New Words for Modern Things
A new Latin word still follows the old endings.
How It Works
| Word | Meaning | Declension and gender | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| telephonum | telephone | second, neuter | telephona |
| autocinetum | car | second, neuter | autocineta |
| birota | bicycle | first, feminine | birotae |
| computatrum | computer | second, neuter | computatra |
| aeroplanum | airplane | second, neuter | aeroplana |
Some of the new words are easy to read. Birota is built from a word for two and rota, a wheel. Computatrum comes from computare, to count.
The Vatican publishes a word list for modern things, the Lexicon Recentis Latinitatis, and teachers of spoken Latin use many of its words. Different books sometimes choose different words for the same thing.
Examples (5)
- Marcus telephonum habet.
Marcus has a telephone.
Telephonum is a neuter noun, so the accusative looks like the nominative.
- Iulia birota ad forum it.
Iulia goes to the forum by bicycle.
Birota is the ablative of means.
- Autocinetum meum novum est.
My car is new.
Meum and novum agree with autocinetum.
- Pueri computatro ludunt.
The boys play on the computer.
Computatro is the ablative of means.
- Sacerdos autocineto ad ecclesiam venit.
The priest comes to church by car.
Autocineto is the ablative of means.
How It Connects
Learn This First
These words are built from Latin parts and then decline like ordinary nouns, so Latin words in English and the neuter nouns come first.
Related Patterns
Words in This Pattern
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