Formation of Latin verbs from adjectives.

[Michael Zwingli]

Hi, again. Hope everyone is well.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I am under the impression that, as a rule, first and second declension adjectives yield first conjugation verbs in Latin by appending with -ō (e.g. aeternō from aeternus). I am wondering about the formation of verbs from Latin third declension adjectives in -is. I know that such third declension adjectives can form first conjugation verbs through suffixation with -itō (e.g. habilitō from habilis and dēbilitō from dēbilis), and believe that they do not take -ō as a rule. Is there any other way that verbs are formed in Latin from third declension adjectives? If so, what conjugation of verb would so derive? Thanks.

 

[Bitmap]

I think in classical Latin, the 1st conjugation was the only productive one.

 

[Michael Zwingli]

Should I consider, then, that second (e.g. moneō), third (e.g. tegō) and fourth (e.g. audiō) conjugation verbs were all taken in that form from Proto-Italic, and that no formation of such verbs was made via suffixation within Latin? Also, that in deriving verbs from adjectives: whatever the declension of the adjective, the resultant verb was of the first conjugation if formed within Latin?

 

[Bitmap]

and that no formation of such verbs was made via suffixation within Latin

I don't know what you mean by that.

Also, that in deriving verbs from adjectives: whatever the declension of the adjective, the resultant verb was of the first conjugation if formed within Latin?

Yes.

Usually, adjectives are derived from verbs, though, not the other way round.

 

[Michael Zwingli]

I don't know what you mean by that.

By that, I was asking whether I should think that 2nd, 3rd and 4th conjugation verbs were not produced within Latin itself, but rather descended into Latin from Proto-Italic and IE. I guess that seems to be the case, though, if Latin produced only verbs of the 1st conjugation (at least in the grantedly unusual case of verbs deriving from adjectives). Hey thanks, Bitmap.

 

[Bitmap]

By that, I was asking whether I should think that 2nd, 3rd and 4th conjugation verbs were not produced within Latin itself, but rather descended into Latin from Proto-Italic and IE. I guess that seems to be the case, though, if Latin produced only verbs of the 1st conjugation (at least in the grantedly unusual case of verbs deriving from adjectives). Hey thanks, Bitmap.

I don't really know when "Latin" itself started ... I am not an expert for the diachronic perspective. I can only tell you about the reality of classical Latin.

 

[Michael Zwingli]

Nor do I...but I do know that you just added a new word to my vocabulary: "diachronic", which I am always grateful for. Thank you.

 

[Bitmap]

Well, there's diachronic linguistics which usually looks at the development of a language over some time, and there's synchronic linguistics, which usually looks at language at a particular point of time and analyses it more deeply.

 

[Serenus]

Should I consider, then, that second (e.g. moneō), third (e.g. tegō) and fourth (e.g. audiō) conjugation verbs were all taken in that form from Proto-Italic, and that no formation of such verbs was made via suffixation within Latin? Also, that in deriving verbs from adjectives: whatever the declension of the adjective, the resultant verb was of the first conjugation if formed within Latin?

I think you'd do well reading the section on Derivation of Verbs in Allen & Greenough's grammar. The answer is "that's not correct" for both of your questions. As you can see there, a lot of verbs continued to be derived via a longer sort of suffix like -(i)tāre or -scere or -turīre. Just note that their analysis is synchronic, not diachronic, and various of those suffixes were not productive, especially -ēre and -uere.

Aside from what A&G say, I'd like to note that -īre continued to have some derivational power in spoken Latin (though much, much lower than -āre), see for example the verb blanchir in French, derived from *blank-us/a/um 'white', a Germanic borrowing. Spoken Latin eventually also developed a new -iāre/-eāre suffix that you see all over the place in Romance.

 

[Michael Zwingli]

Thanks, Serenus. I'll have to get a copy of A&G; all I have used is Wheelock's. Thanks as well for reinforcing the use of "diachronic" for me (love the word)!