“Latin Compounds”

Two Main Parts of a Stem Compound

     A Stem Compound may comprise two or more simple or compounded stems, but for the sake of simplicity, it can be divided into two main parts.

     The Stem Compound flāvicomus was created by making the stem flāvo- into a combining form to be used as the first part and making the stem comā- into a combining form to be used as the second part.  But flāvicomo-, the stem of flāvicomus, may itself be made into a combining form to be used as a part of another Stem Compound: flāvicomiceps, "with a head of yellow hair," where -ceps (akin to caput, "head") is the second part of this new Stem Compound.  The stem of flāvicomiceps, flāvicomicipit-, itself may be used as a part in still another Stem Compound, and so on.  Presumably, there is no morphological upper limit to the number of stems used in a Stem Compound.

     Latin tends to favor creating certain Stem Compound types that comprise certain combinations of combining forms made from the various types of stems:

First Part
+
Second Part
=
Stem Compound
Substantival
e.g. manu-
+
 Substantival
e.g. pretio-
=
 Substantival
e.g. manipretium
Substantival
e.g. ālā-
+
 Substantival
e.g. ped-
=
 Adjectival
e.g. ālipēs
Substantival
e.g. caelo-
+
 Adjectival
e.g. potēnt(i)-
=
 Adjectival
e.g. caelipotēns
Substantival
e.g. tubā-
+
 Verbal
e.g. cin-
=
 Substantival
e.g. tubicen
Adjectival
e.g. flāvo-
+
 Substantival
e.g. comā-
=
 Adjectival
e.g. flāvicomus
Adjectival
e.g. lāto-
+
 Substantival
e.g. fundo-
=
 Substantival
e.g. lātifundium
Adjectival
e.g. aequo-
+
 Adjectival
e.g. par-
=
 Adjectival
e.g. aequipar
Adjectival
e.g. multo-
+
 Verbal
e.g. fido-
=
 Adjectival
e.g. multifidus
Adjectival
e.g. parvo-
+
 Verbal
e.g. face-
=
 Verbal
e.g. parvifacere

     Other combinations are rarer in Latin.  Some are:

First Part
+
Second Part
=
Stem Compound
Verbal
e.g. posci-
+
 Substantive
e.g. nummo-
=
 Adjective
e.g. poscinummius
Verbal
e.g. verte-
+
 Substantive
e.g. cord-
=
 Substantive
e.g. Verticordia
Verbal
e.g. senti-
+
 Verbal
e.g. fice-
=
 Adjective
e.g. sentificāre

  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 ← You Are Here
      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
        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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