In the glossary of Familia Romana, “feminīnum, -ī, n.; masculīnum, -ī, n.; neutrum, -ī, n.” in this form, it appears as a noun. At the same time, the dictionaries (OLD, Lewis and Short) do not include such nouns, they are only adjectives in the neuter gender. Do these nouns exist then or not?
It appears that Latin has almost complete freedom of using just about any adjective substantively, so when an adjective is so used, it is virtually a noun. In LLPSI when the words masculīnum, feminīnum and neutrum are first introduced in CAP II, lines 95-97, there were preceded by the word “vocabulum”, so masculīnum and feminīnum are adjectives right then and there. But when vocabulum (or verbum, etc.) is fully understood and NOT expressed explicitly, masculīnum and feminīnum = vocabulum masculīnum and vocabulum feminīnum respectively, and are therefore used as nouns/substantives.
Another example is “Semper avarus eget.” L&S Elementary listed it separately as a noun, but the bigger L&S did not.
https://logeion.uchicago.edu/avarus
cf.
http://www.hhhh.org/perseant/libellus/aides/allgre/allgre.288.html
Thanks for the reply. Meanwhile, I also found an everyday example. “vacuum, -ī, n.” in my dictionary, which also includes medieval words, it already appears as a noun, while in ancient dictionaries it appears only as an adjective. The only thing that was misleading was that it is listed as a noun in the glossary of Familia Romana, but as an adjective in the text at the point of reference.
FYI Here is what OED third edition wrote at the beginning of the word noun:
But my own copy of LLPSI only listed “vacuus a um 4.66” as an adjective in the gloss with no separate entry for “vacuum, -ī, n” as a noun.
RE：
Meanwhile, I also found an everyday example. “vacuum, -ī, n.” in my dictionary, which also includes medieval words, it already appears as a noun, > while in ancient dictionaries it appears only as an adjective> .
I just double checked “ancient” dictionaries online from https://logeion.uchicago.edu/vacuus and realized L&S (unabridged), DMLBS and L&S Elementary have ALL embedded the noun (substantive) use of vacuus as well as Frieze Dennison’s detailed vocabulary to Vergil:
vacuus , a, um: adj. (vacō), empty, void, 12.592; open, 5.515; deserted, 2.528; solitary, 2.761; 4.82; without employment, unoccupied; > subst> ., vacuum, ī, n., emptiness, void space, 12.906.:
cf. 1. L&S Unabridged:
- L&S Elementary:
- DMLBS (which is of course, medieval Latin):
I didn’t take the vacuum example from LLPSI, I just brought it up to confirm the use of an adjective as a noun, which you wrote about.
You’re right, I also found vacuum in L&S incorporated into the article vacuus.