Etymologiae, Book I, chapters 8-9: De pronomine to De verbo
Chapter VIII. On the pronoun The pronoun is so called because it is put in place of (pro vice) the noun, lest the noun itself cause disgust when repeated. For when we say, “Virgil wrote the Bucolics,” we add a pronoun, “he wrote the Georgics”; and so variety of expression removes disgust and brings in ornament. Pronouns are either definite or indefinite. Definite pronouns are so called because they define a certain person, as ego; for you understand me at once. Indefinite pronouns are so called because they are not of a certain person. For they are said of the absent and the uncertain, as quis, quae, quod. “Less than definite” pronouns are so called because they make mention of a known person, as ipse, iste. For it is certain of whom it is said. Possessives are so called because they show that we possess something. For when I say meus, tuus, I define something to be mine or yours. Relatives are so called because they are referred to a question, as “Who is it?”—the answer is “He is.” Demonstratives, because they have the signification of pointing out. For with these we point out someone present, as hic, haec, hoc; these three are also called articles. Articles are so called because they are bound (artantur) to nouns, that is, tied, when we say hic orator. Between the article and the pronoun there is this difference, that it is an article when it is joined to a noun, as hic sapiens. When it is not joined, it is a demonstrative pronoun, as hic and haec and hoc. All pronouns are either primitive or derived. Primitive pronouns are so called because they draw their origin from nowhere else. These are twenty-one. Definite, three: ego, tu, ille. Indefinite, seven: quis, qualis, talis, quantus, tantus, quotus, totus. Less than definite, six: iste, ipse, hic, is, idem, sui. Possessive, five: meus, tuus, suus, noster, vester. The remaining are called derived, because they are derived and compounded from these, as quispiam, aliquis, and the rest.
Chapter IX. On the verb The verb (verbum) is so called because it sounds when the air is struck (verberato), or because this part is frequently turned (versetur) in speech. Words are the signs of the mind, by which men show their thoughts to one another in speaking. As the noun signifies a person, so the verb signifies what a person does and says. In the person of the verb there is a signification of the agent and of the sufferer. For “I write” is the deed of a person. Likewise “I am written” indicates the deed of a person, but of him by whom he suffers it. There are two kinds of words: those of the grammarians and those of the rhetoricians. Those of the grammarians fall into three times: past, present, future, as fecit, facit, faciet. By the rhetoricians the whole of speech is called words, as “he captivated us with good words,” “he had good words,” where it is not only the words that fall into three times but the whole speech. The species of verbs are forms, moods, conjugations, genders and tenses. Forms of verbs are so called because they inform us for each thing. For by these we show what we do. Thus the meditative is so named from the sense of one meditating, as lecturio, that is, “I wish to read.” The inchoative, after meditation, from the sign of one beginning, as calesco. The frequentative from acting more often, as lectito, clamito. For forms hold the sense, moods the declension. For you do not know what declension is unless you have first learned what sense is. Moods are so called from how they are in their significations. The indicative mood is so called because it has the signification of one indicating, as lego. The imperative, because it has the sound of one commanding, as lege. The optative, because by it we wish to do something, as utinam legerem. The conjunctive, because something is joined to it, that the expression may be full. For when you say “when I cry out,” the sense hangs; but if I say, “when I cry out, why do you think that I am silent?” the sense is full. The infinitive mood is so called because, while defining times, it does not define the person of the verb, as clamare, clamasse. If you add a person to it—“I ought, you ought, he ought to cry out”—it becomes as it were finite. The impersonal is so called because it needs the person of a noun or pronoun, as legitur; add the person “by me,” “by you,” “by him,” and it is fully understood. But the infinitive mood needs only the person of a verb; the impersonal needs the person either of a pronoun or of a noun. Conjugation is so called because by it many things are joined (coniungantur) to one sound. For it teaches into what syllable the future tense ends, lest through inexperience anyone say legebo for legam. Of these the first and second send the future tense into bo and bor, the third into am and ar. Genders of verbs are so called because they generate. For to the active you add R and it generates the passive; again, from the passive you take away R and it gives birth to the active. The active are so called because they are acted (aguntur), as verbero, and the passive because they suffer, as verberor; neuters, because they neither act nor suffer, as iaceo, sedeo. If you add the letter R to these, they do not sound Latin. Common verbs are so called because they both act and suffer, as amplector. These likewise, with R laid aside, are not Latin. Deponents are so called because they lay aside the participle of the future tense from the passive signification, the one ending in -dus, as gloriandus.