{"id":776,"date":"2016-07-30T14:19:14","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T18:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=776"},"modified":"2016-12-14T20:26:01","modified_gmt":"2016-12-15T01:26:01","slug":"%c2%a792-general-principles-of-latin-compounds","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/chapter\/%c2%a792-general-principles-of-latin-compounds\/","title":{"raw":"\u00a792. General Principles of Latin Compounds","rendered":"\u00a792. General Principles of Latin Compounds"},"content":{"raw":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;text-indent: 36pt\">Most Latin compound words and their derivatives can be divided into two classes:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"padding-left: 30px\">In DESCRIPTIVE compounds, the first element (usually an adjective) describes the second (usually a noun). A good example is <b>aequ-i-libr-ium<\/b> (E <i>equilibrium<\/i>), where the first base is the adjective <b>aequus<\/b> (\u201ceven\u201d) and the second is the noun <b>libra<\/b> (\u201cbalance\u201d). Another is <b>mult-i-later-alis<\/b> (E <i>multilateral<\/i>), where the first base is the adjective <b>multus<\/b> (\u201cmany\u201d) and the second is the noun <b>latus<\/b>, <b>lateris<\/b> (\u201cside\u201d). The English compound adjective <i>many-sided<\/i> corresponds closely to <i><i>multilateral.<\/i><\/i>&nbsp;<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"padding-left: 30px\">In DEPENDENT compounds, the first element (typically a noun or adjective) is dependent on the second (usually a verb). For example, <b>carn-i-vor-a<\/b> (E <i>carnivora, carnivores<\/i>) are \u201ceaters of flesh,\u201d and a<b> con-i-fer <\/b>(E <i>conifer<\/i>) is a \u201cbearer of cones.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;text-indent: 36pt\">It doesn\u2019t seem very profitable deciding whether a Latin compound is descriptive or dependent, since we don\u2019t worry about these academic distinctions in English (where <i>housemaid <\/i>is descriptive, but <i>housecleaner<\/i> dependent; <i>homemade<\/i> descriptive, but <i>homemaker<\/i> dependent). In practical terms, it is more important to observe how Latin compounds are formed: the two bases are linked by a <strong>CONNECTING VOWEL<\/strong><b><\/b>, almost<b> <\/b>always<b> -i-<\/b>. That is a principle that was followed throughout the history of Latin, and is still observed today when new Latin loan-words are coined in science or medicine. In some old Latin compounds\u2014especially numerical compounds\u2014a different connecting vowel can be seen, like the <b>-u-<\/b> in <b>quadr-u-ped <\/b>(\u201cfour foot\u201d). Normally, however, it will be <b>-i-<\/b>. No such vowel is needed if there is already a vowel at the juncture of the two bases; therefore <b>magn-anim-us<\/b> (E <i>magnanimous<\/i>), \u201cgreat-spirited,\u201d <b>aequ-anim-itas<\/b> (E <i>equanimity<\/i>), \u201clevel-mindedness,\u201d and<b> bene-fact-or<\/b> (\u201cwell-doer\u201d).<\/p>","rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;text-indent: 36pt\">Most Latin compound words and their derivatives can be divided into two classes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px\">In DESCRIPTIVE compounds, the first element (usually an adjective) describes the second (usually a noun). A good example is <b>aequ-i-libr-ium<\/b> (E <i>equilibrium<\/i>), where the first base is the adjective <b>aequus<\/b> (\u201ceven\u201d) and the second is the noun <b>libra<\/b> (\u201cbalance\u201d). Another is <b>mult-i-later-alis<\/b> (E <i>multilateral<\/i>), where the first base is the adjective <b>multus<\/b> (\u201cmany\u201d) and the second is the noun <b>latus<\/b>, <b>lateris<\/b> (\u201cside\u201d). The English compound adjective <i>many-sided<\/i> corresponds closely to <i><i>multilateral.<\/i><\/i>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px\">In DEPENDENT compounds, the first element (typically a noun or adjective) is dependent on the second (usually a verb). For example, <b>carn-i-vor-a<\/b> (E <i>carnivora, carnivores<\/i>) are \u201ceaters of flesh,\u201d and a<b> con-i-fer <\/b>(E <i>conifer<\/i>) is a \u201cbearer of cones.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;text-indent: 36pt\">It doesn\u2019t seem very profitable deciding whether a Latin compound is descriptive or dependent, since we don\u2019t worry about these academic distinctions in English (where <i>housemaid <\/i>is descriptive, but <i>housecleaner<\/i> dependent; <i>homemade<\/i> descriptive, but <i>homemaker<\/i> dependent). In practical terms, it is more important to observe how Latin compounds are formed: the two bases are linked by a <strong>CONNECTING VOWEL<\/strong><b><\/b>, almost<b> <\/b>always<b> -i-<\/b>. That is a principle that was followed throughout the history of Latin, and is still observed today when new Latin loan-words are coined in science or medicine. In some old Latin compounds\u2014especially numerical compounds\u2014a different connecting vowel can be seen, like the <b>-u-<\/b> in <b>quadr-u-ped <\/b>(\u201cfour foot\u201d). Normally, however, it will be <b>-i-<\/b>. No such vowel is needed if there is already a vowel at the juncture of the two bases; therefore <b>magn-anim-us<\/b> (E <i>magnanimous<\/i>), \u201cgreat-spirited,\u201d <b>aequ-anim-itas<\/b> (E <i>equanimity<\/i>), \u201clevel-mindedness,\u201d and<b> bene-fact-or<\/b> (\u201cwell-doer\u201d).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"Chapter 14: Compound Words in Latin","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[52],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-776","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":589,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2051,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/776\/revisions\/2051"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/589"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/776\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=776"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=776"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}