Third declension

Article summary

The third declension is a category of nouns in Latin and Greek with broadly similar case formation—diverse stems, but similar endings. Sanskrit also has a corresponding class (although not commonly termed as third), in which the so-called basic case endings are applied very regularly. In contrast with the first- and second-declension endings, those of the third declension lack a theme vowel (a or o/u in the first and second declensions) and so are called athematic. One distinguishing feature of third-declension nouns is a genitive singular ending of a short vowel and s: Latin "of a king" Greek ( ) "of a hand", and Sanskrit "of the blessed (one)". Another is a dative singular ending of i (short i in Greek, long ī in Latin): "for a king"; χειρ-ί ( ) "for, with the hand". This corresponds to an -e ending in Sanskrit, which might have been a contracted ai or lengthened i: bhagavat-e "for the blessed (one)" Many third-declension nouns, unlike first- or second-declension nouns, show different stems depending on case and number—usually one stem for the nominative singular, and another for the rest of the cases, though some Greek nouns have three stems. Greek stems are often formed by ablaut: Latin "person" and homin-ēs "people"; Greek πατήρ ( ) "father", ( ) "of a father", and ( ), "fathers".…

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