-urnus

Latin

Alternative forms

• -rnus

Etymology

Ultimately from the adjective-forming suffix -(i)nus; see also -rnus. Szemerényi 1959 proposes that the starting point was pre-Latin *hesterinos (hesternus) and *wesperinos (reconstructed based on the obsolete word vesperna). As a result of rebracketing, the *-erinos at the end of these words would have been attached to *diw- and *nokt-, the pre-Latin roots of the words diēs (“day”) and nox (“night”), initially forming *diw-erinos and *nokt-erinos. Szemerényi argues that *diw-erinos was syncopated to *diwrinos and then regularly developed to *diurnos (Latin diurnus), and then the ending *-urnos was extended by analogy to nocturnus and other words. Others have argued that the adjectives may have been formed on or influenced by the adverbs diū/diūs (“by day”) and noctū (“at night”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ʊr.nʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ur.nus]

Suffix

-urnus (feminine -urna, neuter -urnum); first/second-declension suffix

1. Enlargement of -nus (suffix forming adjectives).

   ‎albus + ‎-urnus → ‎alburnus

   ‎diū (comparative stem: diūt-) + ‎-urnus → ‎diūturnus

   ‎nox (oblique stem: noct-) + ‎-urnus → ‎nocturnus

   ‎tacitus + ‎-urnus → ‎taciturnus

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	-urnus	-urna	-urnum		-urnī	-urnae	-urna
genitive	-urnī	-urnae	-urnī		-urnōrum	-urnārum	-urnōrum
dative	-urnō	-urnae	-urnō		-urnīs
accusative	-urnum	-urnam	-urnum		-urnōs	-urnās	-urna
ablative	-urnō	-urnā	-urnō		-urnīs
vocative	-urne	-urna	-urnum		-urnī	-urnae	-urna

Derived terms

Latin terms suffixed with -urnus

alburnus

diuturnus

laburnum

nocturnus

taciturnus

References

• “-urnus” on page 2,107/2 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
• Szemerényi, Oswald (1959), “Latin hībernus and Greek χειμερινός”, in Glotta, volume 38, number 1./2. H., pages 107-125