166 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



LESSONS IN LATIK VI. 



NOUNS, SUBSTANTIVE AND ADJECTIVE. THE FIEST 

 DECLENSION. 



WE now pass on to the several declensions. By declension, 

 you know, is meant the manner of forming the cases of a 

 noun. 



FIRST DECLENSION. 



Sign JE in the Genitive Singular. 



CASE-ENDINGS WITH THE ENGLISH SIGNS. 

 Singular. Plural. 



Coses. tATIN. ENGLISH. Cases. LATIN. ENGLISH. 



Norn. -a Csubject) Norn. -SB (subject) 



Gen. - of Gen. -arum of 



Dat. -SB to or for. Dat. -is te or for. 



Ace. -am (object) Ace. -as (object) 



Voc. -a 0! Voc. -e 0! 



Abl. -a by, with, or from. Abl. -is by, wiili, or from. 



Here you may remark that in the singular two case-endings 

 are the same namely, those of the nominative and the 

 vocative, both being a ; and that in the plural taken with the 

 singular, four case-endings are the same namely, in the plural 

 those of the nominative and the vocative ; in the singular, 

 the genitive and the dative. This undoubtedly is a defect 

 in the language. By practice only can you learn in reading 

 to ascertain which, in any particular instance, the writer in- 

 tended ; the difficulty, however, is not so great as you might 

 imagine. 



EXAMPLE. 



Mensa, ce, 1, fern., a table. 



Cases. Singular. Cases. Plural. 



Noni. Mensa, a table. Nona. Mensrc, tables. 



Gen. Menace, of a table. Gen. Mensarum, of tables. 



Dat. Menace, to a table. Dat. Mensis, to tables. 



Ace. Mensam, a table. Ace. Mensas, tables. 



Voc. Mensa, table .' Voe. Mensa;, O tables .' 



Abl. Mensit, by a table. Abl. Mensis, by tabls. 



Mensa is thus seen to consist of two parts. These two parts 

 are the stem mens and the case-endings. To the stem mens 

 add the several case-endings, and you form the several cases. 

 Thus, if to mens you join am, you obtain the accusative singular; 

 if to mens you add o/ru,m, you obtain the genitive plural ; and 

 so on with the rest. 



Before you proceed further, you should make yourself per- 

 fectly master of the case-endings and the example. Exercise 

 yourself in giving from memory any case-endings you may 

 please to require; also in giving the corresponding English 

 sign. 



Observe that in the example, after the word mensa, ce, stand 

 1 and fern. Here 1 with a noun denotes the first declension, as 

 afterwards 2 with a noun will denote the second declension, 3 

 with a noun the third declension, and so on ; f. or fern, denotes 

 the feminine gender, and intimates that mensa is a noun of the 

 feminine gender. It may appear strange to you that a thing 

 which in English is of the neuter " gender," as being without 

 sex, should in the Latin be of the feminine gender. So, how- 

 ever, it is. In Latin, one way of determining gender is by the 

 termination. Thus, all nouns ending in a (with an exception 

 which will be pointed out by-and-by), are of the feminine gender. 

 And as all nouns ending in a are of the first declension, so all 

 nouns of the first declension, generally speaking, are of the/emi- 

 nine gender. 



Decline the following nouns like mensa : 



Alauda, a lark. 

 Aquila, an eagle. 



Columba, a dove. 

 Insula, an island. 



Puella, a girl. 

 Silva, a wood. 



OBS. These nouns should be written out like the example 

 meiisa, from memory, distinguishing the case-endings and sub- 

 joining the English to each case of each noun. 



A (prep.), by. 

 Aqua, water. 

 Ciconia, a storfc. 

 Coaxo, 1, 1 croafc. 

 Copia, abundance. 

 Devoro, 1, I devour. 



VOCABULARY. 

 Gigno, 3, I produce. 

 Herba, a herb. 

 Noceo, 2, I mjure. 

 Planta, a plant. 

 Praxla, prey, [/ully. 

 Pulchre (adv.), beauti- 



Procella, a storm. 

 Quam (adv.), how! 

 Eana, a frog. 

 Soepe (adv.), often. 

 Terra, the earth. 

 Turbo, 1, I disturb. 



Note that the preposition a becomes ab, for the sake of sound 

 before a vowel or a silent h. 



EXEKCISE 15. LATIN-ENGLISH. 



