Chapter 40

RULE 1: Only unus, duo, tres and the plural of mille decline. All other numbers are indeclinable.

RULE 2: The Partitive Genitive is used with milia, superlatives, words designating a part and special pronouns and adjectives; see Wheelock, page 192 (middle).

RULE 3: Ex/De (+ the ablative) is used with all numbers, except quidam and the plural of the mille.

I. Grammar

A. Numbers

Modern language instructors often begin their classes by teaching students to count; Latin teachers tend to put counting nearer the end. That’s because, by delaying the study of numbers, we underscore the basic disinterest in and mistrust of numerical expressions in antiquity, a world of difference from the modern obsession with statistics and general arithmophilia. In antiquity, reliable numbers were difficult to come by. For instance, when Herodotus claims that Xerxes led 5,283,220 men as far as Thermopylae—not counting concubines, eunuchs and baking women—it is natural to wonder how he arrived at this figure and to suspect whether such exact enumeration is even possible given the historical situation.

At this late point in the class, it seems pointless to make students memorize all the Latin numbers, cardinals and ordinals. The fact is that, if they read the usual slate of authors used in second- and third-year classes, they will encounter remarkably few numbers. Therefore, outside of 1-10, 20, 100 and 1000, I ask that students only recognize cardinal numbers, not memorize them. With ordinals (page 384), I guide them through only the first ten—primus they should know from Chapter 27—and emphasize the repeated endings, -tus and -imus.

The Latin numerals are, however, useful in reinforcing several important tendencies involving other types of words. For example, unius/uni reminds students about genitive singulars in -ius and dative singulars in -i (Chapter 9). Duo exhibits a mix of first-, second- and third-declension endings (see below), while tres operates like a regular third-declension adjective. The singular form mille is an indeclinable noun but in the plural it becomes the adjective milia which declines using third-declension endings (cf. plus; see Wheelock, page 128).

B. The Genitive of the Whole or the Partitive Genitive

The genitive case designates the whole to which a part belongs. For brevity, clarity and simplicity, I prefer the designation “Partitive Genitive” to “Genitive of the Whole.” This construction is used commonly with milia, superlatives, words denoting a part or section (plus, pars, satis, nemo), and certain pronouns and adjectives implying partition (quid, aliquid, nihil, multum). Other words like quidam and all numbers under 2000 (including mille) use de or ex plus the ablative instead of a partitive genitive.

C. Supplementary Syntax (pp. 374-379)

It would be onerous to assign students to memorize all the remaining constructions in the Supplementary Syntax. Nevertheless, they should be made aware of them to some extent. Review, in particular, the genitives of material and description and the ablatives of specification, cause and degree of difference. Stress the English preposition used with each translation, e.g. “in” with specification, “because of” with cause, etc.. Students, however, do not have to memorize these constructions for this class—they will not appear on tests—but will certainly need to know in reading Latin authors.

D. History of Numbers

Indo-Europeans appear to have been able to count to 100 but little further—there seems to be no common Indo-European base for 1000—they had separate words for 1 to 10 (1 to 4 declinable), units of 10 (20, 30, etc.) and 100. The decimal system which is obviously derived from counting on fingers met some small resistance from a base-six system of which there are scant traces (counting by dozens, 24 hours in a day, 360 degrees in a circle).

