De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, Book III (De arte grammatica), part 3 of 4 (about §§ 288-304)
The page of syllables has been quickly completed; the words must now at last be yoked. For this order is approved in the matter, and it will at last be divided into two. For first must be told the proportion, which the Greeks call analogy; and soon the rule which is rejected, which is renewed, and which the learned commonly call anomaly. By these is prepared the eightfold portion of speech, or else the whole course of speech is wounded; and as much as can be set into this one little book may win the approval of a serious fastidiousness. ANALOGY, then, which in Latin is called proportion, is the observation of speech forms similar to one another. First, all Latin nouns end in twelve letters: five vowels, six semivowels and one mute, T, as caput. A, the first of the vowels, ends masculines, as Catilina, Iugurtha; feminines, as advena; Greek feminines also, as Helena, Andromacha; pronouns also, as altera, sola, illa. If you take away A from these and add -IVS, you make the genitive singular, as we say alterius, solius; if you add I, the dative, as alteri, soli. Those, however, which are Greek neuters, as poema, toreuma, have three cases alike in each number: in the genitive singular they take -tis, in the dative they lose S, and they end the ablative in a short E, and in the dative and ablative plural they keep the form of the genitive singular, though they can also take -BVS. Nouns ending in a short E, which are Latin, are neuter, as monile, sedile. These, besides the cases which they have alike, confuse the dative with the ablative, as huic and ab hoc monili, sedili, since the ablative, if it ends in E, will make four cases alike, which the declension of neuter nouns does not admit; for those ending in a long E in the nominative are Greek of the feminine gender, as Agave, Autonoe, and are to be declined in the Greek manner, so that the nominative, dative, vocative and ablative are alike, the genitive ending in S, the accusative in N. Those nouns which change E into A, as Andromache, Andromacha, are declined like Latin nouns ending in A. Latin nouns ending in the letter I are of every gender and monoptote, as frugi, nihili. But gummi and sinapi are foreign, of neuter gender and of the singular number only, but their cases run in the same way, except the genitive, which takes S, as sinapis, gummis, although haec gummis is correctly said. The letter O ends no noun in the neuter; for they are either masculine, as Cicero, or feminine, as Iuno, hirundo, or common to both genders, as homo. Their declensions come out in two kinds, for they either keep the letter O in the oblique cases, as unio, unionis, or turn it to I, as cupido, crepido, cupidinis, crepidinis; both increase by a syllable in the oblique cases except the vocative singular. But caro has by custom prevailed to be declined apart from this analogy, and so Anio; these are unique in their declension and are declined without examples of similar ones. They make huius carnis, Anienis. Duo and ambo, since they are always plural, are not to be counted among those I mentioned above, for they are declined by their own custom. Greek nouns that end in the letter O, those which have passed from their first position into our form, as leo, draco, are declined like Cicero, Milo; but those which keep their first position whole, as Io, Ino, are declined in the Greek manner, so as to make Ius, Inus in the genitive, Iun, Inun in the accusative, and similarly in the other cases, although custom says haec Io. Turbo, if it is a proper name, is declined like Cicero; if you mean the force of the wind or a child’s toy, it is declined like cupido. Only neuters end in the letter V, as cornu, veru, which in the plural makes verua. The ancients also said specua. The plural declensions of these nouns are free of doubt. For three cases are alike, as in all neuters, and likewise the dative and ablative end in the syllable -BVS; the dative and ablative singular joins the syllable -VM in the genitive plural. But a question arises about the genitive singular, which some have made end in -VS, others in V, and also about the dative, which some make end in I, as genui, cornui; some ancients, following, make it like the ablative, huic genu, cornu, since in the plural they say genubus and cornubus, and, with the last syllable lost, the dative singular remains, as happens in civibus and suavibus; and as we say genibus and cornibus, the letter I passes into the place of V, as we say optimum and maximum