Making Latin Accessible to Everyone
An Introduction to Latin Nouns
As covered in Case Endings, nouns can be governed by 5 cases. But each case has its own set of endings. This chapter will cover the most common 1st and 2nd Declension nouns and their endings.
First Declension Nouns:
First Declension nouns are almost always feminine and quite possibly are the most common set of nouns found in Latin. For the purposes of this guide, we will be looking at ‘Terra’ meaning ‘Land’ as this is extremely common in charters.
CASE Singular Plural
Nominative Terra Terre Subject
Accusative Terram Terras Object
Genitive Terre Terrarum Of
Dative Terre Terris To/For
Ablative Terra Terris By/With/From
You may notice that some of these noun forms have the same endings. Quite simply, it is up to you to decide which case the noun is referring to in a sentence when translating; however, it should be clear which it is by the context of the sentence.
Second Declension Nouns
Second Declension nouns have two genders: masculine and neuter. Like First Declension nouns, these noun endings are very popular. For this guide, we will be using the masculine noun ‘Dominus’ meaning ‘Lord’ and the neuter noun 'Pratum' meaning 'Meadow'.
Masc. "Dominus"
CASE Singular Plural
Nominative Dominus Domini Subject
Accusative Dominum Dominos Object
Genitive Domini Dominorum Of
Dative Domino Dominis To/For
Ablative Domino Dominis By/With/From
An issue some Latin students come across is how to translate ‘Domine’. Domine is the genitive (or dative) form of the First Declension noun Domina, which means, ‘The Lady’.
None of the case endings of Domina and Dominus overlap and so it should be easy to separate them.
Neuter. "Pratum"
CASE Singular Plural
Nominative Pratum Prata Subject
Accusative Pratum Prata Object
Genitive Prati Pratorum Of
Dative Prato Pratis To/For
Ablative Prato Pratis By/With/From
Let’s examine some Latin sentences using everything we have covered thus far. For the purposes of focusing on nouns, all you need to understand with verbs is the following:
-
(Singular) vowel + t — He/She/It
-
(Plural) vowel + nt — They
Some of the most popular verbs in charters are:
-
Dat— He/She/It Gives
-
Dant — They Give
-
Tenet — He/She/It Holds
-
Tenent— They Hold
When translating the following sentences, be sure to look at the endings and refer to the tables above.
Translate:
-
Tenet messuagium
-
Dant domum
-
Tenent acram
Answers:
-
He holds a messuage
-
They give a house
-
They hold an acre
Note that an adjective describing a noun has the same case, gender, and number as the noun they accompany.
-
Unam acram – one acre
-
Unum denarium – one penny
-
Suo Domino – to/from his lord
Here are some sentences that include singular dative and ablative endings. These end in -o:
-
Dat suum messuagium Philippo
-
Tenent suam acram domino
-
Reddit unum denarium Willelmo
Answers:
-
He gives his messuage to Philip
-
They hold their acre from the Lord
-
He pays one penny to William
Further, here are some more which contain either dative or ablative plural endings. These end in -is:
-
Philippus dat unam acram filiis suis.
-
Willelmus tenet terram serviciis debitis.
-
Predictus Robertus reddit unum denarium dominis.
Answers:
-
Philip gives one acre to his sons
-
William holds land by services owed (feudal obligation)
-
The aforsaid Robert pays one penny to the Lords