Nouns

The six cases of nouns

Nominative

Used for the subject of the verb. The subject is the person or thing doing the verb. For example

vidua laborat.    the widow works.

‘the widow’ is the subject, as she is doing the verb (working). ‘the widow’ is in the nominative case.

Vocative

Used to call or address someone or something.
For example

O Maria! Oh Mary! O domina! Oh lady! O regina! Oh queen!

The vocative case is usually the same as the nominative.
The second declension masculine has a vocative case that is different from the nominative, which takes ‘-e’ or ‘-i’.
For example

O domine! Oh Lord!

O Georgii! Oh George!

Not all parts of speech have a vocative case.

Accusative

Used for the object of a verb. The object is the person or thing the verb is done to.
For example

domina cartam confirmat.    The lady confirms the charter.

The verb (‘confirms’) is being done to ‘the charter’ – therefore ‘the charter’ is in the accusative.
The accusative is also used after some prepositions.

Genitive

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Used for nouns that are ‘of’ something else and to show possession (who something belongs to).
For example

terra ecclesie.    The land of the church.

‘of the church’ is in the genitive.

filie vidue.    The widow’s daughters. (Literally: the daughters of the widow).

‘of the widow’ is in the genitive.

Dative

Used for nouns that are to or for something.
For example

terram ecclesie do.     I give land to the church.

The verb is ‘I give’ (do). ‘land’ is the object – it is in the accusative. ecclesie, meaning ‘to the church’ is in the dative.

solvimus decem solidos carte.     We pay 10 shillings for a charter.

‘for a charter’ is in the dative.

Ablative

Used for nouns that are by, with or from something.
For example

papa ecclesiam carta confirmat.     The pope confirms the church by a charter.

‘by a charter’ is in the ablative case.
The ablative case is also used after some prepositions.

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First declension nouns

First declension nouns end ‘a’ in the nominative singular and are feminine.

filia, -e (f.) daughter and anima, -e (f.) soul have different endings from carta in the dative and ablative plural. The example of filia is given below; anima declines with the same endings.

filia, -e (f.) daughter

There are a few first declension nouns that are masculine.

These take the same endings as carta.

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Second declension nouns

Second declension nouns ending

• ‘us’, ‘ir’ and ‘er’ are masculine
• ‘um’ are neuter

Masculine ‘us’ ending

This is the only case when the nominative is different from the vocative.

Look out for the following irregularities:
deus, -i (m.) God has the irregular vocative singular deus.

Male names that end ‘ius’ in the nominative, end ‘i’ in the vocative.
For example
Gregorius, -i (m.) Gregory   O Gregorii!   Oh Gregory!

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Masculine ‘er’ ending

1. magister, magistri (m.) master
   This looses its ‘e’ when it is declined.
   faber declines like magister.

2. puer, pueri (m.) boy
   This keeps its ‘e’ when it is declined.
   armiger declines like puer.

Masculine ‘ir’ ending

The only second declension noun ending ‘ir’ is vir, viri (m.) man, husband

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Neuter ‘um’ ending

Third declension nouns

Third declension nouns end ‘-is’ in the genitive singular.

Unlike the first and second declension nouns, you cannot identify third declension nouns in the nominative because they

• Have a variety of forms and spelling
• Have endings that do not reveal their gender
• Can be masculine, feminine or neuter

To decline a third declension noun

• Find the genitive singular, which always ends in ‘-is’
• Remove the ‘-is’, leaving you with the stem
• Add the endings shown below

Masculine and Feminine

Neuter

The endings for rex and jus are the same in the genitive, dative and ablative.

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Exceptions

There are many exceptions to these rules for third declension nouns. It is not possible to list them all here. Your attention is drawn to the following, which you are likely to find in typical historical documents.

1. Some third declension nouns have the genitive plural ending ‘-ium’.
   This happens in
   • Nouns that have the same number of syllables in the genitive and nominative singular
   • Some nouns that have a syllable more in the genitive singular than in the nominative singular

For example

2. Other nouns that have the genitive plural ending ‘-ium’ include

If a noun has an irregular genitive plural, it will be noted in the word list.

3. Neuter nouns that end ‘ium’ in the genitive plural
   • End ‘i’ in the ablative singular
   • End ‘ia’ in the nominative, vocative and accusative plural

For example

The following third declension nouns decline like mare
animal, animalis (n.) animal
calcar, calcaris (n.) spur

4. An irregular third declension noun is turris, turris (f.) tower

When using documents from medieval England, you will often see the phrase
turris Londinii     the Tower of London

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Fourth declension nouns

Fourth declension nouns ending ‘us’ are masculine, apart from manus and domus which are feminine. Fourth declension nouns ending ‘u’ are neuter.

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Fifth declension nouns

These are feminine.
The exception is dies, which is usually masculine when singular and always masculine when plural.