when optumus and maxumus used to be said. There are some who in the genitive case say genuis and cornuis, but the genitive ought not to have more syllables than the dative and ablative. Although, then, senatus and exercitus are unlike, yet genus and cornus must be said in the genitive in the same way as senatus and exercitus. Besides, whatever nouns or participles end in -is in the genitive singular increase by a syllable in the dative plural, as Catonis, Catonibus; by which reasoning, if it were genuis, cornuis, it would have made genuibus, so that the syllable should increase. Nouns ended in the letter L have a double form. The first is that in which they are masculine, as Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and hardly any other proper names but Punic ones, except the name Sol; likewise feminine, as Tanaquil, an Etruscan name, and common, as vigil, pugil, all of which have the same declensions. The other kind is of neuters, as mel, fel, which differ from the former declension in that they are monosyllables and double the letter L through the oblique cases. For in the nominative, those which end in E, as proconsule, regard the nature of their proper preposition, for pro is placed only before the ablative. For they regard it that when proconsul is said it is said not as two words but as a compound noun, like procurator, propugnator, and that it is no obstacle that these nouns can make verbs from themselves, as procuro, propugno [for the preposition is lost], while proconsulo is not made, though consulo is. Yet if proconsule should be said in the nominative case, it will be a monoptote; but because of custom let proconsul be said, so that it can be declined, as those ending in the letter L, like vigil, mugil, pugil, since in the genitive plural we say mugilum and pugilum; for if mugilis were the nominative, like agilis, it would make mugilium, like agilium. Neuters also end in the letter M, as telum, scamnum. But let us observe this, that those which have I before the last syllable in the nominative ought to double it in the genitive singular and in the dative and ablative plural, as lilium, folium, since the genitive has either syllables equal to the nominative, as scamnum, scamni, or more, as caput, capitis, never fewer. Besides, the dative ending in I changes it, as scamno, scamni, but custom and the authority of the ancients preferred to say ingeni, and _consili_, imperi with three syllables. Whether vasum or vas ought to be said is questioned, since whatever neuters do not end in M in the nominative, if they admit a plural, fall in the dative and ablative into -BVS. Thus monile, monilibus; genu, genibus; pecus, pecoribus; nomen, nominibus; marmor, marmoribus; according to which vas ought to have made vasibus, and in the genitive vasum, since all neuter singulars which end in the letter E in the ablative have a genitive plural of as many syllables as the ablative singular, as a nemore, nemorum; capite, capitum. But this noun is declined by anomaly, and will be vas in the nominative singular, vasis in the genitive, vasi in the dative, a vasi in the ablative, but in the plural it will be declined like scamna. Lucretius, however, uses the genitive vasi, as in the line about the thin sides of a vessel. The letter N ends masculines, as flamen, pecten; nouns common to two genders, as tibicen, fidicen, which the most frequent authors do not approve, for they say both tibicina and fidicina; also neuters, as nomen, flumen. All these, with clear declension, are declined in one way. The other kind is masculine, which keeps E before the final N, as lien, ren, which yet are themselves declined in the other cases like the above. Gluten also is like these, though Sallust said glutinum. Feminines too seem like them. Now ren, in the singular nominative, and no other case but the ablative, is in use. The Greek nouns which end in N have the letters A, E, I, O before: Alcman, Cephen, delphin, Phaethon; of these, those ending in AN, EN, IN are declined on the example of the above, like fulmen, numen, fidicen; those ending in ON, if lengthened ON in Greek, as kheiron, lengthen the same letter in our usage too, as Cicero, Scipio. But those which, from a lengthened nominative, are shortened in the other forms, as Amphion, Creon, Agamemnon, lose the letter N among us in the nominative and will be compared with those Latin ones which, with their cases turned, are uttered short, as virgo, turbo. Those which among the Greeks take the letter T will have the same among us, as Phaethon, Phaethontis. Of those ended with R, A preceding, as Caesar, lar, far, par, impar, there is one form, except that the neuter doubles the letter R in the other cases, as far, farris. The license of the poets, however, has used these nouns in the plural, though all nouns which we estimate by weight or measure do not admit the plural number, as aurum, plumbum, triticum, oleum. Those therefore err who say parium, since these in the plural are triptotes, as hi Caesares, hos Caesares, o Caesares, nor can the accusative have I before S if the genitive has it before V and R. Yet those who say parium seem to look to the nominative plural of the neuter gender and, since paria is said like suavia, to make parium like suavium.
