Elementary Latin grammar

148 Pages·4.409 MB·Latin-English

by  Donaldson James.

LATIN GRAMMAR.

ELEMENTAEY
LATIN GRAMMAR
N
JAMES DONALDSON,
LL.D.
RECTOROFTHE HIGHSCHOOLOFEDINBURCiH.
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LONDON:
T. NP:LS0N and sons, PATERNOSTEE EOW;
EDINBURGH ANDNEWYORK.
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1872.
Digitized by tine InternetArcliive
in 2008 witli funding from
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PREFACE.
The aim of this Grammar i3 pi'actical. Tliedifficulty in teach-
ing Latin is so to impress the form aud the meaniugat the
same time ou the memory, tliat the oue will at ouce suggest
the other,either intrauslatiug fromLatin intoEnglish, orfrom
English into Latin. Tlie contrivances adopted in this book f(jr
tliis pur])0se are these: First, the words tliat form the inflec-
tion are separated from the stems, and thus special prominence
is given tothem. Second, the meaning that theseinflectional
words have inthe sentenceisbroughtoutas clearlyaspossible
;
so that as the pupil is advancing, he is learning more aud more
of the structure of sentences, aud the peculiar" nature of the
Latin language as comparedwiththat of English. Thirdly, an
attempt is made t(j make use ofa kind of repetition which will
notbe wearisome.
In employing comparative philology in this book, I have
always kept in view the practical uatui-e of the work, and
therefore have given only so much as I have deemed suitable.
In most cases I have stated doubts where doubts exist but in
;
a few I have said nothing of the matter. Thus I have marked
the stems of the verbs in rt, e, aud i of the fourth conjugation
long ; I have made the e of eba part of the word denotingthe
imperfect; I have assumed the I in the present of the third
conjugation as a euphonic vowel,—though all these points have
been doubted.
I have found some difficultyin the use ofgrammatical teims.
The namesof the parts of speecli may, unfortunately, Ije used
for three purposes: to denote the function of theword in the
VI PREFACE.
scutence, to denote a diviisiou of words according to the mode
of their inflections, and to denote a division of words partly
accoi'ding to their inflections and partly according to their
A
sense. great deal of the difliculty hasarisen from the apj^li-
cition of grammatical terms appropriately nsed in an inflected
language, like Latin, to a language that has almost no inflec-
tions, like English. There seems to me no doubt that the
sentence should always be taken as the unit; and that conse-
•luently grammatical names should be given to the functions of
words in the sentence, not to classes of words by themselves.
From this point of view, all the functions of words will be
found to be four; all words being eithersubjectorpredicate,or
adjuncts to the subject or adjuncts to the predicate. I have
once or twice alluded to this division of functions ; liut I trust
that it will be soon worked out more fully in an English
(Grammar. For my opinions on this subject I think it but
right to state that I am undergreat obligations to Mr. Thomas
Nelson, the publisherof thislittle book; who, it seems to me,
has seen far into this subject, and who 1 hope will yet give a
full exposition of his opinions.
In compiling this Grammar I have used most of the re-
cent German works, but especially Blume, Meiring, MoUer,
Schweizer-Sidler, Dorschel, Gossrau, Neue, and Merguet.
I hope soon to publish an Exercise and Reading Book,
adapted to this little Grammar, and perhaps a larger Grammar
on the same plan.
. ........ ........ ........ ........
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION,
PART I.—THE INFLECTED PARTS OF SPEECH.
.
1. TheVerb, .. .. .. .. .. •• 5
TheIndicativeMood, . . . . .• 5
TheImperativeMood, . . . . .. 24
II. The Noun, .. .. .. .. .. .. 26
The Nominative, .. .. .. .. ..28
TlieAccusative, . . . . .. 36
TheGenitive, . . . . .. 41
TThheeADbaltaitviev,e,. ... ... ... ... ....4453
TheVocative, . . . . .. 48
TheFiveDeclensions, . . . . .. 50
III. The Adjective, .. .. .. .. .. ..55
IV. Numerals, .. .. .. .. .. .. G3
V. Pronouns, .. .. .. .. .. .. C6
PART II.—INDECLINABLE PARTS OF SPEECH.
I. Adverbs, .. .. .. .. .. ..72
II. Prepositions, .. .. .. .. .. ..74
III. Conjunctions, .. .. .. .. .. ..75
PART III.—VERBAL NOUN AND ADJECTIVE FORMS.
I. Noun Forms of the Verb, .. .. .. ..77
TThheeISnufpiinnietsiv,e, ... ... ... ... ....7797
TheGerund, .. .. .. .. .. .. 80
.
CONTENTS.
II. Adjectival Parts of the Verb, .. 81
Participles, SI
CompoundTensesoftlieVerb, . S3
TheGerundive,
PART IV.—NOUN CLAUSES.
I. The Accusative and Infinitive, ..
II. Subjunctive,
PART V.—THE VERB.
Complete Form, .. OS
The Verb Sum, .. 104
The Four Conjuoations, .. 106
Deponent Verbs, .. 119
Semi-Deponent Verbs, .. 123
Irregular Verbs, .. .. 124
Defective Verbs, .. .. 131
ImpersonalVKRB.S, ., .. 133