Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges
J. B. Greenough, G. L. Kittredge, A. A. Howard, Benj. L. D'Ooge, Ed.

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SECOND DECLENSION (o-STEMS)

[*] 45. The Stem of nouns of the Second Declension ends in ŏ-: as, viro- (stem of vir, man), servo- (stem of servus or servos, slave), bello- (stem of bellum, war).

[*] a. The Nominative is formed from the stem by adding s in masculines and feminines, and m in neuters, the vowel ŏ being weakened to ŭ (see §§ 6. a, 46. N.1).

[*] b. In most nouns whose stem ends in rŏ- the s is not added in the Nominative, but o is lost, and e intrudes before r,¹ if not already present: as, ager , stem agrŏ- ²; cf. puer , stem puero-.

Exceptions: erus , hesperus, iūniperus , mōrus , numerus , taurus , umerus , uterus, vīrus, and many Greek nouns.

[*] c. The stem-vowel ŏ has a variant form ĕ,³ which is preserved in the Latin vocative singular of nouns in -us: as, servĕ, vocative of servus, slave.

[*] Note.--In composition this ĕ appears as ĭ. Thus,—belli-ger, warlike (from bell- o/e-, stem of bellum, war).

[*] 46. Nouns of the Second Declension in -us (-os) and -um (-om) are thus declined:—

servus , M., slave	bellum , N., war	Pompêius , M., Pompey
STEM servo-	STEM bello-	STEM Pompêio-

SINGULAR
		CASE-ENDINGS		CASE-ENDINGS
NOM.	servus (-os）	-us (-os）	bellum	-um	Pompêius
GEN.	servī	-ī	bellī	-ī	Pompêī
DAT.	servō	-ō	bellō	-ō	Pompêiō
ACC.	servum (-om）	-um (-om）	bellum	-um	Pompêium
ABL.	servō	-ō	bellō	-ō	Pompêiō
VOC.	serve	-e	bellum	-um	Pompêī ((--ei ）

PLURAL
NOM.	servī	-ī	bella	-a	Pompêī
GEN.	servōrum	-ōrum	bellōrum	-ōrum	Pompêiōrum
DAT.	servīs	-īs	bellīs	-īs	Pompêīs
ACC.	servōs	-ōs	bella	-a	Pompêiōs
ABL.	servīs	-īs	bellīs	-īs	Pompêīs

[*] Note 1.--The earlier forms for nominative and accusative were -os, -om, and these were always retained after u and v up to the end of the Republic. The terminations s and m are sometimes omitted in inscriptions: as, Cornēlio for Cornēlios , Cornēliom.

[*] Note 2.--Stems in quo-, like equo-, change qu to c before u. Thus, ecus (earlier equos ), equī , equō , ecum (earlier equom ), eque . Modern editions disregard this principle.

[*] 47. Nouns of the Second Declension in -er and -ir are thus declined:—

puer , M., boy	ager , M., field	vir , M., man
STEM puero-	STEM agro-	STEM viro-

SINGULAR
				CASE-ENDINGS
NOM.	puer	ager	vir	------
GEN.	puerī	agrī	virī	-ī
DAT.	puerō	agrō	virō	-ō
ACC.	puerum	agrum	virum	-um
ABL.	puerō	agrō	virō	-ō

PLURAL
NOM.	puerī	agrī	virī	-ī
GEN.	puerōrum	agrōrum	virōrum	-ōrum
DAT.	puerīs	agrīs	virīs	-īs
ACC.	puerōs	agrōs	virōs	-ōs
ABL.	puerīs	agrīs	virīs	-īs

[*] Note.--When e belongs to the stem, as in puer , it is retained throughout; other, wise it appears only in the nominative and vocative singular, as in ager .

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Gender in the Second Declension

[*] 48. Nouns ending in -us (-os), -er, -ir, are Masculine; those ending in -um (-on) are Neuter.

Exceptions: Names of countries and towns in -us (-os） are Feminine: as, Aegyptus , Corinthus . Also many names of plants and gems, with the following: alvus, belly; carbasus, linen (pl. carbasa, sails, N.); colus, distaff; humus, ground: vannus, winnowing-shovel.

Many Greek nouns retain their original gender: as, arctus (F.), the Polar Bear; methodus (F.), method.

[*] a. The following in -us are Neuter; their accusative (as with all neuters) is the same as the nominative: pelagus, sea; vīrus, poison; vulgus (rarely M.), the crowd. They are not found in the plural, except pelagus , which has a rare nominative and accusative plural pelagē .

[*] Note.--The nominative plural neuter cētē, sea monsters, occurs; the nominative singular cētus occurs in Vitruvius.

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Case-Forms in the Second Declension

[*] 49. a. The Locative form of this declension ends for the singular in -ī: as, humī, on the ground; Corinthī, at Corinth; for the plural, in -īs: as, Philippīs, at Philippi (cf. p. 34, footnote).

