Chapter 20
RULE 1: Fourth declension is the u-stem declension.
I. Grammar
In the next three chapters students will encounter material which should be comparatively easy for them, a good thing in that they should be starting to study for the final exam now and reviewing old material without the impediment of having to acquire vast quantities of new information. In these final chapters students will meet the last two noun declensions—both largely derivative of other declensions—and the passive forms of third, third -io and fourth conjugations. They will also review the uses of the ablative, none of which should come as a shock.
A. Fourth-Declension Nouns
Fourth declension is composed of nouns with a base ending in short- u. It may help to present the masculine/feminine forms of this conjugation as a fusion of the -u noun base and masculine/feminine third-declension endings:
| CASE | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
|---|---|---|
| NOM | -u + s = -us | -u + ês = -ûs |
| GEN | -u + is = -ûs | -u + um = -uum |
| DAT | -u + î = -uî | -u + ibus = -ibus |
| ACC | -u + em = -um | -u + ês = -ûs |
| ABL | -u + e = -û | -u + ibus = -ibus |
Where -u runs into a long or short e, the -u will dominate and, even if the e is short, will usually lengthen (exception: accusative singular). Where -u runs into -i, various things can happen: (1) the -u can dominate (genitive singular); (2) the -i can dominate (dative/ablative plural); or (3) both can be retained (dative singular).
There are three important mandatory long marks in this declension, all resulting in -us: the genitive singular, the nominative plural, and the accusative plural. Each of these endings is distinguished from the nominative singular by its long mark. The neuter endings differ from the masculine/feminine endings in half of their forms: the nominative/accusative singular (-u), the dative singular (-u) and the nominative/accusative plural (-ua). Finally, note that only a few nouns in this declension are feminine (e.g. manus, domus); the majority are masculine or neuter.
B. History of the Fourth Declension
The Indo-European endings for u-stems were:
| CASE | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
|---|---|---|
| NOM | -us (neuter = -u) | -ewes (neuter = -û) |
| GEN | -eus, -ous, -wes, -wos | -uôm, -wôm |
| DAT | -ewei (-ewai) | -ubhos |
| ACC | -um (neuter = -u) | -uns (neuter = -û) |
| ABL | -eus, -ous, -wes, -wos | -ubhos |
| VOC | -u, -eu | -ewes |
| INSTR | -ubhi | -ubhis |
| LOC | -ewi, -êu | -usu |
Nominative. The nominative singular in Latin derives without complication from its progenitor, but the path which the plural took to arrive at -us is harder to reconstruct. Linguistically, -ewes should have produced *-uis, just as -ewei in the dative singular produced -ui. As a nominative plural, -us may have been borrowed from the accusative plural on the analogy of -es (nominative/accusative plural) in third declension. In the neuter singular, the long -u in place of an expected short -u may be traced ultimately to the borrowing or imitation of the plural form. The -a of the neuter plural was carried over from the second declension.
Genitive. Indo-European -eus proceeded regularly in Italic to -ous (Old Latin senatous) and later in Latin to -us. In the plural, Indo-European -uôm became in Latin -uom, later -um (cf. old forms passum, iugerum, amphorum, nummum) which later expanded to -uum on the analogy of the i-stem genitive plural -ium.
Dative. In Latin -ui develops regularly from inherited -ewei, cf. *newos > novos, *de-novo > denuo, cf. Old Latin senatuei. The neuter dative singular in -u is traceable to the Indo-European locative which used the bare stem. In the plural, the expected form -ubus was sometimes retained, e.g. artubus, partubus, often in order to distinguish u-stem words from forms with the same base in other declensions. For the most part, however, the -ibus of i-stems intruded and replaced -ubus.
Accusative. -um remains unchanged, and -uns proceeds regularly to -us.
Ablative. Italic -ûd (cf. Old Latin castud, magistratud) was formed on the analogy of second declension -ôd. Later, the final -d was dropped from all ablative forms. For the plural, see the dative plural.
C. The Ablative of Separation
This use of the ablative will cause students problems only when it appears without a preposition (i.e. with verbs of lacking, freeing and depriving). I have found it best to point out verbs which take an ablative of separation as we come across them in vocabulary and not try to drive home this use of the ablative in theory. [Separation is a basic use of the ablative, going well back to Indo-European.]
II. Vocabulary
[Be sure to ask students which declensional system each noun and adjective belongs to.]
- fructus: This word means "fruit" as in the "fruits of wisdom," not the "fruits of southern California."
- Graecia: Many names of countries are originally adjectives, formed by adding -i- to a noun or adjective base and putting the word in the feminine nominative singular (where terra is understood). For the derivation of the base Graec-, see Graecus (Chapter 6).
- manus: This is one of the few fourth-declension words which is feminine. Just as in English, "hand" has many metaphorical uses in Latin. It can denote "a type of writing," "the power of a father at home," "artistic skill," and "one side of the body." From its several uses as a metaphor for military and aggressive action (cf. English "all hands on deck"), manus gained the sense of "band, troop of soldiers."
- senatus: = the base sen- + -atus. The -atus suffix is used to denote "office, official body": consulatus, magistratus, tribunatus.
- versus: Literally "a turning," derived from the verb base vert- "turn." The word originally meant a "turning" of the plow (i.e. a furrow) > "a row" > "a line of poetry."
- communis: Coming from the Indo-European base *moi(n)/*mei(n), meaning "change, exchange", this word is seen also in Latin muto, mutuus, cf. immune.
- gravis: This word come from an Indo-European base *gwrew- which lost the w-sound with gr. The liquid r frequently changes its position in relation to its accompanying vowel (i.e. it can appear as -er- or -re-, -or- or -ro-). In Greek, the base *gwrew- shows up with the vowel preceding the liquid, barus; in Sanskrit, it does the same, guru (a "weighty" man).
- contra: This preposition takes an accusative object. Originally from cum + -ter- (the "comparative" suffix also seen in dexter, alter; see propter, Chapter 5) + -a (the feminine ablative singular ending), cf. ex-tra.
- nec/neque: = ne "not" + -que "and." Just as with aut . . . aut and et . . . et, the first element in neque . . . neque is not specially marked as in English, "neither . . . nor." Nec is the form used before words beginning with a consonant, cf. ac versus atque. In Latin, qu- regularly changes to c before another consonant, e.g. coqu- + -tus = coctus, relinqu- + -tus = relictus.
- careo: Takes an ablative of separation. Since it is intransitive (i.e. does not take a direct object), it does not have a (true) passive because there is no direct object in the active to become the subject in the passive. Therefore, the future active participle cariturus is substituted for the missing perfect passive participle.
III. Sentences
Practice and Review
- Here, longus has the sense of "protracted."
- A tricky series of -ium endings which will test students' knowledge of declensional endings and to which declension the words belong.
IV. Review of Pronouns
As part of the process of reviewing for the final examination, it's a good idea to direct students' efforts to consolidate their understanding of the different aspects of Latin they've studied so far. Click here for a self-check review sheet on the use of pronouns in Latin.