Editing Old Latin (section)

===Nouns===
Latin [[noun]]s have [[grammatical case]], with an ending, or suffix, showing its use in the sentence: subject, predicate, etc. A case for a given word is formed by suffixing a case ending to a part of the word common to all its cases called a [[Word stem|stem]]. Stems are classified by their last letters as vowel or consonant. Vowel stems are formed by adding a suffix to a shorter and more ancient segment called a [[Root (linguistics)|root]]. Consonant stems are the root (roots end in consonants). The combination of the last letter of the stem and the case ending often results in an ending also called a case ending or termination. For example, the stem ''puella-'' receives a case ending ''-m'' to form the accusative case ''puellam'' in which the termination ''-am'' is evident.{{sfn|Bennett|1895|p=12}}

In [[Classical Latin]] textbooks the declensions are named from the letter ending the stem or First, Second, etc. to Fifth. A declension may be illustrated by a [[paradigm]], or listing of all the cases of a typical word. This method is less often applied to Old Latin, and with less validity. In contrast to Classical Latin, Old Latin reflects the evolution of the language from an ancestor spoken in [[Latium]]. The endings are multiple. Their use depends on time and place. Any paradigm selected would be subject to these constraints and if applied to the language universally would give false constructs, hypothetical words not attested in the Old Latin corpus. Nevertheless, the endings are shown below by quasi-classical paradigms. Alternate endings from different stages of development are given, but they may not be attested for the word of the paradigm. For example, in the second declension, *''campoe'' "fields" is unattested, but ''poploe'' "peoples" is attested.

The locative was a separate case in Old Latin but gradually became reduced in function, and the locative singular form eventually merged with the genitive singular by regular sound change. In the plural, the locative was captured by the ablative case in all Italic languages before Old Latin.<ref>{{cite book|page=204|title=A Grammar Of Oscan And Umbrian: With A Collection Of Inscriptions And A Glossary|first=Carl Darling|last=Buck|series=Languages of classical antiquity, vol. 5|location=Bristol, Pa.|publisher=Evolution Publishing|year=2005|orig-year=1904}}</ref>

====First declension (a)====
{| class="wikitable" | align="left" style="margin:1em"
! rowspan="2" |
!colspan="2"| puellā, –ās <br> ''girl, maiden'' f.
|-
! [[Grammatical number|Singular]]
! Plural
|-
! [[Nominative]]
| puellā,<br>puellă  || puellāī
|-
! [[Vocative]]
| puella || puellai
|-
! [[Accusative]]
| puellam || puellās
|-
! [[Genitive]]
| puellās,<br>puellāī,<br>puellais || puellom,<br>puellāsōm
|-
! [[Dative]]
| puellāi || rowspan="2" |puelleis, <br>puellābos
|-

|-
! [[Ablative]]
| puellād
|-

|-
! [[Locative]]
| (Rōmai) || (Syrācūseis)
|}

The [[Word stem|stems]] of [[noun]]s of this [[declension]] usually end in -ā and are typically feminine.{{sfn|Buck|1933|pp=174–175}} A nominative case ending of -s in a few masculines indicates the nominative singular case ending may have been originally -s: ''paricidas'' for later ''parricida'', but the -s tended to get lost.{{sfn|Wordsworth|1874|p=45}} In the nominative plural, -ī replaced original -s as in the genitive singular.{{sfn|Buck|1933|p=177}}

In the genitive singular, the -s was replaced with -ī from the second declension, the resulting diphthong shortening to -ai subsequently becoming -ae.{{sfn|Buck|1933|pp=175–176}} The original form is maintained in some formulas, e.g. ''pater familiās''. The genitive plural ending -āsōm (classical -ārum following [[Rhotacism (sound change)|rhotacism]]), borrowed from the pronouns, began to overtake original -om.{{sfn|Buck|1933|p=177}}

In the dative singular the final i is either long{{sfn|Wordsworth|1874|p=48}} or short.{{sfn|Buck|1933|p=176}} The ending becomes -ae, -a (Feronia) or -e (Fortune).{{sfn|Wordsworth|1874|p=48}}

In the accusative singular, Latin regularly shortens a vowel before final m.{{sfn|Buck|1933|p=176}}

In the ablative singular, -d was regularly lost after a long vowel.{{sfn|Buck|1933|p=176}} In the dative and ablative plural, the -abos descending from Indo-European *-ābhos{{sfn|Buck|1933|p=172}} is used for feminines only (''deabus''). *-ais > -eis > -īs is adapted from -ois of the o-declension.{{sfn|Palmer|1988|p=242}}

The vocative singular had inherited short -a. This later merged with the nominative singular when -ā was shortened to -ă.{{sfn|Buck|1933|p=176}}

The locative case would not apply to such a meaning as ''puella'', so Roma, which is singular, and Syracusae, which is plural, have been substituted. The locative plural has already merged with the -eis form of the ablative.