1. Cardinals

• Unus. Unus derives from Indo-European *oi-, with the suffix *-n(o)-, which in Latin proceeds regularly to un-, cf. Old Latin comoinem > communem, coisavit > curavit. Unus is cognate with English one and Greek oine (“a throw of one in dicing”) and oios (“alone”)
• Duo. Duo was formed from duô by iambic shortening, see Chapter 30 s.v. primo. This word originally had dual endings of which duo (accusative masculine plural; attested in Plautus) and duo (neuter nominative/accusative plural) are preserved, cf. ambo. The rest of the forms are later innovations drawn from different declensions. The Indo-European base *dwô- (or *duô-) produced two in English [Grimm’s Law: d > t]. The compound form was *dwi- becoming bi- in Latin, cf. duellum > bellum.
• Tres. Tres is a contraction of Indo-European *treyes.
• Quattuor. Quattuor derives from Indo-European *qwetwer-, becoming in Greek tettares (Attic) by expected loss of digamma and change of initial qw- to t-, e.g. Latin quis versus Greek tis. This number was declined in Indo-European (cf. Greek tettares, tettara) but lost its inflections in Latin.
• Quinque. Quinque comes from Indo-European *penqwe. The initial p- has become qw- by assimilation to the second syllable, cf. French chercher < Old French cercher (> English search).
• Sex. Latin sex is cognate to Greek hex.
• Septem. In Indo-European, the ending -em was weakly pronounced, amounting to no more than a nasalized vowel. Greek lost the nasal: hepta, deka (versus Latin decem).
• Octo. Octo exhibits a dual(!) ending, because the base originally designated “a set of four fingers”—four doubled is eight—cf. Avestan asti (“a breadth of four fingers”). The use of fingers in counting resembles the measurement of horses by “hands,” an archaic system still used today.
• Novem. Novem derives from Indo-European *new-n, to which the suffix -em was added by analogy to septem and decem.
• Decem. See septem.
• Viginti. The -ginti suffix derives from Indo-European *(d)kmti-, meaning “a set of ten”—cf. Greek -konta—resulting in tri-ginta (“three sets of ten”), quadra-ginta (“four sets of ten”). Vi- is in origin a dual form.
• Centum. In most other Indo-European languages besides Latin and Greek (ekaton), this base declines as a neuter noun. The base (d)kmti-, which derives from the same source as the base in viginti, was specialized in the form -centi or -genti to mean “a set of ten tens.”
• Mille. From an untraceable base, the mil(l)- base appears not to be of Indo-European origin.

2. Ordinals

The -to- and -mo- suffixes seen in many Latin ordinals are cognate with those seen in the comparison of adjectives, -est and -issimus (see Chapter 26). Originally, -to- (English -th) had a completive sense, denoting the member which completes a group, whereas -mo- designated the final member of a group, cf. pri-mus (< prae “before, in front” + -mus). Secundus, literally “the following,” was in origin a participle of sequor. Quartus = *qwtru- + -tos, with the loss of the first t and substitution of a for u by analogy to quattuor, cf. nonus > *novenus which without the analogy of novem would have proceeded to *nûnus. Vicesimus (“twentieth,” originally *vicenssimos) = *vi-kmt (“twenty”) + -temo- (the suffix seen in superlatives).

E. Reading for Test 4

In reviewing for Test 4, we will read together in class a passage of classical Latin. As with the reading for the previous test, you will be expected to prepare the passage as homework prior to our in-class translation of the text. All vocabulary is included in the notes attached to the passage or in the vocabulary at the back of Wheelock. Questions about the translation and grammar of this passage will appear as part of Test 4.

Click here for a downloadable version of that text.

II. Vocabulary

[Click here for a complete list of all words (Chapters 1-40) which students are responsible for knowing. Encourage them to use this list to consolidate their understanding of vocabulary.]

• caput: As the word for “head,” caput was replaced in Romance languages by testa “potsherd,” metaphorically applied in common speech to “skull,” cf. Italian testa, French tete.
• iustus: = *ius- “law” + -t- (the adjective-forming suffix).
• tot: Remind students that tot is a sign word of a result clause; see Chapter 29.
• reperio: The perfect active form is reduplicated (*re-peperi > repperi, cf. *re-tetuli > rettuli). Reduplication is more often altogether lost when a compound is prefixed, see Chapter 24 s.v. expello.

III. Sentences

Practice and Review

2. Quasi modifies the gerundive purpose clause, “as if to . . . ”
3. Negative purpose clause
4. “in” gerundive clause
5. cupidus + genitive gerundive phrase

7. leves means “trivial” in this instance
8. nos is reflexive; gerundive with ablative of means
9. ablative absolute; indirect command

IV. Quiz 7

V. Review for Test 4