The Greek & Latin Roots of English (7 page)

In Latin,   
canis
= dog

           
vir
= man

           
mordeo
= I bite

If we want to say “The
dog bites the man
, ” we can write:

Can
i
s vir
um
mord
et
, or

Can
is
mord
et
vir
um
, or

Mord
et
vir
um
can
is
, or

Vir
um
can
is
mord
et
.

No matter how we arrange the words, the meaning of the sentence is always the same, because the ending (inflection) of each word determines its function in the sentence. If we want to change the meaning of the sentence, we have to change the endings of the words.

If we want to say, “
The man bites the dog
,” we can write:

Can
em
vi
r
mord
et
, or

Can
em
mordet vi
r
, or

Mord
et
vi
r
can
em
, etc.

What has changed in these different Latin sentences? Can you explain why these changes have occurred?

Inflection

All Indo-European languages (including English) were originally highly inflected, although English has lost most of the distinctive endings. We can see the persistence of inflection in English, however, in such changes in form as
I, my, me; he, his, him; goose, geese; sing, sang, sung; teach, teaches, taught
. What grammatical change does each of these different forms indicate?

LATIN NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES

The changes in the endings of nouns and adjectives are determined by
declension
. Each change of form that occurs is called a
case
. There are six cases in Latin, each one expressing a possible function of a noun, pronoun, or adjective in a sentence, as in the example of
femina
(woman):

femina = woman

There are five declensions (that is, five different sets of endings) in Latin; every noun and adjective belongs to one of these five declensions. Each declension is identified by the ending found in the genitive (possessive) case.

1. The first declension is identified by
   -ae
   in the genitive case:
   

   femina, femin
   ae
   = woman, of the woman
   

   porta, port
   ae
   = door, of the door
   

   nauta, naut
   ae
   = sailor, of the sailor
   

2. The second declension is identified by -
   i
   in the genitive case:
   

   vir, vir
   i
   = man, of the man
   

   amicus, amic
   i
   = friend, of the friend
   

   bellum, bell
   i
   = war, of the war
   

3. The third declension is identified by
   -is
   in the genitive case:
   

   rex, reg
   is
   = king
   

   mens, ment
   is
   = mind
   

   urbs, urb
   is
   = city
   

4. The fourth declension is identified by
   -ūs
   in the genitive case:
   

   manus, man
   ūs
   = hand, of the hand
   

   cornu, corn
   ūs
   = horn, of the horn
   

5. The fifth declension is identified by
   -ei
   in the genitive case:
   

   fides, fid
   ei
   = faith, of the faith
   

   dies, di
   ei
   = day, of the day
   

Marcus Aurelius, last of the “good” Roman emperors (161–180 CE). While on campaign, he composed a work of philosophy,
The Meditations
, that was grounded in Stoic teachings. (Vatican Museum)

There are very few nouns and no adjectives that belong to the fourth and fifth declensions.

FINDING THE STEM OF A LATIN NOUN OR ADJECTIVE

The reason why it is so important to understand how declensions work is that almost all English derivatives from Latin nouns and adjectives are formed from the stem of the word. The stem of a noun or adjective is the genitive case minus the case ending.

LATIN VERBS

Just as nouns and adjectives are inflected, so are verbs. The inflection of verbs is called
conjugation
. The changes in verb endings indicate person (first, second, or third person), tense (time of action), voice (active or passive
²
), and mood (indicative, subjunctive, or imperative
³
).

Almost every Latin verb has four stems (called principal parts), each of which has a different function, and from which are formed all the possible tenses, and voices. For example,

amo-amare-amavi-amatum
= love

amo = I love (first person singular, present tense, active voice)

amamus = we love (first person plural, present tense, active voice)

amavi = I have loved (first person singular, perfect tense, active voice)

amabitur = She (or he or it) will be loved (third person singular, future tense, passive voice)

amata eras = you (fem.) had been loved (second person singular, pluperfect tense, passive voice)

amatē = love! (imperative)

amare = to love (infinitive)

CONJUGATIONS

There are four conjugations, each of which is distinguished by the vowel that appears in the infinitive form:

1. The first conjugation is distinguished by
   a
   in the infinitive form:
   

   amo-am
   a
   re-amavi-amatum = love
   

   porto-port
   a
   re-portavi-portatum = carry
   

2. The second conjugation is distinguished by ē (long) in the infinitive form:
   

   moneo-monēre-monui-monitum = warn
   

   teneo-tenēre-tenui-tentum = hold
   

3. The third conjugation is distinguished by
   ě
   (short) in the infinitive form:
   

   duco-duc
   e
   re-duxi-ductum = lead
   

   facio-fac
   e
   re-feci-factum = make
   

4. The fourth conjugation is distinguished by
   i
   in the infinitive form:
   

   audio-aud
   i
   re-audivi-auditum = hear
   

   venio-ven
   i
   re-veni-ventum = come
   

FINDING THE STEM OF A LATIN VERB

Almost all English derivatives from Latin verbs are formed either from the present infinitive stem (which is the infinitive minus the
-re
ending) or from the perfect passive stem (the fourth principal part minus the
-um
ending.
⁴
) Very often, when a suffix is added to the present stem of a verb (see next chapter), the distinguishing vowel of the conjugation is also dropped before the suffix is added.

Deponent Verbs

There is a class of Latin verbs called
deponent
—verbs that are conjugated with the passive endings only, but that have active meanings. The conjugation to which each deponent verb belongs is identified in the infinitive form already noted. The mark of the passive infinitive is a final
-i
.

1. The first conjugation deponent verb is distinguished by an
   a
   in the infinitive form:
   

   arbitror-arbitr
   a
   ri-arbitratum = think
   

   hortor-hort
   a
   ri-hortatum = urge
   

2. The second conjugation deponent verb is distinguished by an ē in the infinitive form:
   

   fateor-fatēri-fassum = speak
   

   mereor-mer
   ē
   ri-meritum = deserve
   

3. The third conjugation deponent verb loses the
   ēr
   in the infinitive and retains only the final
   i
   as the indication of the infinitive:
   

   sequor-sequ
   i
   -secutum = follow
   

   revertor-revert
   i
   -reversum = return
   

4. The fourth conjugation deponent verb is distinguished by an
   i
   in the infinitive form:
   

   experior-experir
   i
   -expertum = try
   

Examples