Elementary Latin Grammar

147 Pages·1872·11.243 MB·English

by  J. Donaldson [faint scan]

LATIN GRAMMAR.

ELEMENTARY
LATIN GRAMMAR.
BV
^) JAMES DONALDSON,
LL.D.,
RECTOROFTHEHIGHSCHOOLOFEDINBUECiH.
-1/
LONDON:
T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTEE EOW;
EDINBURGH; ANDNKW YORK.
1872.

PREFACE.
The aim ofthis Grammar is pi'actical. Tliedifficultyin teach-
ing Latin is so to impress the form aud the meauiugat the
sametime ou the memory, tliat the one will at once suggest
the other,eitherintrauslatiugfromLatiu iutoEnglish, orfrom
Euglish iuto Latiu. The coutrivances adopted iu this book for
this pur})0se are these: First, the words that form the iuflec-
tiou are separated from the stems, aud thus special prominence
is given tothem. Secoud, the meaning that theseinflectional
words have iuthe sentence isbrouglitoutas cleailyas possible;
so that as the pupil is advancing, he is learning more aud more
of the structure of sentences, and the peculiai- nature of the
Latin language as comparedwiththat of Euglish. Thirdly, an
attempt is made to make use ofa kiud of repetition which will
not be wearisome.
In employing comparative philology in this book, I have
always kept in view the practical natui-e of tlie woi'k, aud
therefore have given only so much as I have deemed suitable.
In most cases I have stated doubts where doubts exist but iu
;
a few I have said nothing of the matter. Thus I have marked
the stems of the verbs in «, e, and 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 asa euphonic vowel,—though all these points have
beeu doubted.
I have found some difficultyin the use ofgrammatical terms.
The namesof the pai-ts of speech may, unfortunately, be used
for three jnirposes: to deuote the function of theword iu the
VI PREFACE.
sentence, to denote a division 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 has arisen from the ajijili-
cation of grammatical terms appropriately used in an inflected
language, like Latin, to a language that has almost no inflec-
ti(jns, like English. There seems to me no doubt that tl)e
sentence should always be taken as the unit and that conse-
;
<piently grammatical names should be given to the functions of
words in the sentence, not to classes of words by themselves.
Fr(nn this i^oint of view, all the functions of words will be
found to be four; all words being eithersubjector predicate,or
adjuncts to the subject or adjuncts to the predicate. I have
once or twice alluded to this division of functions but I trust
;
that it will be soon worked out more fully in an Enghsh
(Iraramar. For my opinions on this subject I think it but
right to state that I am under great obligations to Mr. Thomas
Nelson, the publisher of this little book; who, it seems to me,
hasseen far into this subject, and who I hope will yet give a
full exposition of his opinions.
In compiling this Grammar I have used most of the i-e-
cent German works, but especially Blume, Meiring, MoUex-,
Scliweizer-Sidler, Dorschel, Gossrau, Neue, and Merguet.
I hope soon to publish an Exercise and Eeadiug Book,
adapted to this little Grammar, and peihai^s a larger Grammar
on the sameplan.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION,
PART I.—THE INFLECTED PARTS OF SPEECH.
.
.,5
1. TheVerb, .. ., .. .. ..
TheIndicativeMood, .. .. .. .. .• 5
TheImperativeMood, .. .. .. .. .. 24
II. The Noun, .. .. .. .. .. .. 26
TheNominative, .. .. .. .. ,.28
TheAccusative, .. .. .. .. .. 3tJ
TheGenitive, .. .. .. .. .. -11
TheDative, .. .. .. .. .. .. 43
TheAblative, .. .. .. .. ..45
TheVocative, .. .. .. .. .. 48
TheFiveDeclensions, .. .. .. .. ..50
III. The Adjective, .. .. .. .. .. ..55
IV. Numerals, .. .. .. .. .. .. CS
V. Pkonouns, .. .. .. .. .. .. C6
PART II.—INDECLINABLE PARTS OF SPEECH.
..72
I. Adverbs, .. .. .. .. ..
..74
II. Prepositions, ,. .. .. .. ..
..75
III. Conjunctions, .. .. .. .. ..
PART III.—VERBAL NOUN AND ADJECTIVE FORMS.
1. Noun Forms of the Verb, ., .. .. ..77
TheInfinitive, .. .. .. .. .. 77
TheSupines, .. .. .. .. .. 79
TheGerund, .. .. .. .. .. .. 80
Vlll CONTENTS.
ir. Adjectival Parts of the Verb, .. 81
Participles, 31
CompoundTensesoftheVerb, .. 83
TheGerundive,
PART IV.—NOUN CLAUSES.
I. The Accusative and Infinitive, .. 87
II. Subjunctive, 83
PART V
GRAMMAR.
LATI]^
INTRODUCTORY.
1. The Latinlanguagewasthelanguagespoken bythepeojile
of Latium, and consequently by the people of Rome. As a
spoken language it existed ata very earlyperiod, but did not,
so far as we know,become the language of literature till the
third century before Christ. The first playexhibited at Eonie
was written in 240 B.C. The period of Roman literature ex-
tending from this date till about 80 B.C. is generally called
the Ante-Classical. The Classical period extends from about
80 B.C. to 20 B.C.; and the principal writers are Cicero, Cjesar,
Sallust, and Livy in prose, and Horace and Virgil in verse.
The Latin language continued to be used for literary purposes
throughout the period of the Roman Empire and the Middle
Ages, and is still sometimes employed in learned and scientific
treatises. Throughout the long time during which Latin has
been used, it hasvaried in its alphabet, its modes of spelling,
its pronunciation, and its grammatical formsand constructions,
at various periods. To present all these in an Elementary
Grammar would confuse the learner: accordingly, the fonns of
the Classicalperiod are selected, and the grammar ofthe Latin
language as itwasused by Cicero isgiven.
2. The Latin language belongs to the class of languages
called inflected. The English also belongs to this class; but
its inflections are not so markedas those of Latin, and have a
tendencyto fall away. The peculiarityofan inflected language