“Latin Compounds”

Vocabulary

• Base: The part of the word that stays unchanged in inflection.  Some writers use the word "stem" to mean "base."  So, puell- is the base of puella ("girl"), puellae, and puellārum.  Puer- is the base of puer ("boy"), puerī, and puerōrum.  Am- is the base of amāre ("to love") and amant ("they love").  Vid- is the base of videre ("to see") and videt ("he loves").  Amant- is the base of amāns ("loving") and amantis.  Vomu- is the base of vomuisse ("to have vomited").

  The procedures for determining the base of a substantival or adjectival word for the purposes of this tutorial can be found in the chart below.

* The form boum is short for bovum.

** The base of vīs is v- in the singular, but its base in the plural is vīr-.

• Combining Form: A form of a stem used as the first or second part of a Stem Compound.  It may end with a Connecting Vowel (usually i in Latin).

• Connecting Vowel: A vowel used at the end of a combining form when the next part of a Stem Compound begins with a consonant.  The Connecting Vowel usually disappears when the next part of a Stem Compound begins with a vowel, unless the combining form is monosyllabic, in which case the Connecting Vowel stays.  In Latin, i is the most commonly-used Connecting Vowel.

• Case Ending: An ending that appears after the end of the base of a word.  The case ending of puella is -a, and the case ending of puellārum is -ārum.  Some grammar books refer to the Case Ending as an "Apparent Case Ending."

• Inflection: The change of a word's form to indicate a change in its grammatical function.

• Inflectional Termination: A suffix that combines with the final letter of the stem to create the word's termination.  The Inflectional Termination -m combined with the stem puellā- to create the form puellam.

• Monosyllabic: Having one syllable.

• Oblique Case: Any of the cases other than the nominative and vocative.  The genitive, ablative, accusative, and locative are the oblique cases in Latin.

• Polysyllabic: Having more than one syllable.

• Stem: The part of the word that contains its essential meaning.  It ends in a characteristic consonant or vowel.  The final letter combines with various Inflectional Termination to create the Case Endings.  The stem of puella is puellā-, but puell-, base of puella.  Some writers use "stem" to mean "base."

• Stem Vowel: The characteristic final vowel at the end of one of a number of stems.  The stem vowel of the stem puellā- is -ā, but the stem vowel of the stem puero- is -o.  There is no stem vowel in the stem tempor-.

• Termination: A term that seems to be used synonymously with "Case Ending."

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
         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 ← You Are Here
3. Bibliography

Latin Compounds | Pāginae Latīnitātis | DIĒS GAUDIĪ

© 2006-2008 Ian Andreas Miller.  All rights reserved.  Those statements refer to all of the original content on this page.