Re: Case Systems and Chaos

clayton bartholomew (c.s.bartholomew@worldnet.att.net)
Fri, 07 Nov 1997 01:59:40 +0000

Please pardon this rather tedious post. The following is a
sort of the case endings in Latin. 0 represents null, a vowel
followed by a dash indicates a long vowel. The point of this
sort is to demonstrate that the *ambiguity* in the Latin
case system exceeds that of K. Greek. The data is sorted
by endings. A quick glance will show how many duplicates
(ambiguous forms) there are here. I will probably build a
similar database for K. Greek but I am sure that the
ambiguity will be substantially less.

third nom neut sing 0
third acc neut sing 0
third nom mas sing 0
third nom fem sing 0
secnd nom neut plur a
first nom fem sing a
third acc neut plur a
third nom neut plur a
secnd acc neut plur a
first abl fem sing a-
first gen fem plur a-rum
first acc fem plur a-s
first dat fem sing ae
first gen fem sing ae
first nom fem plur ae
first acc fem sing am
third abl neut sing e
third abl mas sing e
third abl fem sing e
fifth abl fem sing e-
fifth abl fem plur e-bus
fifth dat fem plur e-bus
fifth gen fem sing e-i
fifth dat fem sing e-i
fifth gen fem plur e-rum
third acc mas plur e-s
third acc fem plur e-s
fifth acc fem plur e-s
third nom fem plur e-s
fifth nom fem plur e-s
third nom mas plur e-s
fifth nom fem sing e-s
fifth acc fem sing em
third acc fem sing em
third acc mas sing em
secnd nom mas plur i-
third dat neut sing i-
secnd gen mas sing i-
third dat mas sing i-
secnd gen neut sing i-
third dat fem sing i-
secnd dat mas plur i-s
secnd dat neut plur i-s
first dat fem plur i-s
secnd abl neut plur i-s
secnd abl mas plur i-s
first abl fem plur i-s
third dat mas plur ibus
third abl neut plur ibus
third dat neut plur ibus
fourth abl mas plur ibus
fourth dat mas plur ibus
third dat fem plur ibus
third abl fem plur ibus
third abl mas plur ibus
third gen neut sing is
third gen mas sing is
third gen fem sing is
secnd abl neut sing o-
secnd dat mas sing o-
secnd dat neut sing o-
secnd abl mas sing o-
secnd gen neut plur o-rum
secnd gen mas plur o-rum
secnd acc mas plur o-s
fourth abl mas sing u-
fourth acc mas plur u-s
fourth gen mas sing u-s
fourth nom mas plur u-s
fourth dat mas sing ui-
secnd acc neut sing um
third gen neut plur um
third gen fem plur um
secnd nom neut sing um
secnd acc mas sing um
third gen mas plur um
fourth acc mas sing um
fourth nom mas sing us
secnd nom mas sing us
fourth gen mas plur uum

This may not be chaos but it is a loss of definition, a move
toward uniformity where distinctions are lost that had
been preserved in earlier case systems.

Clay Bartholomew
Three Tree Point