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Nouns ending in “-ius” and “-ium” of the second declination

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 11:15 am
by Andrus
Salvete,

I have just finish the lesson where the nouns ending in “-ius” and “-ium” of the second declination (Pag 48 of pdf) and I have some doubts that I would appreciate if someone could help me.

I think I have got everything strait about the singular cases except the Vocative. As example I will decline Fīlius Bonus:

Nom Fīlius bonus
Gen Fīlī bonī
Dat Fīliō bonō
Ac Fīlium bonum
Ab Fīliō bonō
Voc Fīlī bone

Is the Vocative case correct?

Now for the plurals, has the Nom plural of fīlus a double “i" termination? I would think so has the text states that the plural is regular but then the Gen singular would be different of the Nom plural, so I’m not sure. I would decline the plural like:

Nom Fīliī bonī
Gen Fīliōrum bonōrum
Dat Fīliīs bonīs
Ac Fīliōs bonōs
Ab Fīliīs bonīs
Voc Fīliī bonī

Am I correct?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Andrus.

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:01 pm
by cweb255
The genitive singular is filii.

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 3:07 pm
by Dingbats
...but is usually retracted to fili, IIRC.

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:42 pm
by benissimus
yes, Andrus, your vocative is correct, along with your entire 2nd declension paradigm. There is indeed a (helpful) distinction between the genitive singular and nominative plural if you choose to use the contracted genitive.

-i genitive is more common during the Ciceronian era whereas the contracted -ii genitive is more common during the Augustan era. It does not really matter which one you choose to use, but I think most modern textbooks prefer the -ii for its simplicity and regularity. The accent for the contracted version falls on the same syllable as if it were not contracted.

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 6:58 am
by Andrus
Salve Benissimus,

And thanks for the clarification.

Best regards.

Andrus.

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 1:40 pm
by Dingbats
Andrus wrote:Salve Benissimus
Hmm... maybe you should learn to form vocatives of nouns/names in -us of teh 2nd declension first? :P

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 1:49 pm
by Andrus
Salve Dingbats

:oops:

You are right Dingbats, of course it should had been "Salve Benissme".

/ Slaps himself \

Andrus