“Latin Compounds”

First Part of a Stem Compound (Combining Form)

     The first part is a combining form that may be made from:

• a substantival stem (e.g. ālā-, stem of ala, for ālipēs),

• an adjectival stem (e.g. flāvo-, stem of flāvus, for flāvicomus),

• a verbal stem (e.g. vome-, stem of vomere, for vomificus),

• a modification or combination of any of the aforementioned types of stems.

     The statements above also apply to stems of other varieties of words used substantivally and adjectivally, such as numerical adjective stems (e.g. stems of Cardinals, Ordinals, Distributives) and the substantival and adjectival forms of verbs (e.g. stems of participles): e.g. uno-, stem of unus, for unicornis; primo-, stem of primus, for primiformis; negant(i)-, stem of negāns, for negantinumius; docto-, stem of doctus, for doctificus).  Duo-, the stem of duo, is very rarely used in Stem Compounds (e.g. duidēns), and is eschewed much more often in favor of the prefix bi- (from the adverb bis), which is used in Syntactic Compounds (e.g. bidēns).

     The principal (non-substantival, non-adjectival) stems of verbs (i.e. the present and perfect stems) are very rarely compounded as first parts with other stems in Stem Compounds.  The rules for forming combining forms from substantival and adjectival stems apply to the verb stems, but the only difference is that a perfect stem ending in u is a consonantic vowel stem, so the u does not become the Connecting Vowel i.  Consonant stems appear in the form they take before a vowel but add the Connecting Vowel i only before a consonant.

1. Two Groups of Compound Words in Latin
   1. Stem Compounds
      1. Three Types of Stem Compounds
      2. Two Main Parts of a Stem Compound
      3. Combining the Parts of a Stem Compound
         1. First Part of a Stem Compound ← You Are Here
            1. Latin Substantives
            2. Latin Adjectives
            3. Latin Verbs
            4. Special Combining Forms
         2. Second Part
            1. Nominative Form or Principal Part
            2. Inseparable Second Parts
               1. In Compounded Substantives
               2. In Compounded Adjectives
               3. In Compounded Verbs
            3. Special Terminations
   2. Syntactic Compounds
      1. Cases Forms
      2. Particles
      3. Inseparable Parts
2. Vocabulary
3. Bibliography

Latin Compounds | Pāginae Latīnitātis | DIĒS GAUDIĪ

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