Of those ended in R with E preceding there are six kinds. The first admits no increase in the genitive and changes into I, as aper, niger, macer: apri, nigri, macri. The second, as tener, lacer, puer: teneri, laceri, pueri. The third, as imber, uter, differs from the above in that it takes the letter S in the genitive and ends in I in the dative and does not increase, like the second kind, and ends in the genitive plural with the letters -IVM. The fourth, as mater, pater, frater, makes in the dative plural not, like the first kind, apris, but fratribus, and does not increase in syllable like the second, and has the syllable -VM in the genitive plural, for we say patrum, fratrum, not, like the third, utrium, imbrium. Besides, it has three cases alike, hi patres, hos patres, o patres, whereas imber and uter make hos imbris and utris. The fifth kind is as passer, anser, later, mulier, which differ from the second kind in that those, with an increase of a syllable, end in the letter I, as gener, generi, while these end in S, as passer, passeris, and differ in the other cases. For piper and cicer, neuters, are held in the fifth kind, for they are declined like passer in the singular number, which they never leave. The sixth kind is as neuter, uter. For it makes neutrius and utrius and is declined like the other pronouns, which make genitives in the letters -IVS and datives in I. Besides, they have these genitives and datives in common with the remaining genders, that is, feminine and neuter. With R preceded by I there is only one kind, vir. Of those ended in R with O preceding there are two kinds: one which are lengthened through the oblique cases, as sopor, soporis, color, coloris; another which are shortened, as arbor, arboris; but they are declined in one way. The genitives Castoris and Hectoris the ancients lengthened, but we shorten them, since the Greeks shorten the genitives of these nouns. Of those ended in R with V preceding there are two kinds: the first, as satur, which ends in I in the genitive, as saturi; the second, those whose genitive ends in the letters -is, as sulphur, sulphuris, augur, auguris. Of the neuters ending in the letters VR, some keep the letter V, as sulphur, sulphuris, others change it to O, as ebur, eboris. Of nouns ended in the letter S there are eight forms. For either A is put before, as Maecenas, civitas, or E, as verres, moles, or I, as panis, or O, as custos, nepos, or V, as vetus, Ligus, or R, as iners, or N, as serpens, or P, as praeceps. With the letter S preceded by A there are two kinds. The first as Maecenas, Laenas, the second as nostras, Privernas, which differ from the above in that they are common to all genders and ought to take the letter I in the genitive plural, which is familiar to neuters in the nominative, accusative and vocative plural. Therefore we shall say nostratium, Privernatium, since these are nostratia, Privernatia; but praegnatium and optimatium, hos and has optimatis and has praegnatis, although the ancients said praegnatum and optimatum. Praegnas is of the feminine and neuter gender. As and mas, being monosyllables, are not held by analogy, but by a certain declension of their own make assis and maris and in the plural assium, marium. Fas and nefas are aptotes. Greek nouns which end in -AS among us have three kinds. The first is as Olympias, Pythias, for it makes Olympiadis and Pythiadis. The second as Pallas, Thoas, Atlas, for it makes Pallantis, Thoantis, Atlantis. The third as Aeneas, Pythagoras, Lycas, for it makes Aeneae, Pythagorae, Lycae, since by our reckoning nouns which end in E in the genitive end in A in the nominative, as Catilinae, Catilina. But these are Greek; therefore they keep the letter S in the nominative. Some, however, lose the letter S in the nominative, as Nicia, Mela. So in these nominatives custom is to be observed. Of nouns ended in S with E preceding there are five kinds. The first, whose