§ 12. Adverbial expression for the day of the month. To these instances of the adverbial use of nouns may, perhaps, be added the phrase by which the Romans designated the day of the month. Here a locative of the day is inserted between the preposition and the word which denotes the standard of reckoning. Thus, "on the fourth day before the Nones of April," is expressed by, ante (die quarto) Nonas Apriles = quarto die ante Nonas Apriles. And this whole expression is regarded as one word, which may be dependent on a preposition: thus we may say, ex ante die iii. Non. Jun. usque ad pridie Kal. Septembres, or differre aliquid in ante xv. Kal. Novembres. If the inserted date was ever written or pronounced in the accusative case, according to the ordinary practice among modern Latinists, it is obvious that this must have originated in an attraction, or in a mistaken usage. The well-known employment of the locative pridie to indicate the day immediately before the Calends, Nones, or Ides, shows that the other days must have been expressed in the same case. CHAPTER IX. DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN. § 1. The usual arrangement is erroneous. § 2. General rules for the classification of Latin nouns. § 3. First or -a declension. § 4. Second or -o declension. § 5. Third declension or consonantal nouns. § 6. A. First class or purely consonantal nouns. § 7. B. Second class or semi-consonantal nouns. § 1. The usual Arrangement is erroneous. THE arrangement of Latin nouns in different declensions (xλi σets) or forms of inflexion has been managed by grammarians without any regard either to the internal organization of the word or to the real convenience of the learner. Among the ancient grammarians, Varro proposed a simple conventionnamely, to distinguish the declensions of nouns according to the vowel of the ablative singular (L. L. X. 62, p. 257, Müller): "nam ejus cassuis literarum discriminibus facilius reliquorum varietatem discernere poterit, quod ei habent exitus, aut in A, ut hac terrâ; aut in E ut hac lance; aut in I, ut hac levi; aut in O, ut hoc cœlo; aut in U, ut hoc versu. Igitur ad demonstrandas declinationes vice prima hæc." Diomedes distinguished seven declensions, dividing the nouns in -ius, -ium from those in -us, -um, and the neuters in -u from the feminines in -us (see Zeitschr. f. d. Wiss. d. Spr. III. 315). The favourite and oldest method in this country has been to consider the noun according to five distinct declensions. The a and o declensions stand in their proper place at the head of the list. Then follows the conso nantal declension considered as one. And the nouns in -u and -e are treated as two distinct schemes of case-formations. One of the objects, which I proposed to myself in writing a new Latin Grammar, was to correct this vicious and faulty exhibition of the different forms of the noun; but I was unable in that elementary treatise to explain and justify every feature in the new system which I adopted. That and other developments were reserved for the present work; and I shall now proceed to show that the arrangement, which appears in the Latin Grammar, is the only classification which is consistent with the results of scientific phi 1 A complete Latin Grammar for the use of learners. London, 1852. lology; while I know by experience that it is at least as easy to the learner. § 2. General rules for the classification of Latin Nouns. The true classification of the crude or uninflected forms of the Latin noun is obviously that of the letters which constitute the distinctive characteristics. At first sight, all these forms fall into two great divisions, according as they terminate in vowels or consonants. But while, on the one hand, the vowels themselves are distinguished by their structure and origin as vowels of articulation and vocalized consonants, so that the latter belong to the consonant class when considered according to the genesis of the crude form,-on the other hand, the consonants are not less distinguished among themselves, according to the organ by which they are uttered, and according to the difference between mutes and liquids, than they are discriminated from the pure Vowels. The scientific or methodical order of the declensions must be one which enables us most easily to fall back on the root of the noun, and on the original form of those pronominal affixes by which it is extended or developed, before it becomes the vehicle of the case-endings. And if the vocalized consonants i and u may be traced to an ultimate identity with guttural or labial mutes, it is clear that the nouns of which they are the characteristics ought to be ranged among the consonant declensions. In this way, we shall have two main classes of nounsthose whose characteristic is one of the pure vowels a or o, and these may be considered as subdivided into two declensions; and those whose characteristic is a consonant, whether mute, or liquid, or one of the semi-consonants i and u, considered as a representative of some mute, and these may be regarded as constituting one declension. While this scheme of the declensions is the only arrangement, which can be justified on the grounds of scientific etymology, it is at least as