FIRST DECLENSION (ā-STEMS)

The Stem of nouns of the First Declension ends in ā-. The Nominative ending is -a (the stem-vowel shortened), except in Greek nouns.

Nouns of the first declension are Feminine.

Exceptions: Nouns masculine from their signification: as, nauta, sailor. So a few family or personal names: as, Mūrēna, Dolābella, Scaevola

; also, Hadria, the Adriatic.

a. The genitive singular anciently ended in -āī (dissyllabic), which is occasionally found: as, aulāī. The same ending sometimes occurs in the dative, but only as a diphthong.

An old genitive in -ās is preserved in the word familiās, often used in the combinations pater (māter, fīlius, fīlia) familiās, father, etc., of a family (plur. patrēs familiās or familiārum).

The Locative form for the singular ends in -ae; for the plural in -īs (cf. p. 34, footnote): as, Rōmae, at Rome; Athēnīs, at Athens.

The genitive plural is sometimes found in -um instead of -ārum, especially in Greek patronymics, as, Aeneadum, sons of Æneas, and in compounds with -cŏla and -gĕna, signifying dwelling and descent: as, caelicolum, celestials; Trōiugenum, sons of Troy; so also in the Greek nouns amphora and drachma.

The dative and ablative plural of dea, goddess, fīlia, daughter, end in an older form -ābus (deābus, fīliābus) to distinguish them from the corresponding cases of deus, god, and fīlius, son (deīs, fīliīs). So rarely with other words, as, līberta, freed-woman; mūla, she-mule; equa, mare. But, except when the two sexes are mentioned together (as in formulas, documents, etc.), the form in -īs is preferred in all but dea and fīlia.

Many nouns of the First Declension borrowed from the Greek are entirely Latinized (as, aula, court); but others retain traces of their Greek case-forms in the singular.

There are (besides proper names) about thirty-five of these words, several being names of plants or arts: as, crambē, cabbage; mūsicē, music. Most have also regular Latin forms: as, comēta; but the nominative sometimes has the a long.

Greek forms are found only in the singular; the plural, when it occurs, is regular: as, comētae, -ārum, etc.

Many Greek nouns vary between the first, the second, and the third declensions: as, Boōtae (genitive of Boōtēs, -is), Thūcȳdidās (accusative plural of Thūcȳdidēs, -is). See § 52. a and § 81.