nominative, accusative and vocative plural are alike and whose genitive plural ends in -VM, as Hercules, proles, Herculum, prolum. The second kind differs from the above in that it drives the genitive plural into -IVM and the accusative into -ES, as nubes, rupes, cautes; in this form no masculines are found. The third, which, even if they have some difference among themselves in declension, yet since they are equal in the increase of syllables in the oblique cases, are brought into one kind, as Ceres, bipes, merces; there are no masculine examples except Greek, as Chremes, Laches. The fourth kind differs from the preceding in that through the oblique cases it forces E into I, whereas the former keeps the letter E: namely because in the nominative they do not, like the above, lengthen E but contract it, as hospes, antistes, ales, comes. The fifth kind differs from the above in that the genitive, increased by a syllable, ends in the letter I, which will also be held as the dative; the accusative ends in -em, the ablative in a long E, to which the syllable -RVM added makes the genitive plural. The nominative of this number it confuses with the first position and with the vocative singular, and ends the dative and ablative in the syllable -BVS, as facies, dies, spes, acies. But custom has shortened rei and spei, perhaps because they are monosyllables. Of nouns ended in S with I running before, some increase through the oblique cases, others are contained within the measure of the nominative, at least in the singular number. Of those which do not increase there are two kinds. The first is of the masculine gender, as scrobis, mensis, though Lucan said exiguam scrobem, and of the feminine and common, as canis, iuvenis, whose declension is clear. The second kind differs from the above in that it ends the ablative in the letter I and the accusative in -IM, as the only two masculines Ligeris, Tiberis, and feminines clavis, pelvis, turris, sitis, tussis. This manner of declining the diminutive makes plain, which is pronounced with long I in all these. And so, whenever we doubt the pronunciation of nouns, we shall consult its diminutive. Of those which increase in syllable there are two kinds, one of which shortens the letter, in which form are the masculines sanguis, pulvis, lapis, the feminines cuspis, cassis, in which it makes no difference that some keep I in declension and others pass to E, and likewise that some end in the syllable -Dis, others -Ris in the genitive. The other kind lengthens the letter I in the nominative, glis, lis, amnis, which they likewise keep in the oblique cases, and in the genitive plural we say I before the syllable -VM: glirium, litium, amnium, not, like the above, lapidum, cuspidum, cassidum. Of nouns ended in S with O preceding, since the difference is small, there can be one kind. For while all increase by a syllable in the oblique cases, they differ in that some change the letter S into T in the genitive, some into D, some into R, as nepos, nepotis, custos, custodis, monosyllable masculines such as flos, floris, ros, roris, likewise the neuter os, oris. In ossibus, custom makes the nominative os, against reason, since it has no R in the genitive. But neither can ossum be said, since neuters which end in M in the nominative do not admit the syllable -BVS in the plural number. So analogy is not kept in the monosyllable. Of nouns ended in S with V preceding there are six kinds. In the first the genitive ends in a simple I, the vocative in E, as Marcus, Sextus, genitive Marci, Sexti, vocative Marce, Sexte. The second kind differs from the above in that it doubles I in the genitive and ends in I in the vocative, as Antonius, Iulius, whose genitives are Antonii, Iulii, and also Antoni, Iuli. In the other cases they agree with the above. The third kind mixes the nominative with the vocative and keeps the same letters in the genitive, lengthened; the dative ends in V and I, the ablative in V, the accusative in -VM, as senatus, fluctus, exercitus, which in the plural make the nominative with the accusative and vocative in a lengthened -VS, the genitive in -VM, the dative and ablative in the syllable -BVS. The fourth kind receives an increase of syllable through the oblique cases, yet so that they have some variety among themselves. For some keep the letter V, sometimes shortened, sometimes lengthened, as Ligus, Liguris, palus, paludis, virtus, virtutis. Some change the same letter V into E, as vetus, veteris, genus, generis, Venus, Veneris; some into O, as nemus, nemoris; some, however, are declined in one way. Laus