[*] b. The genitive of nouns in -ius or -ium ended, until the Augustan Age, in a single -ī: as, fīlī, of a son; Pompêī, of Pompey ( Pompêius ); but the accent of the nominative is retained: as, ingĕ'nī, of genius. ⁴

[*] c. Proper names in -ius have -ī in the vocative, retaining the accent of the nominative: as, Vergĭ'lī. So also, fīlius, son; genius, divine guardian: as, audī , mī fīlī, hear, my son.

Adjectives in -ĭus form the vocative in -ie, and some of these are occasionally used as nouns: as, Lacedaemonie, O Spartan.

[*] Note.--Greek names in -īus have the vocative -īe: as, Lyrcīus , vocative Lyrcīe .

[*] d. The genitive plural often has -um or (after v ) -om (cf. § 6. a) instead of -ōrum, especially in the poets: as, deum , superum , dīvom, of the gods; virum, of men. Also in compounds of vir , and in many words of money, measure, and weight: as, Sēvirum, of the Seviri; nummum, of coins; iūgerum, of acres.

[*] e. The original ending of the ablative singular (-ōd) is sometimes found in early Latin: as, Gnaivōd (later, Gnaeō ), Cneius.

[*] f. Proper names in -âius, -êius, -ôius (as, Aurunculêius, Bôī), are declined like Pompêius .

[*] g. Deus (M.), god, is thus declined:—

SINGULAR	PLURAL
NOM. deus	deī (di ī ), dī
GEN. deī	deōrum, deum
DAT. deō	deīs (di īs ), dīs
ACC. deum	deōs
ABL. deō	deīs (di īs ), dīs

[*] Note.--The vocative singular of deus does not occur in classic Latin, but is said to have been dee; deus (like the nominative) occurs in the Vulgate. For the genitive plural, dīvum or dīvom (from dīvus, divine) is often used.

[*] 50. The following stems in ero-, in which e belongs to the stem, retain the e throughout and are declined like puer (§ 47):—

adulter, adulterer;	gener, son-in-law;	puer, boy;
socer, father-in-law;	vesper, evening;	Līber, Bacchus.

Also, the adjective līber, free, of which līberī, children, is the plural (§ 111. a), and compounds in -fer and -ger (stem fero-, gero-): as, lūcifer, morning star; armiger, squire.

[*] a. An old nominative socerus occurs. So vocative puere, boy, as if from †puerus (regularly puer ).

[*] b. Vir, man, has genitive virī; the adjective satur, sated, has saturī; vesper, evening, has ablative vespere (locative vesperī, in the evening).

[*] c. Mulciber, Vulcan, has -berī and -brī in the genitive. The barbaric names Hibēr and Celtibēr retain ē throughout.

[*] 51. The following, not having e in the stem, insert it in the nominative singular and are declined like ager (§ 47):—

ager, field, stem agro-;	coluber, snake;	magister, master;
aper, boar;	conger, sea eel;	minister, servant;
arbiter, judge;	culter, knife;	oleaster, wild olive;
auster, south wind;	faber, smith;	onager (-grus), wild ass;
cancer, crab;	fiber, beaver;	scomber (-brus), mackerel.
caper, goat;	liber, book;

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Greek Nouns of the Second Declension

[*] 52. Greek nouns of the Second Declension end in -os, -ōs, masculine or feminine, and in -on neuter.

They are mostly proper names and are declined as follows in the Singular, the Plural, when found, being regular:—

mȳthos , M.	Athōs , M.	Dēlos , F.	Īlion, N.
fable	Athos	Delos	Ilium

		SINGULAR
NOM.	mȳthos	Athōs (-ō）	Dēlos	Īlion
GEN.	mȳthī	Athō (-ī）	Dēlī	Īliī
DAT.	mȳthō	Athō	Dēlō	Īliō
ACC.	mȳthon	Athōn (-um）	Dēlon (-um）	Īlion
ABL.	mȳthō	Athō	Dēlō	Īliō
VOC.	mȳthe	Athōs	Dēle	Īlion

[*] a. Many names in -ēs belonging to the third declension have also a genitive in -ī: as, Thūcȳdidēs , Thūcȳdidī (compare § 44. b).

[*] b. Several names in -er have also a nominative in -us: as, Teucer or Teucrus . The name Panthūs has the vocative Panthū (§ 81. 3).

[*] c. The genitive plural of certain titles of books takes the Greek termination -ōn: as, Geōrgicōn, of the Georgics.

[*] d. The termination -oe (for Greek -οι) is sometimes found in the nominative plural: as, Adelphoe, the Adelphi (a play of Terence).

[*] e. Greek names in -eus (like Orpheus ) have forms of the second and third declensions (see § 82).