Re: YAEPT: uu/ii (< Quick Latin pronunciation question)

Quoting Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>:

> Quoting Eugene Oh <un.doing@...>:
>
> > On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 10:51 PM, caeruleancentaur
> > <caeruleancentaur@...> wrote:
> >
> > > In the first declension, overwhelmingly feminine, there are a few
> > > masculine words, e.g., "poeta," poet.  The plural is the normal -ae of
> > > the first declension, "poetae," not the -i of the second.
> > >
> > > By analogy, wouldn't the hypothetical plural of "virus," even though
> > > neuter, be the "viri" of the second declension?  Why would a third
> > > declension ending, "vira," be introduced?
> > >
> >
> > There is an overriding rule in Latin that all neuter nominatives,
> > accusatives and vocatives end in -um in the singular and -a in the
> > plural, whichever declension pattern they belong to. Hence oppidum,
> > oppida; tempus, tempora; opus, opera; animal, animalia; etc.
>
> As Eugene's own examples show, there is no such rule in the singular (further
> counterexamples: cornu, pl cornua; nomen, pl nomina; systema, pl systemata).
> The
> rule for the plural is nevertheless accurate.
I should add that whatever unreasonable shape the neuter nominative singular
takes, the accusative and vocative singular are always identical to it. Perhaps
this was what Eugene meant to say?


--
Andreas Johansson

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