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61. In Masculine and Feminine nouns with liquid and nasal stems the Nominative is the same as the stem.

Exceptions are the following:—

  1. Stems in ōn- drop n in the nominative: as in legiō , stem legiōn-.
  2. Stems in din- and gin- drop n and keep an original ō in the nominative: as in virgō , stem virgin-.1
  3. Stems in in- (not din- or gin-) retain n and have e instead ofi in the nominative: as in cornicen, stem cornicin-.2
  4. Stems in tr- have -ter in the nominative: as, pater , stem patr-.3

1 These differences depend in part upon special phonetic laws, in accordance with which vowels in weakly accented or unaccented syllables are variously modified, and in part upon the influence of analogy.

2 These differences depend in part upon special phonetic laws, in accordance with which vowels in weakly accented or unaccented syllables are variously modified, and in part upon the influence of analogy.

3 These, no doubt, had originally ter- in the stem, but this had become weakened to tr- in some of the cases even in the parent speech. In Latin only the nominative and vocative singular show the e. But cf.Māspitris andMāspiteris (Mā[r]s-piter), quoted by Priscian as old forms.

Ginn and Company, 1903.

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