“Latin Compounds”

Special Combining Forms

     Some words have special combining forms that are used in Stem Compounds instead of their normal combining forms (formed according to the normal rules).  A special combining form may be a short form of the normal combining form that simply dropped some extra letters.

     Certain consonant stems (e.g. lapid-, stem of lapis, and homin-, stem of homō) drop their final consonant and use the final i as a Connecting Vowel that follows the normal rules.

     Some examples of these special combining forms appear below:

Word
Special Combining Forms
Normal Combining Forms
Before Consonants
Before Vowels
Before Consonants
Before Vowels
aegis
(aegis) 		aegi- aeg- aegidi- aegid-
as in aegi-sonus (sounding with the aegis)
avis
(bird) 		au- au- avi- av-
as in au-spex (bird-seer)
bōs
(ox) 		bū- bū- bovi- bov-
as in bū-caeda (one who is whipped with thongs of ox-hide)
cādūceus
(caduceus) 		cādūci- cādūc- cādūcei- cādūce-
as in cādūci-fer (bearing a herald's staff)
centum
(hundred) 		centi- cent- centum- centum-
as in centi-ceps (hundred-headed)
decem
(ten) 		deci-, decu- dec- decem- decem-
as in deci-modiae (baskets holding each ten modii), decu-plus (tenfold), dec-ennis (of ten years)
fidēs
(faith) 		fide- fid- fidi- fid-
as in fide-dictor (a surety)
geminus
(twin) 		gemi- gem- gemini- gemin-
as in gemi-pomus (producing double fruit)
homō
(human) 		homi- hom- homini- homin-
as in homi-cida (a murderer)
īris
(rainbow) 		īri- īr- īridi- īrid-
as in īri-color (rainbow-colored)
lapis
(stone) 		lapi- lap- lapidi- lapid-
as in lapi-cida (stone-cutter)
lituus
(trumpet) 		liti- lit- litui- litu-
as in liti-cen (trumpeter)
mille
(thousand) 		milli-, mili-, mīli- mill-, mil-, mīl- mille- mill-
as in milli-modus (thousand-fold), mili-peda (a hairy caterpillar), mīli-folius (thousand-leaved)
mūrex
(murex) 		mūri- mūr- mūrici- mūric-
as in mūri-legulus (murex-fisher)
nāvis
(ship) 		nau- nau- nāvi- nāv-
as in nau-fragus (shipwrecked)
novem
(nine) 		nōn-, nūn- nōn-, nūn- novem- novem-
as in nōn-gentī (nine hundred), nōn-ussis (nine asses), nūn-dinus (of nine days)
nūtrix
(wet nurse) 		nūtri- nūtr- nūtrīci- nūtrīc-
as in nūtri-ficāre (to nurse)
octō
(eight) 		octi-, octu- oct- octō- oct-
as in octi-pēs (eight-footed), octu-plus (eightfold)
ovis
(sheep) 		ō-, ū- ō-, ū- ovi- ov-
as in ō-piliō, ūpiliō (a shepherd)
quattuor
(four) 		quādru-* quādr- quādri- quādr-
as in quadru-pēs (having four feet), quadru-manus (four-handed)
quinque
(five) 		quinqui-, quīncu- quīnc-** quinque- quinqu-
as in quinqui-fidus (five-cleft), quīncu-pedal (a five-foot rod), quīnc-ūnx (five twelfths)
sanguis
(blood) 		sangui- sangu- sanguini- sanguin-
as in sangui-suga (leech)
septem
(seven) 		septi- sept- septem- septem-
as in septi-collis (seven-hilled)
sex
(six) 		sēs-, sē-*** - sex- sex-
as in sēs-centī (six hundred), sē-digitus (six-fingered)
sūs
(swine) 		su- - sui- su-
as in su-cerda (the dung of swine)
voluptās
(pleasure) 		volupti- volupt- voluptati- voluptat-
as in volupti-ficus (that causes enjoyment)

* This form is regularly used before p (pl), but it is sometimes used before other consonants (such as m, v).

** This form is used only before u.

*** sēs- is used before c, but sē- is used before other consonants.

     Some stems ending in -iā and -io (of the first and second declensions) weaken their final stem vowels to the Connecting Vowel u instead of i.

Word
Special Combining Forms
Normal Combining Forms
Before Consonants
Before Vowels
Before Consonants
Before Vowels
Grāius
(Grecian) 		Grāiu- Grāi- Grāi- Grāi-
as in Grāiu-gena (Grecian by birth)
Trōia
(Troy) 		Trōiu- Trōi- Trōi- Trōi-
as in Trōiu-gena (born in Troy)
Māia
(Maia) 		Māiu- Māi- Māi- Māi-
as in Māiu-gena (Maia-born)

     Many stems ending in -r (originally -s), including those ending in -er, -or, and -ōr, usually drop the final two letters and use the Connecting Vowel i that follows the normal rules.

Word
Special Combining Forms
Normal Combining Forms
Before Consonants
Before Vowels
Before Consonants
Before Vowels
horror
(horror) 		horri- horr- horrori- horror-
as in horri-fer (horrible)
mūnus
(duty) 		mūni- mūn- mūneri- mūner-
as in muni-ficus (present-making)
opus
(work) 		opi- op- operi- oper-
as in opi-fex (worker)
vulnus
(wound) 		vulni- vuln- vulneri- vulner-
as in vulni-ficus (wound-inflicting)

     The hyphens in the examples of the Stem Compounds in the three charts above are merely used to indicate the parts of the words.

  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
          1. Latin Substantives
          2. Latin Adjectives
          3. Latin Verbs
          4. Special Combining Forms ← You Are Here
        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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