120 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [Proc. 3 d Ser. 



the form of the final member. If the whole is to be a 

 noun, its form will be governed by the following rules : 



ii i. If the final member of a Latin nomen compositum is a 



noun, the compound noun will have the form and gender 

 and inflection of that noun: e. g. 



pro-avus, -i, masc. (av us), great-grandfather ; 

 decem-vir, -i, masc. (vir), decemvir; 

 de-decus, -oris, neut. (decus), disgrace; 

 meri-dies, -ei, fem. (dies), midday; 

 bi-dens, -dentis, masc. (dens) , fork. 



12 2. If the final member of a Latin nomen compositum is a 

 verbal root, the compound noun will be (a) a masculine 



13 noun of the first declension ending in -a, (b) a noun of the 

 third declension: e. g. 



(a) agri-col-a, -ae (ager, field, -f- col-ere, till), 



farmer ; 

 fratri-cid-a, -ae (f rater, brother, -f- caed-ere, 



slay) , fratricide ; 

 lapi-cid-a, -ae (lapis, stone, -\-caed-ere, cut), 



stone-cutter ; 



(b) tibi-cen, -cinis (tibia, fiute, -\-can-ere, sing), 



flute-flayer ; 

 man-ceps, -cipis (manus, hand, -f- capere 



take), contractor ; 

 iu-dex, -dicis (ius, right, -\- die -ere, speak), 



judge. 



14 In forming compound adjectives, the final member, 

 as well as the first, is strongly influenced by the analogy of 

 the i- stems, so that we have compounds with stems in -o- 

 and -a- (nominative singular in -us and -er, masc, -a, fem., 

 -um, neut.), with stems in -i- (nominative singular in -is, 

 masc. and fem., -e, neut.), and with stems ending in a con- 

 sonant (nominative singular in -s, preceded by a consonant, 

 or in -r), according to the following rules : 