====Second declension (o)====
{| class="wikitable" clear="left" style="margin:1em"
! rowspan="2" |
!colspan="2"| campos, –ī <br> ''field, plain'' m.
!colspan="2"| saxom, –ī <br> ''rock, stone'' n.
|-
! Singular || Plural
! Singular || Plural
|-
! Nominative
| campos || rowspan="2" | campei < campoi || rowspan="2" | saxom || saxā,<br>saxă
|-
! Vocative
| campe || saxă
|-
! Accusative
| campom || campōs || saxom || saxā,<br>saxă
|-
! Genitive
| campī || campōm || saxī || saxōm
|-
! Dative
| campō || rowspan="3" | campeis < campois || saxō || rowspan="3" | saxeis < saxois
|-
! Ablative
| campōd || saxōd
|-
! Locative
| campei|| saxei
|}

<!--This isn't an alphabetic item scheme, it is stem-ending scheme, so leave it. We have an a and we have an o and we have a c for consonant, not an a, b, c.-->
The stems of the nouns of the o-declension end in ŏ deriving from the o-grade of [[Indo-European ablaut]].{{sfn|Buck|1933|p=173}} Classical Latin evidences the development ŏ > ŭ. Nouns of this declension are either masculine or neuter.

Nominative singulars ending in -ros or -ris [[Syncope (phonology)|syncopate]] the ending:{{sfn|Buck|1933|pp=99–100}} *agros > *agrs > *agers > *agerr > ''ager''. (The form ''terr'' "three times" for later ''ter'' < *tris appears in [[Plautus]].)

Many alternative spellings occur:
*As mentioned above, the sound change -ei > -ẹ̄ > -ī leads to many variations, including the reverse spelling ''ei'' for ''ī''. This spelling eventually appears in the genitive singular as well, though ''-ī'' is earliest and the true ending; cf. ''populi Romanei'', "of the Roman {{nowrap|people."<ref>Lindsay (1894), p. 383.</ref>}}, with both spellings in the same inscription.
*Likewise, the sound changes -os > -us and -ōm > -om > -um affect the nominative and accusative singular, and the genitive plural.
*One very early text, the [[Lapis Satricanus]], has genitive ''-osio'' (an ending found in several other archaic languages descended from [[Proto-Indo-European]] [PIE], languages such as Vedic Sanskrit, Old Persian, and Homeric Greek) rather than ''-ī''<ref>Weiss, M. (2020). Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin, 2nd ed. Beech Stave: Ann Arbor.</ref> (an ending appearing only in [[Italo-Celtic]]).{{citation needed|reason=If it is only one text then it probably is [[Lapis Satricanus]] which is "in Old Latin or a closely related dialect"|date=June 2017}}. This form also appears in the closely related [[Faliscan language]].
*In the genitive plural, ''-um'' (from PIE ''*-ōm'') survived in classical Latin "words for coins and measures";{{sfn|Buck|1933|p=182}} otherwise it was eventually replaced by ''-ōrum'' by analogy with 1st declension {{nowrap|''-ārum''}}.
*The nominative/vocative plural masculine ''-ei'' comes from the PIE pronominal ending ''*-oi''. The original ending ''-oi'' appears in a late spelling in the word ''poploe'' (i.e. "poploi" = ''populī'' "people") in [[Sextus Pompeius Festus]].<ref name="sihler">Sihler (1995), ''A New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin''.</ref>
*The dative/ablative/locative plural ''-eis'' comes from earlier ''-ois'', a merger of PIE instrumental plural ''*-ōis'' and locative plural ''*-oisu''. The form ''-ois'' appears in [[Sextus Pompeius Festus]] and a few early inscriptions.
*The [[Praeneste Fibula]] has dative singular ''Numasiōi'', representing PIE *-ōi.
*A number of "provincial texts" have nominative plural ''-eis'' (later ''-īs'' from 190 BC on{{sfn|Wordsworth|1874|p=56}}), with an added ''s'', by some sort of analogy with other declensions. Sihler (1995)<ref name="sihler"/> notes that this form appears in literature only in pronouns and suggests that inscriptional examples added to nouns may be artificial (i.e. not reflecting actual pronunciation).
*In the vocative singular, some nouns lose the ''-e'' (i.e. have a zero ending) but not necessarily the same as in classical Latin.{{sfn|Buck|1933|p=181}} The ''-e'' alternates regularly with ''-us''.<ref>{{cite book|title=An introduction to vulgar Latin |first=Charles Hall |last=Grandgent|page=89|location=Boston|publisher=D.C. Heath & Co.|year=1908|orig-year=1907|series=Heath's modern language series}}</ref>

