Re: R: Re: Languages

Mikael Johansson wrote:

> > Probably. But Latin has a special rule for Present participle
declension,
> > IIRC.
>
> More or less... There is one whole class of adjectives, with the same form
> in nominative singular for all genders, in which the present participle is
> included. And as a special rule, the present participle has the singular
> ablative ending "-e" and not "-i" _when_ it functions as a verb and not an
> adjective (i.e. in constructions such as ablative absolute etc.)
Yup. If amans (lover, loving one) is used as an adj., it bears the -i
ablative ending. When used as a verb it bears -e ending. Now, $1000000
question: what about if used as a nominalized adj. (the lover)? My guess is
that it should bear the -e ending, being now a 3rd declension masculine
*noun* with dental pattern. But I might be wrong (really, this point is one
of those who have always make me wonder about Latin morphology!). What do ya
think?

Luca