Root of PoS

YE OLDE CURIOSITY: ROOT OF PARTS OF SPEECH

Where do the names for the Parts of Speech come from?

You guessed it, from Latin; but where did Latin derive it from?

You may find the following reading interesting.

Article derives from the word articulus. Now, articulus is a diminutive of the 4a Decl. noun artus, -us, m., which means limb. Hence articulus, in the medical context, means a small limb attached to the body. But in the grammatical context of Latin, and all the other languages, article means something that is attached to the noun in the same way that limbs are attached to the body. Hence, an article never stands alone, it always needs a noun; grammarians say, "it accompanies" the noun. Hence: the apple, the rose, the man, etc.

Substantive derives from substantivus, -a, -um, which means "substance". The word is an adjective (of the first class), and adjectives cannot stand by themselves, they qualify a noun therefore they go next to the noun, either before or after the noun, but adjacent to it. There seems to be an apparent contradiction; I said "apparent", because the full definition ought to be substantivus verbum, now you have the adjective (substantivus) qualifying the noun (verbum) which means word, hence a word of substance, and if it is a word of substance it can stand on its own, hence it is a noun.

Adjective derives from adiectivus, -a, -um, which means "that which is added"; added to the noun to qualify it, or describe its characteristic more intensely, or describe possession, relativity, colour, size, quantity, specificity, etc. Adjectives are a bit like jokers in a game of cards. You can form adjectives almost at will, from nouns, verbs, pronouns, adverbs.

Verb derives from verbum, -i, n.; it means "word", but a word that implies an action, hence it can be likened to a force that has speed and direction, an active force. When this force moves something will happen. Likewise, when a verb is expressed you have a built in energy and direction unto that verb that will define what the sentence is all about. The verb is thus the WORD PAR EXCELLENCE.

The first two lines of the Gospel of St. John use the word Verbum in the sense of a noun made verb. My quotation here has no religious significance, only a literary interest in the use of the word verbum. If your faith is non-christian that is fine; here I am discussing the literary use of the word verbum to emphasize its grammatical meaning.

Quoting from the Vulgate: "In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum." (apud= beside)

Adverb derives from adverbium, which itself derives from the preposition ad (=next to) and verbum (word) and normally follows the verb to try to improve its meaning more specifically. It is a kind of three dimensional vector operator to act on the energy and direction of the verb. I hope you understand this mathematical explanation of the adverb; if not, never mind, just ignore the metaphor and remember they modify verbs, adjectives and themselves, too!

Pronoun derives from the preposition pro, meaning "in place of" and the word nomen, nominis, n. which means "noun". Hence: in place of the noun.

Preposition derives from the preposition prae meaning "in front of", and from the word positio, positionis, f., which means "position"; the implied meaning being: "position it in front of the noun"; in fact, a prepositions is nearly always put in front of a noun.

Conjunction derives from coniunctio, coniunctionis, f., and means "to join"; in fact, conjunctions join clauses or sentences.

Interjection derives from interiectione verborum, which means "to throw in allusive words; to insert a hint."

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