Salvēte, sodālēs.
Open up Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata to page 7, Capitulum Primum.
(A capitulum, by the way, is a ‘chapter’. Primum has a primary meaning of ‘first’, but its meaning can range from ‘the beginning’ to ‘the most important.’ Here it means ‘first’. Capitulum Primum is ‘the First Chapter’.)
from Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata (page 7)
The chapter begins with a lovely illustration, with three features labeled - īnsula, fluvius and oppidum. These words, which identify an island, river and town, have been careful selected by the textbook’s author, Hans H. Ørberg. Each one is an example of a different type of noun.
The four types of nouns met in Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata Chapters 1-8
For completeness, I’ve added nouns that end in -r. We can arrange these four noun types into families. Think of all the nouns that end in -us (fluvius, amīcus, equus, deus) as one type of noun. We will call them -us nouns. These nouns are closely related to the -r nouns (vir, puer). They are so closely related, that we might consider them siblings. -us nouns and -r nouns are masculine*. -um nouns like oppidum belong to the same family as -us and -r nouns, but are not quite so closely related. Lets think of them as cousins. -um nouns are neither feminine nor masculine. The grammatical term for that is ‘neuter’. Lastly, -a nouns (īnsula, amīca, equa, dea) belong to a totally different family. And -a nouns are feminine*.
* Usually. There are exceptions, but we won’t be seeing any for quite a while.
So, what does it mean that -a nouns and -us -r -um nouns belong to two different families? Nothing for now. But I’d like you to remember it for when I bring it up again later. Mostly I’d like you to appreciate that Ørberg has chosen these three words with great care.
Before you go, take a look at the map on page 6 (also below) and create a few Latin sentences of your own using īnsula, fluvius and oppidum. I’ll start: Corsica īnsula est. Nilus est fluvius. Oppidum est Sparta. Enjoy!
