SINGULARIA AND PLURALIA TANTUM
In Lesson 1 I said that the First Declension has always six singular cases and six plural cases. This is mostly true, but there are a few exceptions. I omitted mentioning this point in that lesson in order to simplify the presentation of the subject and focus your mind on the key rules of the topic, and especially the role and function of the cases, which were more important, at that point, than knowing about some exceptions.
I believe this is now a good time for discussing these exceptions.
Every Declension has a few words that are declined only in the singular cases, singularia tantum, and others that are declined only in the plural cases, pluralia tantum. The meaning of "tantum", as you can imagine, is "only"; hence, the terms "singularia tantum" or "pluralia tantum". Some nouns will have a double meaning, a singular meaning quite distinct from the plural meaning as shown in the following example.
Consider the noun: mina, -ae; First Decl. f., sing., meaning "Greek measure of weight"; and minae, -arum, f., pl., meaning "menace, threat". The full declension for Minae (meaning weight) is shown on the left table below, whereas the full deflection of the pluralia tantum meaning of Minae (threat) is shown on the right hand side table below.
Greek measure of weight Menace - Threat
Nom. sing. | - |
| Gen. sing. | - |
| Dat. sing. | - |
| Acc. sing. | - |
| Voc. sing. | - |
| Abl. sing. | - |
| |
Nom. pl. | minae |
Gen. pl. | minarum |
Dat. pl. | minis |
Acc. pl. | minas |
Voc. pl. | minae |
Abl. pl. | minis |
Nom. sing. | mina |
Gen. sing. | minae |
Dat. sing. | minae |
Acc. sing. | minam |
Voc. sing. | mina |
Abl. sing. | mina |
| |
Nom. pl. | minae |
Gen. pl. | minarum |
Dat. pl. | minis |
Acc. pl. | minas |
Voc. pl. | minae |
Abl. pl. | minis |
I will also take this opportunity to write in the personal direct mode, i.e. addressing you directly using the pronouns "you" and "I", because this was the preferential mode of writing by the Classic writers and everyday speech in Rome and the Romanised world. Hence, no third person addressing, like the French "vous" or Italian "lei" instead of "tu". In fact, even to this day when people first get acquainted the norm is to use this third person, until either one takes the initiative to say: "on se tutoir, tu est d'accord?; or to say it in Italian: "ci diamo del tu, d'accordo"?
I start the treatment of singularia and pluralia tantum going back to the First Declension, to catch-up so to speak; and continue up to the Third Declension. When I come to cover the Fourth and Fifth Declensions, module Lesson 4, I will include the listings of singularia and pluralia in that module. I will list those exceptions that are met most frequently in the literature. You ought to learn these examples as you will meet them quite often.
N.B.:
The majority of First Declension pluralia tantum nouns are names of towns. But there are exceptions, so be aware. This brings about a slight complication. Consider the word Syracusae (f. pl.) and Sicilia (f. sing.). The correct expression would be: Syracusae in Sicilia sunt. The verb matches the case of the subject, Syracusae, therefore sunt (pl.) is correct; est (sing) would be wrong, even if Sicilia is singular. It may sound strange to you, but if you think about it, it is logical since you cannot have two Sicilias.
Don't be discouraged by these exceptions. In English you have many pluralia tantum nouns such as: bagpipes, binoculars, bare bones, headphones, knickers, etc.
N.B.: Click on the hyperlinked words to open a new window showing the full declension.