July 11, 2005, 11:34
wordnerdI Decline to Use Declensions
What's the logical/etymological connection between '
to decline' and grammatical '
declensions' of nouns?
July 11, 2005, 18:29
zmježdThe verb
decline comes from the Latin
declinare 'to turn away, bend downward, change the form of a word'. The different forms of a noun are called case. Case is from the Latin
casus 'fallen' which is a translation of the Greek πτωσις (ptosis) 'falling, fall'. The idea is that the nominative, or naming, form of the noun is the normal one and the oblique cases (the genitive and others) are falling away from that normal case. This sort of thing used to be called accidence. Hope that helps.
July 11, 2005, 21:39
neveuquote:
the Greek πτωσις (ptosis) 'falling, fall'
In ophthalmology the word for a drooping or limp, half-closed upper eyelid is ptosis.