01/08/20



                             CHAPTER 20

"Fourth Declension;
Ablatives of Place from Which and Separation"


FOURTH DECLENSION NOUNS

Let's review a moment.  You know that a noun will belong to one
declension and one declension only; and you know that a declension
is a pattern of case endings.  There are five declensions in Latin,
and in each of them some case endings resemble those the other
declensions.  You know, the "-m" is almost always the ending of the
accusative singular; "-s" is almost always the ending of the
accusative plural; etc.  So what makes these declensions truly
different from each other?  The truly distinctive characteristic of
these declensions is the thematic vowel (that is, the vowel which
regularly appears in the case endings):

     (1)   The thematic vowel of the first declension is "-a-".
     (2)   The thematic vowel of the second declension is "-o-" (the
           "-u-" in the declension was really an "-o-" which has
           been changed).
     (3)   The thematic vowel of the third declension is short "-e-"
           (which often changes to a short "-i-").

And now the fourth and fifth declensions:

     (4)   The thematic vowel of the fourth declension is "-u-".
     (5)   The thematic vowel of the fifth declension is "-e-".
           (We'll look at fifth declension nouns later.)

So, how can you tell to which declension a noun belongs?  The
dictionary must give you that information.  But instead of listing
a number next to the noun, the dictionary does something else.  The
dictionary actually starts to decline the noun for you.  The first
entry in the dictionary is the nominative singular, followed by the
genitive singular, which is then followed by the gender.  You
deduce the declension by looking at the genitive singular ending,
which means you must know the forms of the genitive singulars for
all the declensions:

     (1)   An "-ae" genitive ending means the noun declines in the
           first declension, because "-ae" is the genitive singular
           ending of the first declension.
     (2)   An "-i" genitive ending means the noun is second
           declension.
     (3)   An "-is" genitive ending means the noun is third
           declension.

     So now let's look at the fourth declension.  Like the third
declension, the fourth declension can have nouns of all three
genders belonging to it: the masculine and feminine nouns will
follow one pattern of endings; the neuter nouns will follow
another.  (Now it happens that the vast majority of fourth
declension nouns are masculine and that there are hardly any
feminine nouns; but you should keep your guard up anyway.)  So here
are the different case endings:

          MASCULINE AND FEMININE            NEUTER

Nom.               -us                        -u
Gen.               -us                        -us
Dat.               -ui                        -u
Acc.               -um                        -u
Abl.               -u                         -u

Nom.               -us                        -ua
Gen.               -uum                       -uum
Dat.               -ibus                      -ibus
Acc.               -us                        -ua
Abl.               -ibus                      -ibus

     Let's take a closer look at these endings.  First the
masculine and feminine endings:

     (1)   The nominative singular is short "-us", so this ending
           looks exactly like the "-us" type second declension
           ending for the nominative singular.  So, looking at the
           dictionary entry for the nominative singular of a fourth
           declension masculine or feminine noun, you might be lured
           into thinking that it's of the second declension.  To see
           the difference you must go to the next entry -- the
           genitive singular.
     (2)   The genitive singular is long "-us", so the dictionary
           entry for a fourth declension noun will look like this:
           'x'us, -us (m./f.), where 'x' is the stem of the noun.
     (3)   The dative singular ending is the "-i" you've seen in the
           third declension and on the pronouns, which is attached
           to the thematic vowel "-u-".
     (4)   The accusative singular ending is entirely predictable:
           it's just the thematic vowel with the ending "-m"
           attached.  This is the way all accusative singulars of
           masculine and feminine nouns are formed.
     (5)   Equally predictable is the ablative singular: it's just
           the thematic vowel.
     (6)   The nominative plural works on the analogy of the third
           declension: the long thematic vowel plus the ending "-s".
     (7)   The genitive plural is odd-looking -- "-uum" -- but it's
           made up of the thematic vowel plus the genitive plural
           ending "-um" you're already familiar with from the third
           declension.
     (8)   The dative and ablative plurals "-ibus" look like the
           third declension endings; notice also that the thematic
           vowel "-u"- has been replaced.  It's "-ibus", not
           "-ubus".  Strange.
     (9)   The accusative plural is the same as the nominative
           plural.  You've seen this phenomenon before in the third
           declension.

