 46. N.1).

In most nouns whose stem ends in r- the s is not added in the Nominative, but o is lost, and e intrudes before r, ²² if not already present: as, ager, stem agr- ²³ ; cf. puer, stem puero-.

Exceptions: erus, hesperus, iniperus, mrus, numerus, taurus, umerus, uterus, vrus, and many Greek nouns.

The stem-vowel has a variant form , ²⁴ which is preserved in the Latin vocative singular of nouns in -us: as, serv, vocative of servus, slave.

NOTE.In composition this appears as . Thus,belli-ger, warlike (from bell- o/e-, stem of bellum, war).

Nouns of the Second Declension in -us (-os) and -um (-om) are thus declined: [p. 21]

servus, M., slave	bellum, N., war	Pompius, M., Pompey
STEM servo-	STEM bello-	STEM Pompio-

SINGULAR
		CASE-ENDINGS		CASE-ENDINGS
NOM.	servus (-os)	-us (-os)	bellum	-um	Pompius
GEN.	serv	-	bell	-	Pomp
DAT.	serv	-	bell	-	Pompi
ACC.	servum (-om)	-um (-om)	bellum	-um	Pompium
ABL.	serv	-	bell	-	Pompi
VOC.	serve	-e	bellum	-um	Pomp ((--ei)

PLURAL
NOM.	serv	-	bella	-a	Pomp
GEN.	servrum	-rum	bellrum	-rum	Pompirum
DAT.	servs	-s	bells	-s	Pomps
ACC.	servs	-s	bella	-a	Pompis
ABL.	servs	-s	bells	-s	Pomps

NOTE 1.The earlier forms for nominative and accusative were -os, -om, and these were always retained after u and v up to the end of the Republic. The terminations s and m are sometimes omitted in inscriptions: as, Cornlio for Cornlios, Cornliom.

NOTE 2.Stems in quo-, like equo-, change qu to c before u. Thus,ecus (earlier equos), equ, equ, ecum (earlier equom), eque. Modern editions disregard this principle.

Nouns of the Second Declension in -er and -ir are thus declined:

puer, M., boy	ager, M., field	vir, M., man
STEM puero-	STEM agro-	STEM viro-

SINGULAR
				CASE-ENDINGS
NOM.	puer	ager	vir	------
GEN.	puer	agr	vir	-
DAT.	puer	agr	vir	-
ACC.	puerum	agrum	virum	-um
ABL.	puer	agr	vir	-

PLURAL
NOM.	puer	agr	vir	-
GEN.	puerrum	agrrum	virrum	-rum
DAT.	puers	agrs	virs	-s
ACC.	puers	agrs	virs	-s
ABL.	puers	agrs	virs	-s

NOTE.When e belongs to the stem, as in puer, it is retained throughout; other, wise it appears only in the nominative and vocative singular, as in ager. [p. 22]

Gender in the Second Declension

Nouns ending in -us (-os), -er, -ir, are Masculine; those ending in -um (-on) are Neuter.

Exceptions: Names of countries and towns in -us (-os) are Feminine: as, Aegyptus, Corinthus. Also many names of plants and gems, with the following: alvus, belly; carbasus, linen (pl. carbasa, sails, N.); colus, distaff; humus, ground: vannus, winnowing-shovel.

Many Greek nouns retain their original gender: as, arctus (F.), the Polar Bear; methodus (F.), method.

The following in -us are Neuter; their accusative (as with all neuters) is the same as the nominative: pelagus, sea; vrus, poison; vulgus (rarely M.), the crowd. They are not found in the plural, except pelagus, which has a rare nominative and accusative plural pelag.

NOTE.The nominative plural neuter ct, sea monsters, occurs; the nominative singular ctus occurs in Vitruvius.

Case-Forms in the Second Declension

a. The Locative form of this declension ends for the singular in -: as, hum, on the ground; Corinth, at Corinth; for the plural, in -s: as, Philipps, at Philippi (cf. p. 34, footnote).

