Latin Lesson #229: The 4th Declension

The focus for today's lesson is something new: the 4th declension! So far, you've been learning about the 1st, 2nd and 3rd declensions, which are by far the most common declensions in Latin. But there is also a 4th declension, which you will start studying now, and also the 5th declension, which is the least common of all the declensions.

You've actually see some 4th-declension nouns already because in the nominative case and in the accusative case, they look the same as 2nd-declension nouns. But the 4th declension is different in the genitive, ablative, and dative cases. Here's a comparison of a 2nd-declension noun, amicus, "friend," with a 4th-declension noun, morsus, "bite," so that you can see where the case endings are different:

2nd - case - 4th

amīc-us - nom. - mors-us

amīc-um - acc. - mors-um

amīc-ī - gen. - mors-ūs

amīc-ō - abl. - mor-sū

amīc-ō - dat. - mor-suī

This word morsus is a verbal noun from a verb you have seen before: mordet, "bites." In English, "bite" can be both a noun and a verb, but in Latin, the different parts of speech have their own forms: mordet is a verb, and morsus is a noun. The English word "morsel," is from Latin morsellus, "a little bite," a diminutive form of the noun morsus.

Not all 4th-declension nouns are verbal nouns, but many of them are, as you'll see in today's sayings!

So here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Morsus morsum ducit.
(One) bite leads (another) bite.
morsus morsum ducit.

The word morsus, "bite," is a 4th-declension noun from the verb mordet. The word morsum is the accusative form.

The idea is that after you take one bite, you're going to want another! 


2. Calumniae morsui nullum remedium.
(There is) no remedy for-the-bite of-slander.
ca-LUM-niae MOR-sui nullum re-ME-dium.

The word morsui is the dative form of the word morsus, "for-the-bite."
The word calumniae is the dative form of the noun calumnia, "slander," which is the origin of the English word "calumny." That is the only new word in this saying; you already know the words nullum remedium.

In other words: there is no way to undo the harm inflicted by slander because words cannot be unsaid.


3. Avis a cantu dignoscitur.
(A) bird is-known by (its) song.
avis a cantu dig-NOS-citur.

The word cantus, "song, singing," is a 4th-declension noun from the verb canit. The ablative form is cantu, used here with the preposition a, "by its song," a cantu.

The word dignoscitur is the passive form, dignoscit, "recognize, discern." You haven't seen this verb before, but you have seen the root word: noscit.

This is literally true because birds do have distinctive songs, and metaphorically, it means you can recognize a person's character based on the words that they say.


4. Non uno ictu cadit quercus.
(The) oak doesn't fall (at) one blow.
non uno ictu cadit quercus.

The word ictus, "blow, hit," is a 4th-declension word, and it is also used in English, "ictus," referring to the stress on the accented syllable of a word. The ablative form is ictu, "by means of a blow, at a blow."

The adjective uno is masculine ablative singular, agreeing with the noun ictu: "by means of one blow," uno ictu.

The word quercus, "oak tree," is also a 4th-declension noun! Even more interesting: it is a feminine noun. Almost all the nouns in the 4th declension are masculine, but a few are feminine. And here's another fun fact: tree names in Latin, no matter what declension, are feminine, and so is the word arbor, "tree."

Literally, this is true: a tree does not fall at the first blow of the axe, and metaphorically, it refers to any big project that will take time and effort to complete.


5. Vita hominis cursus est ad mortem.
(A) person's life is a-running towards death.
vita HO-minis cursus est ad mortem.

You know all the words in this saying!

The word cursus, which you have seen before, is a 4th-declension noun from the verb currit. This is the nominative form, the predicate of the verb: est cursus, "it is a race, a running."

The word hominis is the genitive form of homo, so the phrase vita hominis means "a person's life."

The word mortem is the accusative form of mors, used here with the preposition ad. 

Notice how the words vita and mortem frame the saying: it begins with life, and it ends with death.


Here's a recap:

• Morsus morsum ducit.
• Calumniae morsui nullum remedium.
• Avis a cantu dignoscitur.
• Non uno ictu cadit quercus.
• Vita hominis cursus est ad mortem.

And here is today's audio:



Plus the LOLCats!

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A New Beginner's Latin: THE AENEID

Thanks to a friend-of-a-friend, I have started a new Latin project: teaching Latin to absolute beginners using Vergil's Aeneid. 

My hope is that these Aeneid lessons might be of interest to anyone with an interest in Latin — people who have never studied Latin before, people with a little Latin, and perhaps even people who know Latin well and who are curious about this way of reading Vergil. (Just speaking for myself, I am having so much fun preparing these lessons because it is giving me insight into Vergil's poetry that I never really had before.)

If you are interested, you can follow the project here: Vergil.LauraGibbs.net.

You can also sign up for a weekly email about the new lessons.

To give you a sense of how it works, I have pasted in the Lesson One below. Enjoy!

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Lesson 1

1.1. Canō.

I sing.

This is a Latin verb, 1st-person singular. You can tell from the form of the verb itself that it is 1st-person singular: canō, (I) sing. You don't need to use the pronoun in Latin; the verb already tells you who the subject is.

The most common form of the verb you will see is 3rd-person singular: canit.

Vergilius canit. Vergil sings.

Canit. Sings — which can mean: (He) sings. (She) sings. (It) sings.

1.2. Canō virum.

(I) sing (the) man.
(I) sing (a) man.

