re: cases combining

Latin Learning Latin
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Forum:
[face=Verdana]
I imagine that students new to Classical Latin (such as myself) begin to appreciate the subtleness of how cases combine within a sentence. An example, and please confirm:

Dea Minerva formam feminae simulat et in terra ambulat.

In this sentence, “formam feminae” seems to mean “form (or shape) of a woman” hence, it being in the genitive case led by an accusative singular.

Question: Are there other cases in the singular and plural that precede the genitive singular and plural? For I would think, it is just nominatives that lead into the genitives.[/face]

Caeruleus

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Any case, I’m afraid, can be combined with any other in Latin, according to the demands of the sense. For instance, if you keep the genitive feminae - “of the woman” it can be preceded by forma in any of its case forms singular and plural. To give examples of the singular:

Nom:
forma feminae mirabilis est.

Voc:
quam te, forma feminae, amo!

Acc:
your example

Gen:
visus formae feminae mihi mentem manusque semper excitat.

or with a verb:

memento formae feminae!

Dat:
palmam formae feminae dedi

or with a verb:

nolite, nautae, formae feminae nocere.

Abl:

mille vero astra fulgenta in forma feminae vidi.

or with a verb:

omnesne homines forma feminae vescentur?


needless (and puzzlingly bizarre) examples to come up with, I know, but as I said above - all combinations of cases are possible.
Hope this helps

~dave

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Why should it only be nominatives that precede genitives?

So far as I know, there is no (grammatical) limit on the case or number of the noun to which a genitive may, as it were, attach. Consider the position in English:

  1. Harold’s cat scared me. (cat = subj = nom)
  2. I scared harold’s cat. (cat = obj = acc)
  3. I put the food down on the ground for harold’s cat. (cat = ind obj = dat)
  4. I saw harold’s cat’s basket. (cat = possessive = gen)
  5. I terrified my children with harold’s cat. (cat = instrument = abl)

The things the genitive does to a noun may need to be done to any noun, in any case, of any number.

(PS: posted more-or-less simultaneously with Whiteoctave’s answer, which makes the same point but properly in Latin)

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