68.-EXCEPTIONS IN GENDER.

Exc. 1. Of nouns ending in us, the names of plants, towns, islands, and precious stones, with few exceptions, are feminine, (45-2.)

Obs. In many cases, where the name of a tree ends in us, fem., there is a form in um denoting the fruit of the tree; as, cerăsus, cerăsum; mālus, mālum ; mõrus, mōrum ; pìrus, pìrum ; prūnus, prūnum; põmus, pōmum. But ficus means both a fig-tree, and a fig.

Exc. 2. Besides these, only four words, originally Latin, are feminine; viz, alvus, the belly; colus, the distaff; humus, the ground; and vannus, a winnowing fan.

Exc. 3. Virus, juice, poison; and pelagus, the sea, are neuter, and have the accusative and vocative like the nominative. Vulgus, the common people, is both masculine and neuter. Pampinus, a vine branch, is rarely feminine, commonly masculine.

Exc. 4. Many Greek nouns in us, are feminine, especially compounds of idos; as, methodus, periodus, &c. So also, biblus, papirus, diphthongus, paragraphus, diametrus, perimetrus.

EXCEPTIONS IN DECLENSION.

69.-Exc. 5. The Vocative Singular. 1st. Proper names in ius lose us in the vocative; as, Virgilius, V. Virgili; except Pius, which has Pie.

In like manner, filius, a son, has fili; and genius, one's guardian angel, has geni. But other common nouns in ius, and such epithets as Delius, Saturnius, &c., not considered as proper names, have ie. Also proper names in ius, from

Greek nouns in 80s, have ie.

2d. Deus has deus in the vocative, and in the plural more frequently dii and diis, (sometimes contracted di and dis,) than dei and deis. Meus, my, has the vocative mi, sometimes

meus.

70.-Obs. The poets, sometimes, make the vocative of nouns in us, like the nominative, which is seldom done in prose. Sometimes, also, they change nouns in er into us; as, Evander or Evandrus; in the vocative, Evander or Evandre.

71.-Exc. 6. The Genitive Singular.-Nouns in ius and ium, in the purest age of the Latin language, formed the genitive singular in i, not in ii, both in prose and verse; as, fili, Tulli, ingeni; they are now frequently written with a circumflex; thus, filî, Tulli, ingeni; for, filii, Tullii, &c.

72.-Exc. 7. The Genitive Plural.-Some nouns, especially those which denote value, measure, weight, commonly form the genitive plural in ûm, instead of ōrum; as, nummum, sestertium, &c. The same form occurs in other words, espe cially in poetry; as, deûm, Danăûm, &c.; also, divom is used for divōrum.

73.-DEUS, a god, is thus declined:

GREEK NOUNS.

74.-Greek nouns in os and on, are often changed into us and um; as, Alpheos, Alpheus; Ilion, Ilium: and those in ros, into er; as, Alexandros, Alexander. When thus changed, they are declined like Latin nouns of the same terminations. Otherwise,

Greek nouns are thus declined:

ANDROGEOS, Masc; DELOS, Fem.-BARBITON, a lyre, Neut.

75.—Some nouns in os, anciently had the genitive in u; as, Menandru. Panthu occurs in Virgil, as the vocative of Panthus. Proper names in eüs are declined like dominus, but have the vocative in eus, and sometimes con tract the genitive singular; as, Orpheï into Orphei, or Orphi. Proper names in which eu is a diphthong, are of the third declension. Other nouns, also, are sometimes of the third declension; as, Androgeo, Androgeonis.

Tell the case and number of the following words, and translate them accordingly :-Puĕri, dominorum, domino, puĕro, puĕrum, puĕros, libri, libris, librum, libro, dominis, domine, regnum, regna, regnōrum-ventus, vento, ventum-oculus, oculōrum-filii, fili, filiis, filios.

Translate the following words into Latin :-To a boy, from a boy, O boy, Ŏ boys, of boys; books, of books, for books, in books, with a book; a lord, from a lord, to a lord, of lords, the lords; of a kingdom, the kingdom, to the kingdoms; to the winds of heaven, lords of the soil, &c., ad libitum.

§ 11. THE THIRD DECLENSION. 76.-Nouns of the third declension are very numerous; they are of all genders, and generally increase one syllable in the oblique cases. Its final letters, in the nominative, are thirteen, a, e, i, o, y, c, d, l, n, r, s, t, x. Of these, a, i, y, are

peculiar to Greek nouns.

Obs. A noun is said to increase, when it has more syllables in any case than it has in the nominative.

77.-GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

1. In this declension, the nominative and vocative of masculine and feminine nouns are always alike. As the final syllables of the nominative are very numerous, a dash (—) supplies their place in the preceding table. Neuter nouns come under the general rule, (57-1).

2. All nouns of this declension are declined by annexing the above case-endings, or terminations to the root.

3. The Root consists of all that stands before is in the genitive (56), and remains unchanged throughout. Hence, when the genitive case is found, the cases after that are alike in all nouns, except as noticed hereafter. In most nouns of this declension, the root does not appear in full form in the nominative, nor in the vocative singular. See 78, 80, 81.

4. The genitive singular of nouns, in this declension, will be most easily learned from the Dictionary, as all rules that can be given are rendered nearly useless by the number of exceptions under them.

5. In the following examples, the root and terminations are separated by a hyphen (-), in order to show more distinctly the regularity of the declension. This being mentioned, it will occasion no difficulty, though standing, as it often does, in the middle of syllables; as, pá tr-is.

78.—§ 12. EXAMPLES OF THE THIRD DECLENSION.

NOTE. Homo, nemo, Apollo, and turbo; also, cardo, ordo, margo, and likewise, nouns in do and go, of more than two syllables, change o into i before the terminations; as, Homo, hominis; Cupido, Cupidinis; imago, imaginis. But Comedo, unědo, and harpago, retain o; as, Comedo, comedonis. Anio and Nerio change o into e; as, Anio, Anienis; and cŭro has carnis, by syncope for caronis.