====Third declension (consonant/i)====
{| class="wikitable" align="left" style="margin:1em"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2"| rēx, rēges <br> ''king'' m.
! colspan="2"| ignis -is <br> ''fire'' m.
|-
! Singular
! Plural
! Singular
! Plural
|-
! Nominative
| rowspan="2" | rēx || rowspan="2" | rēgeīs,<br>rēgīs,<br>rēgēs,<br>rēgĕs
| rowspan="2" | ignis,<br>ignes || rowspan="2" | igneīs,<br>ignēs,<br>ignīs,<br>ignĕs
|-
! Vocative
|-
! Accusative
| rēgem || rēgeīs,<br>rēgīs,<br>rēgēs
| ignim || igneīs,<br>ignēs,<br>ignīs
|-
! Genitive
| rēges,<br>rēgis,<br>rēgos,<br>rēgus|| rēgom,<br>rēgum,<br>rēgerum
| ignis || igniom,<br>ignium
|-
! Dative
| rēgei,<br>rēgī,<br>rēgē,<br>rēgĕ || rowspan="2" | rēgebus,<br>rēgebūs,<br>rēgibos,<br>rēgibus
| igni,<br>igneī,<br>ignē || rowspan="2" | ignebus,<br>ignebūs,<br>ignibos,<br>ignibus
|-
! Ablative
| rēgīd,<br>rēgĭd,<br>rēgī,<br>rēgē,<br>rēgĕ
| ignīd,<br>ignĭd,<br>ignī,<br>ignē,<br>ignĕ
|-
! Locative
| rēgī || rēgebos
| ignī || ignibos
|-
! Instrumental
| rēge ||
| igne ||
|}

This declension contains nouns that are masculine, feminine, and neuter. The stem ends in the root consonant, except in the special case where it ends in -i (i-stem declension). The i-stem, which is a vowel-stem, partly fused with the consonant-stem in the pre-Latin period and went further in Old Latin.{{sfn|Buck|1933|p=197}} I/y and u/w can be treated as either consonants or vowels; hence they are [[semi-vowel]]s. Mixed-stem declensions are partly like consonant-stem and partly like i-stem. Consonant-stem declensions vary slightly depending on which consonant is root-final: stop-, r-, n-, s-, etc.{{sfn|Buck|1933|pp=185–193}} The paradigms below include a stop-stem (reg-) and an i-stem (igni-).

For a consonant declension, in the nominative singular, the -s was affixed directly to the stem consonant, but the combination of the two consonants produced modified nominatives over the Old Latin period. The case appears in different stages of modification in different words diachronically.{{sfn|Wordsworth|1874|pp=67–73}} The Latin neuter form (not shown) is the Indo-European nominative without stem ending; for example, cor &lt; *cord "heart".{{sfn|Buck|1933|p=185}}

The genitive singular endings include ''-is &lt; -es'' and ''-us &lt; *-os''.{{sfn|Bennett|1895|p=117}} In the genitive plural, some forms appear to affix the case ending to the genitive singular rather than the stem: {{nowrap|''regerum'' &lt; *''reg-is-um''.{{sfn|Roby|1872|p=162}}}}

In the dative singular, -ī succeeded -eī and -ē after 200 BC.

In the accusative singular, -em &lt; *-ṃ after a consonant.{{sfn|Bennett|1895|p=117}}

In the ablative singular, the -d was lost after 200 BC.{{sfn|Allen|1897|p=9}} In the dative and ablative plural, the early poets sometimes used -būs.{{sfn|Bennett|1895|p=117}}

In the locative singular, the earliest form is like the dative but over the period assimilated to the ablative.{{sfn|Gildersleeve|Lodge|1900|p=18}}

In the instrumental singular, the earliest form is an -e during its early days.

====Fourth declension (u)====
The stems of the nouns of the u-declension end in ŭ and are masculine, feminine and neuter. In addition there is a ū-stem declension, which contains only a few "isolated" words, such as ''sūs'', "pig", and is not presented here.{{sfn|Buck|1933|pp=198–201}}
{| class="wikitable" 
! rowspan="2" |
!colspan="2"| senātus, –uos <br> ''senate'' m
|-
! [[Grammatical number|Singular]]
! Plural
|-
! [[Nominative]]
| rowspan="2" | senātus || rowspan="3" | senātūs
|-
! [[Vocative]]
|-
! [[Accusative]]
| senātum
|-
! [[Genitive]]
| senātuos,<br>senātuis,<br>senātī,<br>senātous,<br>senātūs || senātuom,<br>senātum
|-
! [[Dative]]
| senātuī || rowspan="2" | senātubus,<br>senātibus
|-
! [[Ablative]]
| senātūd,<br>senātud
|-
! [[Locative]]
| senāti || 
|}

====Fifth declension (e)====
The 'e-stem' declension's morphology matches the Classical language very nearly.

{| class="wikitable" align="left" style="margin:1em"
! rowspan="2" |
!colspan="2"| rēs, reis <br> ''thing'' f.
|-
! [[Grammatical number|Singular]]
! Plural
|-
! [[Nominative]]
| rēs,<br>reis || rowspan="3" | rēs 
|-
! [[Vocative]]
| rēs
|-
! [[Accusative]]
| rem
|-
! [[Genitive]]
| rēis,<br>rēs || rēsom 
|-
! [[Dative]]
| reī || rowspan="2" | rēbos
|-
! [[Ablative]]
| rēd
|-
! [[Locative]]
| || 
|-
! [[Instrumental]]
| rē
|}
{{clear}}