44 Frederic E. Clements 



able working rule might be formulated to the effect that deriva- 

 tives be taken from Latin and compounds from Greek. Linne 1 

 has written as follows upon this point: "Nomina generica ex 

 duobus vocabulis latinis integris & conjunctis composita, vix tol- 

 eranda sunt. Ejusmodi vocabula, graeca lingua pulcherrima 

 sunt; at Latina non facile eadem admittit. Adrnissimus 

 nonnulla vocabula latina, sed non ideo in posterum imitancla 

 sunt." 



THE LAST TERM 



The last term is a noun, adjective, or verbal stem. Accord- 

 ing to the nature of the last term, its form is as follows : 



I. If the last term is a noun, the compound ( I ) will be a noun : 

 angi-portus (*angus, strait, portits, harbor) a narrow street 

 ante-cursor (ante, before, cursor, runner) forerunner, van- 

 guard 



tri-dens (tri, three, dens, tooth) trident 

 nemori-cultrix (nemus, nemoris, forest, cultrix, cultivator) 



forest-lover 



mani-pretium (mamts, hand, prctium, price) workman's pay 

 albo-galerus (albus, white, galerus, hat) white hat of a fla- 



men 



(2) or the compound will be an adjective, appearing in one of 

 three forms: (i) us, a, um; (2) is, e; (3) the form of 

 the noun. 



(a) If the last term belong to the first, second, or fourth 

 declension (stem in -a, -o, and -u, respectively), the 

 compound adjective will regularly take the terminations 

 of the first and second declensions (us, m., a, f., um, n.), 

 or it may take the endings of the third declension (is.. 

 m., f., e, n.) 



in-formis (in, not, forma, form) formless 

 igni-comus (ignis, fire, coma, hair) fiery-haired 

 magni-sonus (magnus, great, sonus, sound) loud-sounding 

 iniilti-znus (multus, many, via, way) having many ways 

 albi-cerus, albi-ceris (albus, white, cera, wax) wax- white 



Philosophia Botanica, 160. 1751. 

 364 



