You must complete the following assignments for this lesson:
- Read through the lesson once aloud, from beginning to end.
- Study the lesson for mastery, taking notes.
- Complete the lesson memory work.
- Complete Lesson Examination.
Lesson
The following lessons are to be studied separately as you work through each grammar rule. The lessons should be thoroughly understood and studied for the lesson examination.
1. We have learned that six different things happen to a Noun. These six things are called the “Accidents” of a Noun, from the Latin word accidere meaning “to happen”. It is important to know that every noun has all six of these accidents. Every noun has a gender, a number, a case, a declension, a figure and a kind. We have studied Gender, Number, Case and Declension. In this lesson, we study the last two of the noun accidents: Figure and Kind.
Part 1. Figure
2. By “figure” we mean whether a noun is a simple or compound word. A simple word is one which cannot be divided into a simpler word (or words). For example, the word lighthouse is a compound noun, because it can be divided into light and house. The words light and house are simple nouns. Other compound nouns would include: fireman, blueberry, popcorn and grandmother.
We can understand figure better by thinking of it as a marriage of two words. The Church teaches that in marriage, a man and a woman come together and become one flesh. In the same way, two words come together and become one new compound word. A simple noun is like an unmarried man or woman. A compound word is like a married couple.
Part 2. Kind
3. By “kind” we mean whether a noun is a primitive or derivative word. It is easiest to understand this by first learning what a derivative noun is. A derivative noun is a noun that is formed from another word. What makes a derivative noun different from a compound noun is that the two parts of a compound noun are words that have meaning in themselves, a derivative word consists of a word and some addition that has no meaning of its own. For example, the nouns Christian and Christianity are derivatives of the primitive noun Christ. The addition -ian has no meaning of its own. Other examples of derivative nouns would include: American (America + -n), fatherly (father + -ly), happiness (happy + -ness) and reading (read + -ing).
We can understand kind better by thinking of a father and his child. The child is born to the father. When we meet a child and his father, we can often see marks of the father in the child. He may have his father’s eyes, or his father’s hair color and so on. We say that the child is born “in the image of” his father. In the same way, a primitive word is like a father and a derivative word is like a child. If we know the primitive word, we can see it in the derivative word. A primitive word is like a father. A derivative word is like a child.
What is important about derivative names is that they suggest that something is like its primitive in some way, but is different from it as well. For example, if we say that someone is “childish” we are not saying that he is a child. We are saying that he is in some way like a child, but different in another. This will be important later when you study Dialectic.
USING A DICTIONARY
4. When we learn a new word, it may be impossible to know whether it is simple or compound, or whether it is primitive or derivative. A good dictionary can help us figure this out. When we look up a word in a dictionary, we can learn the etymology of that word. Etymology is the study of the origin of words. Let’s look at an example.
If we look up the word humility in the dictionary, we learn that the word means “the quality of being humble”. The meaning doesn’t tell us whether the word is simple or compound; or whether it is primitive or derivative. To learn this, we look at its etymology. The etymology for the word humility is written like this in the dictionary:
- humility [a. F. humilité, ad. L. humilitatem, f. humilis HUMBLE.]
This looks confusing, but it’s not. What this means is that the word humility is derived from the French word humilite, which is derived from the Latin word humilitatem, which is derived from the Latin word humilis, which means humble. Therefore, the English word humility is derived from the Latin word humilis, which means humble.
We now can see that the word humility is not composed of more than one word, so it is simple in figure. We also see that it is derivative in kind because it is derived from the Latin word humilis.
From now on, take time to look at the etymology of a word when you use a dictionary. It will not only help you understand the meaning of the word and how to pronounce it, but also where the word came from. As a CLAA student, you can use the world’s best English dictionary online for free!
SUMMARY
5. With this lesson, we complete our study of the Accidents of Nouns. You should know, “How many things happen to a Noun Substantive?”. You should understand what we mean by Gender, Number, Case, Declension, Figure and Kind. If not, go back and review your lessons! You don’t need to understand every detail now, but you need to have your Grammar lessons memorized so that we can begin using them and understanding them later on in this course. One of the best ways to do this is to re-take old quizzes and exams and copy out the outline below.
Memory Work
- (Review). How many things happen to a Noun Substantive?
Six things happen to a Noun Substantive: Gender, Number, Case, Declension, Figure and Kind. - What is Figure?
Figure is the difference between a Simple and a Compound word. - How many Figures are there?
Two: Simple, which is compounded of none, as sapiens (wise). Compound, which is compounded of another, as insapiens (not wise), compounded on in (not) and sapiens (wise). - What do you mean by Kind?
The distinction of Primitive and Derivative words. - How many Kinds are there?
Two: Primitive, which is the first and is taken from no others, as Christ, gold; Derivative, which is taken from another, as Christian, golden.
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