CHAPTER 8: THE 3RD DECLENSION I-STEMS

 1.  3^rd declension i-stems are distinctive for three reasons.

2.  First, the letter i shows up more often in normal and oblique forms.

 

Exercise 1

Which of the following nouns are possibly i-stems based on the relatively larger number of i’s in noun forms?

1.  animāl animālis animālī animālia animālium
animālibus

2.  cōnsul cōnsulis cōnsulī cōnsulem cōnsule cōnsulēs cōnsulum cōnsulibus

3.  cor cordis cordī corde corda cordum cordibus

4.  genus generis generī genus genere genera generum generibus

5.  homō hominis hominī hominem homine hominēs hominum hominibus imber imbris imbrī imbrem imbrī imbrēs imbrium imbribus

6.  turris turris turrī turrim turrem turrī turre turrēs turrium turribus turrīs

 

3.  Second, 1^st and 2^nd principal parts are often parisyllabic, i.e., they have the same number of syllables.

 

Exercise 2

Which of the following 3^rd declension nouns are possibly i-stems based on the number of syllables in both principal parts?

1.  aedis, aedis, temple (sg.), house (pl.)

2.  aestās, aestātis, summer

3.  aetās, aetātis, age

4.  āgmen, agminis, band, column

5.  Calais, Calais, m., Calais

6.  amor, amōris, love

7.  anguis, anguis, snake

8.  cadāver, cadāveris, n., dead body, corpse, carcass

9.  caedēs, caedis, f., cutting down, killing, slaughter

 

3.  I-stems may be pure or mixed.  Pure i-stems are those nouns for which the following table applies.

 

3rd (i-stem)

is

is

ī, em, im, e, ēs, ium, ibus, īs

 

Compare this with the 3^rd declension from the tables previously provided.

 

DECLENSIONS	DF	2ND P-PART	REMAINING OBLIQUE FORMS
3rd	?	is	ī, em, e, ēs, um, ibus
3rd (n.)	?	is	ī, ?, e, ēs, a, um, ibus

 

Perhaps the most important detail is that the DF is identical to the 2^nd principal part.  Notice that pure i-stems, unlike other 3^rd declension nouns, do not need the DECASED TAIL/REPLACEMENT TAIL CHART from the last chapter.

 

4.  Turris is a pure i-stem and ars is a mixed i-stem.  Compare:

 

DECLENSIONS	DF	2ND P-PART	REMAINING OBLIQUE FORMS
Pure i-stem	turris	turris	turrī, turrim, turrī, turrēs, turrium, turribus, turrīs
Mixed i-stem	ars	artis	artī, artem, arte, artēs, artium, artibus, artīs
Regular 3rd	rex	rēgis	rēgī, rēgem, rēge, rēgēs, rēgum, rēgibus

 

Notice that ars and rex undergo changes to the stem (ars/art and rex, rēg), but turris does not (turr/turr).  Notice also that ars and turris use ium, not um, but that rex uses um, not ium.

 

5.  Another ending found in the DFs of i-stems is ēs. 

Ex1.  Polydectēs, Polydectis, m., Polydectes.

Ex2.  Sēdēs, sēdis, m., seat.

 

6.  Our new table now looks like this.  We combine the m. and f. i-stems into one row.

 

DECLENSIONS	1ST P-PART	2ND P-PART	REMAINING OBLIQUE FORMS
1st	a	ae	am, ā, ārum, īs, ās
2nd	us	ī	ō, um, a, ōrum, īs, ōs
2nd (n.)	um	ī	ō, um, a, ōrum, īs, ōs
3rd	?, is, ēs	is	ī, em, im, e, ēs, um, ium, ibus, īs
3rd (n.)	?	is	ī, ?, e, ēs, a, um, ibus
4th	us	ūs	uī, um, uum, ū, ibus, ubus
5th	ēs	ēī	ēī, em, e, ēs, ērum, ēbus

 

Exercise 3

The following nouns are all in the 2^nd principal part.  What is the DF?  Use the dictionary.

1.  maris

2.  anguis

3.  fīnis

4.  iuvenis

5.  cīvis