     Now let's look at the neuter side of the fourth declension.
Wheelock tells you correctly that these are rare.  And we're lucky
they are, because they're somewhat odd.

     (1)   The nominative singular ends in just a long "-u".  Odd.
     (2)   According to the laws of neuters, therefore, the
           accusative singular will also end in long "-u".
     (3)   You would expect the dative singular to have a
           predictable ending, but look at it: the ending is long
           "-u".  Take a look at the endings in the singular, now.
           Four of the cases in the singular have the same ending --
           long "-u" -- which means you may have a devil of a time
           deciding which case a noun is in when it ends in long
           "-u".  Context has to help you.
     (4)   Nothing irregular happens in the plural -- if you
           remember that proposition two of the law of neuters tells
           you that all neuter nominative and accusative plurals end
           in short "-a".

One more thing about the fourth declension which might interest you
is that there are no fourth declension adjectives.  You recall that
the first, second and third declensions are patterns of endings
which nouns and adjectives can use.  The fourth declension contains
only nouns.

     A list for a fourth declension noun in the dictionary will
look like this:

                          metus, -us (m)
                          fructus, -us (m)
                          manus, -us (f)
                          cornu, -us (n)
                          versus, -us (m)

The first entry is the nominative singular, the second tells you
the declension and indicates whether there are any stem changes
from the nominative form.  But, there are no stem changes in fourth
declension nouns.  Isn't that nice?  So decline these nouns.  Check
you work against Wheelock page 93.

                   metus, -us (m)             cornu, -us (n)

           Nom.    _______________            _______________

           Gen.    _______________            _______________

           Dat.    _______________            _______________

           Acc.    _______________            _______________

           Abl.    _______________            _______________


           Nom.    _______________            _______________

           Gen.    _______________            _______________

           Dat.    _______________            _______________

           Acc.    _______________            _______________

           Abl.    _______________            _______________


ABLATIVE OF PLACE FROM WHICH AND SEPARATION

There's nothing really difficult about this bit of knowledge.
You've seen for quite some time now that prepositions take certain
cases and that the meaning of such expressions is set by the
meaning of the preposition.  The case the noun is in really has
nothing to contribute to the meaning of the expression.  For
example, "ad" means "to" or "toward" and it takes its object in the
accusative case.  Therefore "ad urbem" means "to/toward the city".

     The prepositions "ab, ex, de" mean something like "from" or
"out of" or "away from" and they take the ablative case.  So we can
say, "Veniunt ex urbe".  ("They are coming out of the city".)  Got
that?  Now here's a new twist.  If the verb being used explicitly
contains the idea of physical separation, then the prepositions
indicating separation ("ab, ex, de") are not used.  Instead, the
thing from which the separation is being made is simply put into
the ablative case.  We call this prepositionless use of the
ablative case the "Ablative of Separation". Like this.  The verb
"to free", "libero (1)", also carries with it the sense "to free
from".  Hence the idea of separation from something is explicit in
the verb.  So if we wish to say something like this -- "The truth
will free us from fear" -- we write "Veritas nos metu liberabit
(not "ab metu")".  Look at the following examples:

"Fructibus bonis numquam carebamus". (We never used to lack good
fruits.)
"Liberavistis nos sceleribus istius tyranni". (You have freed us
from the crimes of that tyrant.)


VOCABULARY PUZZLES

fructus, -us (m)          Don't forget the extended senses of the
                          word "fruit":  "fruits of our labor", for
                          example.

communis, -e              It doesn't mean "common" in the negative
                          sense of "ordinary"; it means "common" in
                          the sense that many share it.  "General"
                          is a better first translation.  "Communis
                          opinio" means "general opinion";
                          "communis salus", "general safety".

careo (2), carui, -----   Pay no attention to the fourth principal
                          part for now, but do look at the
                          construction which follows the verb.
                          "Careo" take the "Ablative of
                          Separation", not the accusative case, as
                          you might be led to expect by our use of
                          the verb "to lack".

