Masculine and feminine fourth declension nouns
Basic paradigm
manus, manus. nf., hand.
| Case |
Singular |
Plural |
| Nominative |
manus |
manus |
| Genitive |
manus |
manuum |
| Dative |
manui, manu |
manibus, (manubus) |
| Accusative |
manum |
manus |
| Ablative |
manu |
manibus, (manubus) |
| Locative |
mani |
manibus, (manubus) |
| Vocative |
manus |
manus |
The -ubus endings in the dative, ablative and locative
plurals
are used for acus, arcus, quercus, tribus,
and usually for lacus and portus. The -ibus
ending
is used for most other fourth declension nouns.
Some examples
- acus, -us. nf., needle.
- aestus, -us. nm., heat.
- anus, -us. nf., crone, hag, old woman.
(Not to be unintentionally confused with anus, -i which means
something entirely different.)
- arcus, -us. nm., bow.
- artus, -us. nm., joint, limb.
- cantus, -us. nm., song.
- condus, -us. nm., shopkeeper.
- cultus, -us. nm., civilization.
- domus, -us (-i). nf., house, home. (Usually
declension 4, but sometimes declension 2.)
- exercitus, -us. nm., army.
- fructus, -us. nm., enjoyment, profit,
fruit produce.
- gradus, -us. nm., step, pace.
- Idus, -uum. nf. pl., Ides. (as in
``Beware the Ides of March!'')
- lacus, -us. nm., lake.
- magistratus, -us. nm., magistrate.
- manus, -us. nf., hand.
- metus, -us. nf., fear, dread.
- porticus, -us. nf., colonnade.
- portus, -us. nm., harbor.
- quercus, -us. nf., oak.
- senatus, -us. nm., senate.
- sexus, -us. nm., sex, gender.
- sinus, -us. nm., indentation, fold,
curve, (math.) sine. (This noun should not be confused with sinus,
-i which refers to a large drinking cup.)
- cosinus, -us. nm., (math.) cosine.
- tonsus, -us. nm., haircut.
- tribus, -us. nf., tribe.
Borrowed words of dubious origin and usage
When Latin borrows nouns, say from Greek, or perhaps through a time
warp
from English, these nouns may have somewhat creative declensions. Humez
and Humez give the following:
- bozo, bozus. nm., clown.
By the way, both Webster's New World Dictionary and the
American Heritage
Dictionary indicate that the English slang word ``bozo'' is of obscure
origin. (In short, Humez and Humez were probably being very
creative!)
Masculine abstract nouns (Supines)
These are are all verbal nouns called supines. Generally in
Latin, the
supine is restricted to accusative and ablative fourth declension
forms. A
few supines exist in other cases as well. In the nominative, these take
the
form of the perfect passive participle, but they are present active in
meaning.
- adventus, -us. nm., approach, arrival.
(from advenio, -venire, -veni, -ventus. arrive.)
- casus, -us. nm., chance, case, falling.
(from cado, -ere, cecidi, casurus. fall.)
- census, -us. nm., census. (from censeo,
-êre, -ui, -us. expect, tax, register.)
- coitus, -us. nm., sexual intercourse.
(from coeo, -ire, -ii, -iturus. (irreg.) meet,
mate.)
- cruciatus, -us. nm., torture. (from crucio
(1). torture.)
- flatus, -us. nm., wind. (from flo
(1). blow.)
- fletus, -us. nm., weeping. (from fleo,
flêre, flexi, fletus. weep.)
- fremitus, -us. nm., (loud) grumbling,
muttering. (from fremo, -ere, -ui, -itus.. complain loudly
about.)
- motus, -us. nm., motion. (from moveo,
-êre, movi, motus.. move.)
- prospectus, -us. nm., view, prospect.
(from prospicio, -spicere, spexi, -spectus. contemplate.)
- reditus, -us. nm., return. (from redeo,
redire, redi(v)i, rediturus. return.)
- sensus, -us. nm., sensation, feeling.
(from sentio, sentire, sensi, sensus. sense, perceive.)
- sonitus, -us. nm., sound, noise, din.
(from sono, sonare, sonui, sonitus. sound.)
- spiritus, -us. nm., breath, soul,
enthusiasm. (from an older form of spiro (1). breathe.)