After the fame manner decline focer, -ĕri, a father-inlaw; puer, ĕri, a boy; So Furcifer, a villain; Lucifer, the morning star; adulter, an adulterer; armiger, an armour bearer; presbyter, an elder; Mulciber, a name of the god Vulcan; vefper, the evening; and Iber, -ēri, a Spaniard, the only noun in er, which has the genit. long, and its compound Celtiber, -ēri: Also, vir, viri, a man, the only noun in ir; and its compounds, Levir, a brother-in-law; Semivir, duumvir, triumvir, &c. And likewife Satur, uri, full, (of old faturus,) an adjective.

But most nouns in er lofe the e in the genitive; as,

Alfo, liber, the bark of a tree, or a book, which has libri: but liber, free, an adjective, and Liber, a name of Bacchus, the God of wine, have liběri. So likewife proper names, Alexander, Evander, Periander, Menander, Tencer, Meleager, &c. gen. Alexandri, Evandri, &c.

Exc. I.

Voc. regna,

Abl. regnis.

EXCEPTIONS IN GENDER.

The following nouns in us are feminine; humus, the ground; alvus, the belly; vannus, a fieve.

And the following, derived from Greek nouns in os :

To these add some names of jewels and plants, because

gemma and planta are feminine; as,

Amethyftus, an ame- Sappīrus, a sapphire.
Topazius, a topaz.

thyft.

Chryfolithus, a chry

Leucochryfus, a jacinth.

Byffus, fine flax or

linen.

fan Egyp- Coftus, coftmary.
tian reed Crocus, faffron.
of which Hyssopus, byffop.
paper was Nardus, spikenard.

made.

Other names of jewels are generally mafculine; as, Beryllus, the beryl; carbunculus, a carbuncle; Pyropus, a ruby; Smaragdus, an emerald: And also names of plants; as, Afparagus, afparagus or fparrowgrafs; elleborus, ellebore; raphanus, radish or colewort; intybus, endive er fuccory, &c.

Ecx. 3. Virus, poison; pelagus, the fea, are neuter. Exc. 4. Vulgus, the common people, is either mafcu line or neuter, but oftener neuter.

EXCEPTIONS IN DECLENSION.

Proper names in ius lofe us in the vocative; as, Horatius, Horati; Virgilius, Virgili; Georgius, Georgi, names of men: Larius, Lari; Mincius, Minci, names of lakes. Filius, a fon, also hath fili; genius, one's guardian angel, geni; and deus, a god, hath deus, in the voc. and in the plural more frequently dii and diis, than dëi and deis. Meus, my, an adjective pronoun, hath mi, and sometimes meus in the vocative.

Other nouns in ius have e; as, tabellarius, tabellarie, a letter-carrier; pius, pie, &c. So thefe epithets, Delius, Delie; Tirynthius, Tirynthie; and thefe poffeffives, Laertius, Laertie; Saturnius, Saturnie, &c. which are not confidered as proper names.

The poets fometimes make the voc. of nouns in us like the nom. as, fluvius, Latinus, for fluvie, Latine, Virg. This alfo occurs in profe, but more rarely. Thus, Audi tu populus, for popule._Liv.

The poets alfo change nouns in er into us; as, Evander, or Evandrus, voc. Evander, or Evandre: So Meander, Leander, Tymber, Teucer, &c. and fo anciently puer in the voc. had puere from puerus.

Note. When the gen. fing. ends in ii, the latter i is sometimes taken away by the poets, for the fake of quantity; as tugŭri, for tugurii; ingeni, for ingenii, &c. And in the gen. plur. we find deum, liběrům, fabrum, duûmvirûm, &c. for deorum, liberorum, &c. and in poetry, Teucrum, Graium, Argīvûm, Danaûm, Pelafgûm, &c. for Teucrorum, &c.

GREEK NOUNS.

Os and on are Greek terminations; as, Alpheos, a river in Greece; Ilion, the city Troy; and are often changed into us and um by the Latins; as, Alpheus, Ilium, which are declined like dominus and regnum

Nouns in eos or ëus are fometimes contracted in the genitive; as, Orpheus, gen. Urphëi, Orphei or Orphi. So Theseus, Prometheus, &c. But nouns in cus, when the eu is a diphthong, are of the third declenfion.

Some nouns in or have the gen. fing. in o; as, Androgeos, gen. Androgeo, or -ei, the name of a man; Athos, Atho, or -i, a hill in Macedonia: both which are also found in the third decl. thus, nom. Androgeo, gen. Androgeōnis: So Atho or Athon, onis, &c. Anciently os, in imitation of the Grecks, had the gen. in ; as, Menandru, Apollodoru, for Menandri, Apollodori. Ter.

nouns in

Nouns in os have the acc. in um or on; as, Delus or Delos acc. Delum or Delon, the name of an island.

Some neuters have the gen. plur. in ôn; as, Georgica, gen. plur. Georgicon, books which treat of husbandry, as Virgil's Georgicks.

THIRD DECLENSION.

There are more nouns of the third declenfion than of all the other declenfions together. The number of its final fyllables is not afcertained. Its final letters are thirteen, a, e, i, o, y, c, d, l, n,`r, s, t, x. Of these, eight are peculiar to this declenfion, namely, i, o, y, c, d, l, t, x ; a and e are common to it with the first declenfion; n and r, with the fecond; and s with all the other declenfions. A, i, and y, are peculiar to Greek nouns.

The terminations of the different cafes are these ; nom. fing. a, e, &c; gen. is; dat. i; acc. em; voc. the fame with the nominative; abl. e, or i: nom, acc. and voc. plur. es, a, or ia; gen. um, or ium; dat. and abl. ibus; thus,

Of the GENDER and GENITIVE of Nouns of the Third

Declenfion.

A, E, I, and Y.

1. Nouns in a, e, i, and y, are neuter.

Nouns in a form the genitive in ătis; as, diadēma, diadogma, -ătis, an opinion.

demătis, a crown;

Ænigma, a riddle.
Aroma, Sweet Spices.
Epigramma, an in-

Numifma, a coin.

Apothegma, a foort
pithy faying.

argument.

So,

Axioma, a plain truth.
Diploma, a charter,

Sophifma, a deceitful

Thema, a theme, a

feription.

fubject to write or

Phasma, an apparition.
Роёта, а рост.

Stigma, a mark or

Toreuma, a carved

brand, a difgrace.

veffel.

Schema, a fcheme or

Stratagēma, an artful

Nouns in e change e into is; as, rete, retis, a net.

0.

2. Nouns in are mafculine, and form the genitive in ōnis; as,

fermo, fermonis, fpeech; draco, dracōnis, a dragon.

Exc. 1. Nouns in io are feminine, when they fignify any thing without a body; as, ratio, rationis, reason. But when they mark any thing which has a body, or fignify numbers, they are mafculine; as,