As you would expect from the parallel nouns that we studied in chapter 2, the base of these adjectives can be determined by removing the – us ending. IF A LATIN ADJECTIVE IS LISTED WITH THE ENDING – us, YOU CAN BE CERTAIN THAT IT BELONGS TO THE 1ST ADN 2ND DECLENSION TYPE. For the sake of brevity, we shall usually refer to words of this type simply as magnus or firmus, assuming the existence of feminine and neuter forms to match the masculine. It will be enough for us to know that most Latin adjectives belong to the same class as magnus, magna, magnum and firmus, firma, firmum. For obvious reasons, then, this very common type is described as an adjective of the first and second declensions, or a 1ST AND 2ND DECLENSION ADJECTIVE.įor the purposes of this course, we seldom have to worry about questions of Latin gender and we can blissfully ignore all problems of adjective-noun agreement, a topic that creates some anguish for students of Latin grammar. If attached to a masculine or neuter noun, an adjective of this type will use second-declension endings, as seen in the examples Caro lus Magnus and magnum opus above. If it modifies a feminine noun, an adjective of this type will use first-declension endings for example, when the adjective firmus, firma, firmum is combined with the feminine noun terra, it creates the phrase terra firma (“firm earth”). These are the three genders of the standard Latin adjective: magnus (m.), magna, (f.), and magnum (n.). A “big page” was a Magna Charta a man known as “Charles the Great”-we call him Charlemagne-had the Latin name of Carolus Magnus a “big work” (the main achievement of one’s life, perhaps) can be described in Latin as a magnum opus. The basic Latin adjective that meant “big” or “great” was a word with the base magn- the ending that followed this base depended on a variety of factors, including the gender of the noun to which the adjective was linked.
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