So if I wanted to use an all neutered phrase it would end up being, avium atrum/avii atrum(would I be correct in assuming avii is plural?)Nikolaos dixit:Every Latin noun has a gender, but the gender isn't always obvious. As you guessed, ater is maculine, atra is feminine and atrum is neuter. Harena is feminine, so you would use atra.
The "a" is pronounced somewhere between the A in "what" and the A in "father" - it seems to be the most variably pronounced of the nouns in the recordings I hear, though.
Actually, avii is the genitive (possessive) form - the plural is avia. However, the adjective has to match the noun in case - meaning that if the noun is plural (avia), the adjective also has to be plural (atra).paulmoore dixit:So if I wanted to use an all neutered phrase it would end up being, avium atrum/avii atrum(would I be correct in assuming avii is plural?)
In this case, heremi actually is the plural - but it is also the possessive, which is why it's listed. Again, the adjective has to match the noun in case, making the phrase Heremi Atri in the plural.And an all masculine phrase would be, Heremus Ater/Heremi Ater(Once again would the Heremi be the plural?)
It might seem like that, but it is perfectly natural. If you want two different endings, though, you can use desolatio for desert, which takes different endings, as in desolatio atra.For some reason, if the above two statements are in fact true, I don't think that I would like to use two adjoining words with the same suffix ending ie -um. For instance, Avium Atrum sounds too 'clunky' to me. Am I understanding this right? Sorry for being a total noob.
in such cases, usually something like loca is impliedAkela dixit:Ah, that would explain it. Grains of sand - plural only.
a noun/proper name. it becomes a bit clearer that deserta is an adjective here if you look at the names of the other Arabic regions Arabia felix/beata and Arabia Petraea. Arabia is also a proper name in the Greek expressions: ἡ ερημος Ἀραβία, ἡ ευδαίμων Ἀραβία, ἡ κατὰ τών Πέτραν Ἀραβία.scrabulista dixit:So then what is Arabia in Arabia Deserta?
yes, the neuter plural would be Arabia. Arabs is the most common, Arabius is rare.scrabulista dixit:Lewis and Short have Arabius, -a, -um as well as Arabs, -is adj. I forget those i-stem rules; would (or could) the nominative plural of Arabs be Arabia?
My sincerest apologies, I did not mean any offense. After hearing your attached mp3 it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. My normal English speaking brain sees the word avium and tries to pronounce it as I see it, ie. not pronouncing the v as a w. Hearing you pronounce it sounds much better to me, kinda like if it were written down as awe-wee-um. But thanks for taking the time to put up the sound bit, it was most helpful, and will probably be the wording I will end up using.Nikolaos dixit:Here is my recording of the "clunky" avium atrum (by the way, I didn't realize that the "a" in atrum is long - it's pronounced as in "father"):