Now the verb has an object: virum.

That is the accusative form of the noun vir, "man." This is the most common use of the accusative: it identifies the object of a verb.

See that -um ending? That is the same -m ending in the English pronoun "him," which is the accusative form of our pronoun "he." You use "him" when the pronoun is the object of a verb in English too: "I see him."

Notice that the Latin verb "sing" takes a direct object, Canō virum, while in  English, we usually say "I sing of the man" or "I sing about the man." Whether or not a verb takes a direct object or instead is complemented by a prepositional phrase is what's called "idiom," a particular way of speaking. There's no reason why English "sing" takes a prepositional phrase (sing of, sing about), while Latin "sing" takes a direct object; those are just English and Latin idioms.

Notice also that Latin does not have use definite article ("the") or indefinite article ("a") like in English. If you are translating into English, you have to decide which aticle to use, but if you are just reading Latin (which is the goal!), you don't need to worry about how it would work in English. Just focus on how it works in Latin: Cano virum. 

Here is another sentence you can make:

Vergilius canit virum. Vergil sings the man.

Now there is a subject, Vergilius, and a third-person verb to go with that subject: Vergilius canit.

Do you see the underlining below the first i in the name Vergilius? That is to indicate where to stress the word. I'll say more about word stress in the next lesson, but for now,  just know that you stress the word on the GI: Vergilius.

The only words that have an underlined syllable are words that are three syllables or longer. If a word has just two syllables, it is stressed on the first syllable.

And here's something really fun: word order is (almost) completely free in Latin. So these are all possible sentences; I've marked the Subject, Verb, and Object to the right. English is almost always S-V-O, but Latin exploits all the possibilities:

Cano virum. V-O

Virum cano. O-V

Virum Vergilius canit. O-S-V

Virum canit Vergilius. O-V-S

Canit Vergilius virum. V-S-O

Canit virum Vergilius. V-O-S

Vergilius canit virum. S-V-O

Vergilius virum canit. S-O-V

In general, the most emphatic positions are the first and last position in a sentence or phrase.

This free word order is one of the most amazing things about Latin, and Vergil will exploit that freedom in his poetry to create all kinds of subtle effects that are impossible to reproduce in English.

1.3. Canō arma.

(I) sing (the) weapons.
(I) sing weapons.

Now the verb has a different object: arma.

This is the plural accusative form of the word arma, a word which is used only in the plural in Latin. Our English plural "arms" imitates this Latin word; "arms" in English means "weapons," just as arma in Latin means "weapons." (English "arms = weapons" has nothing to do with "arm = body part" — "arm," the body part, is a Germanic word, while "arms" and "to arm yourself with a weapon" come from Latin — so if you start thinking that Latin is weird, just remember how weird English is!)

Here are a few variations to practice with:

Arma cano.

Vergilius arma canit.

Canit Vergilius arma.

Arma canit Vergilius.

For example, you might say Arma canit Vergilius! if you were arguing with someone like this:

Vergilius virum canit. Vergil sings the man. 

Haudquaquam! Arma Vergilius canit! No way! Vergil sings weapons!

1.4. Canō virum et arma.

I sing the man and weapons.

The conjunction et means "and." Just like English  "and," et connects two grammatically equal things. For example, here it is connecting two objects:

Cano virum. Cano arma. = Cano virum et arma.

The most important thing to do when you see et is to make sure you know what two things it is connecting! In this short little sentence, that is obvious but, trust me, in longer Latin sentences, you will have to think carefully sometimes about just what et is connecting.

You can also see the word et in English in "etc." which stands for et cetera in Latin, "and other things." (The word cetera is a neuter plural word in Latin, just like arma is neuter plural; you'll learn more about gender in Latin later.)

So, here are some possible variations on Cano virum et arma, all of which are perfectly natural Latin sentences:

Virum cano et arma.

Virum et arma cano.

Arma et virum cano.

Arma cano et virum.

Cano arma et virum.

These options were all available to Vergil. As a poet, his choice was constrained to some degree by the meter of the poem, but in terms of the grammar, all these options were possible. And very soon you are going to see which option he chose!

1.5. Canō virum armaque.

I sing the man and weapons.

The word -que means the same thing as et, "and," but -que cannot stand by itself. Instead, it is an "enclitic," which means "leaner (clitic) - on (en)." As you can see, it has to "lean on" the word that comes before it:

armaque = et arma.

So the sentence Canō virum armaque means exactly the same as Canō virum et arma.

I've marked the stress on the first syllable, but there is some debate about this. In later Latin, the tendency was to always stress the syllable before -que, but no one is quite sure if that rule applied in classical Latin. I'll have more to say later about why there can be some doubt about just where to put the stress, and also about Latin pronunciation in general.

Read through these sentences so that you feel comfortable with -que:

Virum cano armaque.

Virum armaque cano.

Arma virumque cano.

Arma cano virumque.

Cano arma virumque.

When you are getting started with Latin, it is always a good idea to change -que into et, and then to ask yourself the same question you should always ask about et: exactly what two things is et connecting?

1.6. Arma virumque canō.

Weapons and the man I sing.

And there it is! Now you see the opening words of The Aeneid as Vergil composed them.

Now you have read the first three words of Vergil's Aeneid, or four if you count -que as its own word. Are you ready for Lesson 2? Here you go!

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And here's a random cat for your viewing pleasure:

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