Monday, September 29, 2014

Strange First Declension Noun: Galaxias, ae

A strange (at least to me) first declension noun because the nominative singular and the accusative singular are different (although one online dictionary said the standard accusative singular ending is also okay):

Latin word of the day: galaxias, ae
Part of speech: noun
Declension: first
Gender: masculine
Meaning in English: galaxy

Nominative singular: galaxias
Nominative plural: galaxiae
Genitive singular: galaxiae
Genitive plural: galaxiarum
Dative singular: galaxiae
Dative plural: galaxiis
Accusative singular: galaxian
Accusative plural: galaxias
Ablative singular: galaxia
Ablative plural: galaxiis
Vocative singular: galaxia
Vocative plural: galaxiae

Related word: Via Lactea.
Meaning in English: The Milky Way.

The Latin Wikipedia has this interesting sentence in its article on Via Lactea: "Via lactea, sive orbis lacteus est galaxias noster, in quo est systema solare, inde et Sol et Tellus."

Sive: on the other hand, or
Systema solare: Solar System
Inde: thence, from there
Sol: the Sun
Tellus: Earth

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