Good afternoon (as it is here),
I have occasion to ask about how such substantives as patria, rēgia, and gōgrāvia are derived from their respective adjectives: patrius, rēgius, and gōgrāvius. Of course, neither the suffix -a nor -ā is suffixed to adjectives to form nominals. If such nouns are arrived at by substantivization of one of the declentives of such -ius adjectives, it would have to be of either the nominative singular feminine or the nominative plural neuter, both of which seem like highly unorthodox ways of substantivizing adjectives (the orthodox method, of course, is to use the nominative singular neuter form). I cannot rationalize why the feminine declentive would be used to substantivize an adjective, and to use the plural form seems absurd. I have not thought that adjectives in -ius could take suffixation with -ia, and of course, -ia usually forms abstract nouns, not substantives, but that seems to be the only alternative remaining to explain this. I have not been able to find any authoritative information on this topic from extant sources. May I have some feedback about this from all of you bright people? Thanks much.
I have occasion to ask about how such substantives as patria, rēgia, and gōgrāvia are derived from their respective adjectives: patrius, rēgius, and gōgrāvius. Of course, neither the suffix -a nor -ā is suffixed to adjectives to form nominals. If such nouns are arrived at by substantivization of one of the declentives of such -ius adjectives, it would have to be of either the nominative singular feminine or the nominative plural neuter, both of which seem like highly unorthodox ways of substantivizing adjectives (the orthodox method, of course, is to use the nominative singular neuter form). I cannot rationalize why the feminine declentive would be used to substantivize an adjective, and to use the plural form seems absurd. I have not thought that adjectives in -ius could take suffixation with -ia, and of course, -ia usually forms abstract nouns, not substantives, but that seems to be the only alternative remaining to explain this. I have not been able to find any authoritative information on this topic from extant sources. May I have some feedback about this from all of you bright people? Thanks much.