Papyrus, -i (f) ?

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pmda
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Papyrus, -i (f) ?

Post by pmda »

In Orberg's LLPSI he has the word 'papyrus' and he indicates that it is: papyrus, -i (f).

Some thoughts / questions: Are there many nouns ending in -i in the gen. sing. that are feminine? The Collins dictionary gives : papyrus, -i (m/f) and also papyrum, -i (n). Whitakker gives: papyr.us N 2 1 NOM S C - and I'm not sure if / whether / where this indicates gender (I haven't entirely figured out what his marks mean).

I think Whitakker says it's a 2nd century word: he writes 'N (2nd) C (?)

What I'm most interested in is feminine nouns ending in -i in the gen sing.

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furrykef
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Re: Papyrus, -i (f) ?

Post by furrykef »

There are very few such nouns. "Humus" is the only other one that comes to mind aside from names such as Aegyptus. In the case of papÿrus, it's clearly because it's a Greek noun, as suggested by the "y" (since native Latin words don't contain "y").
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pmda
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Re: Papyrus, -i (f) ?

Post by pmda »

Furrykef, thanks. Orberg does take the trouble to point out that this and, in deed, Aegyptus are Greek nouns..

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Re: Papyrus, -i (f) ?

Post by Craig_Thomas »

The list of feminine 2nd declensions nouns isn't all that insubstantial; I'm quite sure it's longer than lists of other gender oddities, like masculine 1st declension nouns and feminine 4th declension nouns.

Mostly they fit into three categories: Greek borrowings; names of cities (e.g., "Corinthus", Corinth); names of plants (e.g., "laurus", laurel). (There are also three neuter 2nd declensions ending is "-us": pelagus, virus, vulgus.)

Most names of cities and plants are feminine in Latin, whatever their declension. This is true also of names of islands, ships, and nations. One way to remember this is to regard these names as adjectives agreeing with the feminine nouns "urbs", "planta" (or "herba" or "arbor"), "insula", "navis", and "terra" (or "regio"). And similarly rivers, mountains, winds, and months are masculine, agreeing with "fluvius" (or "amnis"), "mons", "ventus", and "mensis".

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Re: Papyrus, -i (f) ?

Post by Craig_Thomas »

pmda wrote:Whitakker gives: papyr.us N 2 1 NOM S C - and I'm not sure if / whether / where this indicates gender (I haven't entirely figured out what his marks mean).
N = noun; 2 = 2nd declension; 1 = I don't know what; NOM - nominative; S = singular

C = "common gender". A noun of common gender is one like "civis", which presents the same form whether it refers to a female or a male citizen (unlike, say, "magister", which is only for the male teacher, "magistra" for the female).

In relation to papyrus, the idea of common gender makes not a drop of sense. It can be feminine or neuter, but I suppose this depends merely on the author's whim, not on whether they're describing female or no-sex papyrus. And in fact it must present different forms depending on the gender (neut. nom. pl. "papyra", fem. "papyri"). In Whitaker's Words, common gender seems a looser concept, being applied to any noun that displays more than one gender in the corpus.
pmda wrote:I think Whitakker says it's a 2nd century word: he writes 'N (2nd) C (?)
N = noun; (2nd) = 2nd declension; C= common gender
Last edited by Craig_Thomas on Thu Oct 21, 2010 9:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

pmda
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Re: Papyrus, -i (f) ?

Post by pmda »

Craig, thanks for this.

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Re: Papyrus, -i (f) ?

Post by adrianus »

Feminini generis nomina secundae declinationis (quorum centum quadraginta tria):

abyssus // acatus // acorus // Adrumetus // Aegyptus // aesculus // alaternus // alnus // alus // amethystus // amygdalus // anthriscus // antidotus // aphractus // apostrophus // arbutus // Arctus // asellulus // atomus // Azotus // balanus // batus // biblus // botrus // bratus // buculus // bumastus // buphthalmus // buxus // byssus // caprificus // carbasus // carpinus // cathetus // cedrus // centunculus // cerasus // cerrus // chalcosmaragdos // chamaecerasus // chamaeplatanus // chryselectrus // chrysopastus // chrysoprassus // cissanthemus // citrus // cnicus // coriandrus // Corinthus // cornus // corulus // corylus // costus // crocus // crustallus // crystallus // cucubalus // cupressus // cyanus // cyparissus // cypressus // Cyprus // cyprus // dibaphus // dictamnus // digammus // diphthongus // domus // ebulus // electrodus // Ephesus // fagus // fraxinus // Hadrumetus // hibiscus // hisopus // hissopus // humus // hydraulus // hyperboleus // hysopus // hyssopus // juniperus // laurus // lecythus // lentiscus // lous // malus // morus // myrtus // nardus // Nivomagus // Noviomagus // Novomagus // ornus // pinus // pirus // platanus // pomus // prinus // prunus // raphanus // sapinus // sapphir // sapphirus // sapphyrus // sappir // sappirus // scinus // scrupus // sorbus // spinus // staphylinus // synodus // taxus // terebenthus // terebinthus // topazius // topazus // Tyrus // ulmus // Glycerium // Mellillum // Audonius // Mexicum // Marochium // Mozambicum // Niger // Montserratus // Abergonium // Abermeronochtum // Abjacum // Abzacum // Abileium // Abiliacum // Ablonium // Acanthus // Acrodatus // Aedepsus // Aegyptus // polygonus // Samus
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

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