The genitive of nouns in -ius or -ium ended, until the Augustan Age, in a single -: as, fl, of a son; Pomp, of Pompey (Pompius); but the accent of the nominative is retained: as, ing'n, of genius. ²⁵

Proper names in -ius have - in the vocative, retaining the accent of the nominative: as, Verg'l. So also, flius, son; genius, divine guardian: as, aud, m fl, hear, my son.

Adjectives in -us form the vocative in -ie, and some of these are occasionally used as nouns: as, Lacedaemonie, O Spartan.

NOTE.Greek names in -us have the vocative -e: as, Lyrcus, vocative Lyrce.

The genitive plural often has -um or (after v) -om (cf. 6. a) instead of -rum, especially in the poets: as, deum, superum, dvom, of the gods; virum, of men. Also in compounds of vir, and in many words of money, measure, and weight: as, Svirum, of the Seviri; nummum, of coins; igerum, of acres.

The original ending of the ablative singular (-d) is sometimes found in early Latin: as, Gnaivd (later, Gnae), Cneius.

Proper names in -ius, -ius, -ius (as, Aurunculius, B), are declined like Pompius. [p. 23]

Deus (M.), god, is thus declined:

SINGULAR	PLURAL
NOM. deus	de (di), d
GEN. de	derum, deum
DAT. de	des (dis), ds
ACC. deum	des
ABL. de	des (dis), ds

NOTE.The vocative singular of deus does not occur in classic Latin, but is said to have been dee; deus (like the nominative) occurs in the Vulgate. For the genitive plural, dvum or dvom (from dvus, divine) is often used.

The following stems in ero-, in which e belongs to the stem, retain the e throughout and are declined like puer ( 47):

adulter, adulterer;	gener, son-in-law;	puer, boy;
socer, father-in-law;	vesper, evening;	Lber, Bacchus.

Also, the adjective lber, free, of which lber, children, is the plural ( 111. a), and compounds in -fer and -ger (stem fero-, gero-): as, lcifer, morning star; armiger, squire.

An old nominative socerus occurs. So vocative puere, boy, as if from puerus (regularly puer).

Vir, man, has genitive vir; the adjective satur, sated, has satur; vesper, evening, has ablative vespere (locative vesper, in the evening).

Mulciber, Vulcan, has -ber and -br in the genitive. The barbaric names Hibr and Celtibr retain throughout.

The following, not having e in the stem, insert it in the nominative singular and are declined like ager ( 47):

ager, field, stem agro-;	coluber, snake;	magister, master;
aper, boar;	conger, sea eel;	minister, servant;
arbiter, judge;	culter, knife;	oleaster, wild olive;
auster, south wind;	faber, smith;	onager (-grus), wild ass;
cancer, crab;	fiber, beaver;	scomber (-brus), mackerel.
caper, goat;	liber, book;

Greek Nouns of the Second Declension

Greek nouns of the Second Declension end in -os, -s, masculine or feminine, and in -on neuter.

They are mostly proper names and are declined as follows in the Singular, the Plural, when found, being regular: [p. 24]

mthos, M.	Aths, M.	Dlos, F.	lion, N.
fable	Athos	Delos	Ilium

		SINGULAR
NOM.	mthos	Aths (-)	Dlos	lion
GEN.	mth	Ath (-)	Dl	li
DAT.	mth	Ath	Dl	li
ACC.	mthon	Athn (-um)	Dlon (-um)	lion
ABL.	mth	Ath	Dl	li
VOC.	mthe	Aths	Dle	lion

Many names in -s belonging to the third declension have also a genitive in -: as, Thcdids, Thcdid (compare 44. b).

Several names in -er have also a nominative in -us: as, Teucer or Teucrus. The name Panths has the vocative Panth ( 81. 3).

The genitive plural of certain titles of books takes the Greek termination -n: as, Gergicn, of the Georgics.

The termination -oe (for Greek -οι) is sometimes found in the nominative plural: as, Adelphoe, the Adelphi (a play of Terence).

Greek names in -eus (like Orpheus) have forms of the second and third declensions (see 82).