1. liana coaxat. 2. Bana ssepe est prajda ciconias. 3. Ciconia nocet 

 ranee. 4. Ciconia devorat rauam. 5. O rana, coaxas. 6. Aqua tur- 

 batur a rana. 7. Plantce florout. 8. Terra vestitur copia plaiitarum. 

 9. Procelte nocent plantis. 10. Terra gignit plantas. 11. O plantae, 

 quain pulchre oruatis terram ! 12. Terra vestitur plantis. 



On this exercise I must give a few words of explanation. 

 In the sentence Ciconia nocet ranee, you have the object in the 

 dative case. Generally the object is in the accusative case, but 

 noceo is one of the verbs which govern their object in the dative 

 instead of in the accusative case, as will be more fully set forth 

 hereafter. 



After the passive verb turbatur, you have the instrument rand 

 with the preposition a ; whereas after the passive verb vestitur, 

 you have copia without the preposition. The reason is that, 

 in Latin, when the instrument is a person or living creature, 

 the preposition a is usual ; but it is not used when, as in the 

 second case, the instrument ia a thing, that is, something with- 

 out life. 



VestUur is not given in the vocabulary to this declension, 

 because it has been given before. Here, as in other instances, 

 words, the English of which has been previously stated, are 

 repeated without the English, in order to secure attention and 

 to assist the memory by repetition. 



As the English sign of the dative is to or for, so you must 

 use the one or the other as the sense requires. And as the 

 English sign of the ablative is by, with, or from, so must you 

 use either by, or with, or from, according as the English idiom 

 requires. 



EXERCISE 16. ENGLISH-LATIN. 



1. The plants flourish. 2. The storm injures the plant. 3. Plants 

 are injured by the storm. 4. Frogs are swallowed by the stork. 

 5. The earth produces plants. 6. Plants are produced by the earth. 

 7. O plants, how beautifully are you produced by the earth! 8. I 

 praise abundance of water. 9. The storm moves the waters. 10. The 

 waters are moved by the storm. 



After having learnt each vocabulary, you will do well to try 

 to ascertain what words in it have representatives in English. 

 These English representatives (denoted by the initials E. E.) 

 are words in English derived more or less directly from the 

 corresponding Latin words. Thus, from aqua we have E. R. 

 aquatic; from copia, we have E. E. copious; from herba we 

 have E. E. lierb ; from prceda we have E. E. prey ; from terra 

 we have E. E. terrene, etc. You will soon acquire skill in dis- 

 covering the E. E. in all cases, and in the discovery you will 

 gain an aid to memory, as well as an insight into the exact 

 original meaning of many English words. Indeed, you should 

 never allow a Latin word to pass you without endeavouring 

 to ascertain whether it has any E. E., and if any, whether one 

 or more, what they are, and what their signification. 



Adjectives in the feminine gender are declined like mensa. 

 This you see exemplified in the following example : 



DECLENSION OF SUBSTANTIVE AND ADJECTIVE. 



TIKST DECLENSION, FEMININE GENDER. 

 Cases. Singular. Cases. Plural. 



N. Bono puella, a good girl. N. Bonce puella!, good girls. 



G. Bono? puella!, of a good girl. G. Bonarumpuellarum, of good girls. 

 D. Bono: puella;, to a good girl. D. Bonis pnellis, to good girls. 

 Ac. Bonam puellam, a good girl. Ac. Bonos puellas, good girls. 

 V. Bona puella, good girl ! V. 'Bonce puella;, good girls / 



Ab. Bond puella, by a good girl. Ab. Bom's puellis, by good girls. 



EXERCISE. After the same manner write out and learn by 

 heart 



Alba rosa, a white rose. I Pulchra columba, a beautiful -pigeon. 



Magna prseda, great booty. | Quadrata mensa, a square table. 



VOCABULARY. 



Ancilla, a maid-servant. Est tibi, thou hast. Mihi, to me. 



Augusta, sacred. Magn;i, great. Tibi, to thce. 



Est mib.i, I have. Mea, my. Tua, thy. 



OBS.-* The Latin word ne is employed in asking a question, 

 and is placed after a word and joined to the word it follows ; 

 the Latin word an is employed in asking a question, and is 

 placed before a word or sentence ; nonne asks a question with 

 not included, as, nonne vituperas ? dost thou not blame ? 



EXERCISE 17. LATIN-ENGLISH. 



1. Est mihi pulclira alauda. 2. Estne tibi pulchra alauda ? 3. Kea 

 ilauda est pulclira. 4. Estue inea alauda pulchra? 5. Nonne esfc 



