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Lesson 4 Index printable pages
4.1 : Stem and endings
a) I must confess that the way I have been applying to nouns the terms stem and endings is as inaccurate (in terms of historical linguistics) as the way I have used them for verbs.
When studying the second declension, for the sake of simplicity, I have called "ending" the second part of the noun, which strictly speaking includes a vowel that belongs to the stem: the vowel ο. The reason is that when the stem and the original endings are juxtaposed, in some cases, changes result that make it difficult to separate the two elements.
For the second declension, the "endings" are:
|
Case |
Singular |
Plural |
|
nom |
Masc -ος Neuter -ον |
Masc -οι Neuter -α |
|
gen |
-ου |
-ων |
|
dat |
-ῳ |
-οις |
|
acc |
-ον |
Masc -ους Neuter -α |
|
voc |
Masc -ε Neuter -ον |
Masc -οι Neuter -α |
In this chart the "ending" borrows
the vowel
o (and its
transformations) which is actually the last element of the stem. If we
return the vowel to its rightful possessor, the stem, we will define it as,
e.g.,
λογο-,
διδασκαλο-,
δωρο-,
etc.
|
(Real) stems of the second declension end in the vowel ο |
Now we can make a swift transition
to the first declension, to contrast it with the second:
|
(Real) stems of the first declension end in the vowels η or α |
Let us contrast the Genitives,
tell-tales, as you know, of the declension to which a noun belongs:
|
The Genitive of the second
declension ends in -ου.
|