convenient as any other to the mere learner: for we cannot give any practical rule to a beginner more simple than that which results from this arrangement—namely, that the vowel-nouns invariably form their genitive plural in -a-rum or -o-rum, which is rarely contracted into -um; that they form their dative and ablative plural in -is, which rarely appears under the uncontracted form -bus; that the accusative singular is always am or -um, the accusative plural -os or -as, and the ablative singular always -â or -ô; and, on the other hand, that the consonant nouns generally form their genitive plural in -um, which is rarely preceded by the characteristic r; that, conversely, they form their dative and ablative plural in -bus, which rarely, if ever, loses its characteristic b; that the ablative singular is always e or i; and the accusative plural always -es, except when the characteristic is u. These general distinctions do not apply to the nominative-accusative plural of neuter nouns, which are uniformly terminated by -ă in all declensions. If then the classification, which I am about to explain, is not only true, but most convenient to the student, there can be no reason why it should not supersede the old-fashioned method even in elementary grammars. § 3. First or -a Declension. The Latin-a declension, as compared with the Greek, presents one remarkable contrast. In pure Latin nouns, the termination is invariably -ă, whereas in corresponding forms the Greek declension exhibits -ă, -ā, -ās, -n, -ns. Thus we have not only cellă by the side of auλλă, but amicitiă, scribă, areă, notă, homicida, by the side of φιλία, ταμίας, συκέα, τρίβη, άνδρειφόντης. And even when Greek nouns are transplanted, the same shortening of the last syllable may take place; thus Térpā and (ávn become petră and zonă. The explanation of this phenomenon is to be sought in the general tendency to abbreviation, which characterizes the Latin language, and which is perhaps connected with their habit of throwing the accent forward. In many cases the short ǎ is not merely an extenuation of the syllable, but an abridgment involving the omission of one or more formative letters. Thus, as piλia must be considered as a contraction of pixi-a-od, the same omission must have taken place in amicitia, and we shall see a farther proof of this when we come to the nouns in -ēs = -ă-is. A comparison of Kρiтýs, σUкéα, -, and Tauías, shows us that these words involve the second pronominal element under the form iaya. And we must presume an addition of the same element in scrib-a scrib-yas, not-ă = not-yasa, homicid-a homicid-yas, &c. The length of the ā in familiās = familiais, familia = familiad, filiābus = filia-ibus, filiās=filiam-s is of course due to the absorption, in each case, of some original' letter, so recently belonging to the inflexion that it could not be forgotten. = = § 4. Second or -o Declension. As the nominative of this declension ends in -us or -er-rus, and the accusative in -um, it is necessary to state to the beginner why the characteristic is said to be o and not u: but to any one who has made even a commencement in philology, it is obvious that while the forms in -6, -órum, -ós could not have sprung from an original u, the forms, in which a short й appears, would naturally result from a short ŏ (above, Ch. VII. § 5). Besides, many of these nouns appear by the side of Greek nouns in -os, and in old Latin the o is still apparent, as in quom for quum, oloes for ollis or illis, &c. A comparison of ager with aypos, Alexander with Aλéçavdpos, and the like, shows that the Latin forms have suffered an apocope not altogether unlike that of scriba from scribyas, &c., and certainly due to the same tendency to abbreviate and throw back the accent. We have nouns in -erus which are never shortened into -er, as humerus, numerus, vesperus, uterus; and some compounds with the verb-roots fer- and gerpresent both the full form and the apocope; thus we have armiger by the side of morigerus. In these instances, of course, the er is retained throughout the declension. But in the oblique cases of ager and Alexander, as in the corresponding Greek words, the e is dropt, as might have been expected from its obvious functions as a merely compensatory insertion. The same is the case with a great many words of this form, especially those which exhibit the termination signifying agency, which corresponds to the Greek -της, -τηρ, -τωρ, from -τρια, -τριδ-, such as magis-ter, minis-ter, arbi-ter, &c. There is also in Latin a longer form in -tor, -toris. Those which retain the e have generally some Greek affinity, which explains the importance of the letter. Thus puer must be compared with the Greek ποΐρ: liber, liberi = ἐλεύθερος or Διόνυσος ἐλευθέριος, is thus distinguished from li-ber, li-bri; gener, generi belongs to yévos, Yeve[]os, genus, generis, and socer to eKupos. It is to be observed that although ager always loses its e in the oblique cases, this unessential letter is constantly retained in the compound jugerum = diagerum (above, p. 269). § 5. Third Declension or consonantal Nouns. It has been already remarked, that nouns of the third declension are arranged according to the nature of the characteristic |