and fraus, though monosyllables and having two vowels joined, are held in the same kind, because they increase in syllable in the same way. The fifth kind is of pronouns ending in -VS, as unus, solus, totus, which are declined in this way: unus, unius, uni, unum, une, ab uno, uni, unorum, unis, unos, uni, ab unis. The sixth is in -EVS, as hinuleus, eculeus, which are uttered from the vocative with the letter E doubled, as eculee, hinulee. But some prefer to say, in the vocative, -EV, as the Greek Tydeu. Nouns ended in S with I preceding are neuter monoptotes, as tressis, sexis. With S preceded by V there are two kinds. The first drives the genitive into I and has no plural, as vulgus, pelagus. Lucretius says the genitive of virus as viri, though it would more rightly remain indeclinable. In the second kind are those which increase through the oblique cases and end in the letters -Ris in the genitive singular, as genus, nemus, of which some change V into E, as olus, oleris, ulcus, ulceris, some into O, as nemus, nemoris, pecus, pecoris. Fenus and stercus come into doubt, whether they change into E or O, since those which end in the syllable -NVS change V into E, as vulnus, genus, funus, and we say funeratus. For fenus ought not to be harmed by the example, since it is placed among the doubtful genders. Likewise the ancients said sterceratos agros, not stercoratos. Nouns ended in the letter S with N or R running before are all of one gender, except that those which have R before S sometimes take D, as socors, socordis, sometimes T, as sollers, iners. In the plural too, except the genitive and accusative, they are declined alike in all cases. For some end in -VM in the genitive and -es in the accusative, as Mars, Aruns, some in -IVM, as sapiens, patiens, and for this reason their accusatives end in -is. Most of these nouns are common to three genders, and the letter I, which neuters have in the nominative plural, they give also to the genitives of the other genders with which they are common. Only a few neuter nouns end in the letter T, as git, which is not declined, and caput, sinciput. Some, when they say lac, add T, on account of which it makes lactis. But Virgil says, “milk fails me neither in summer nor in the new cold,” since no nouns among us end in two mutes, and so the ancients said lacte in the nominative. Of those nouns ended in the letter X, some end in -IVM in the genitive plural, in which all are common, and on that account in -is and -es in the accusative; most, however, end in the genitive in V and M, with no I running before, and on that account in E and S in the accusative. For in the rest they agree, since in the singular all have X in the nominative, make the genitive in I and S, the dative in the letter I, close the ablative with E, and with M added fill out and end the accusative, and in the plural end the dative and ablative with the syllable -BVS. For as to the others, about which the ancients disagree, some say atrocum and ferocum; by this reasoning one kind appears of all words ended in the letter X. All vowels are put before this letter X, as capax, frutex, pernix, atrox, redux. Of these nouns some are lengthened in the nominative, some shortened, some agree in the nominative and disagree in the oblique cases. For pax and rapax, likewise rex and pumex, likewise nux and lux vary the first position. But nix and nutrix, likewise nox and atrox, agree in the first position so as to disagree through the oblique cases. And this must be observed, that some of these drive the letter X into G, others into C, through the declensions. For lex makes legis, grex gregis, and pix picis, nux nucis; for in those which are not monosyllables the letter X is sometimes turned into C in the genitive, as frutex, fruticis, ferox, ferocis. Supellex, however, and senex and nix are declined by a certain privilege against reason, since supellex increases by two syllables, which reason forbids. And senex, as in the nominative so in the genitive, remains a disyllable, though all words ended in the letter X increase. And nix is neither turned into C like pix nor into G like rex, but into V, though a consonant cannot pass into a vowel. In the plural, the genitive changes the forms of the ablative singular. For one ended in A or O ends in -RVM, one in a short E in -VM, in a long E in -RVM, one ended in I in -IVM, one ended in V in -VVM. The dative and ablative plural likewise end either in -IS or in -BVS, which precepts are more worn in the schools. But whenever they end in -IS they are ended with a long syllable, whenever in -BVS with a short.