-trum

== Latin == === Alternative forms === -tra f === Etymology === In inherited words, from Proto-Italic *-trom, from Proto-Indo-European *-trom. In words borrowed from Greek (and possibly in some neologisms), from Ancient Greek -τρον (-tron, instrument noun suffix), a cognate of the Latin ending. Compare -culum, -crum, -bulum, -brum; these and -trum seem to have originated as contextual variants of a single suffix. === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [trũː] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [trum] === Suffix === -trum n (genitive -trī); second declension suffix forming instrument nouns from verbs Synonyms: -culum, -men, -mentum, -tōrium, -ium ==== Usage notes ==== While Latin was a living language, this instrument noun suffix was less productive than -culum (from *-tlom, a variant form of the same suffix). Weiss 2009, citing Serbat 1975, describes -trum as moribund and unproductive after the time of Augustus; Owens 2016, citing Mir 1984, likewise characterizes -trum as unproductive and "archaic even in the classical period". In native Latin words, -trum generally can be found only in two circumstances: directly after /s/. (The instrument noun suffix -culum seems not to occur in this context.) Examples: mōnstrum, castrum, haustrum. sometimes, after a stem that contains /r/ or /l/ (in any position). Examples: arātrum (“plough”), mulctrum (“milk-pail”), rutrum (“shovel”). However, -trum is not always used in this context: the suffix -culum may be found after /r/, and -crum (a dissimilated variant of -culum) may be found after /l/. Words that show -trum after earlier /r/ or /l/ might be remnants of an old formation pattern: arātrum seems to be inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃trom (albeit with analogical replacement of *-a- with -ā-). Instrument nouns in (...)r...culum and (...)l...crum would then represent a more recent pattern. Sen 2015 assumes deverbal nouns ending in -trum, such as fulgetrum, were formed earlier than the two denominative nouns tālitrum and *calcitrum (the hypothetical base of the verb calcitrō), arguing that in the latter words, the vowel before -trum was reduced to -i- because of a syllable boundary caused by a transparent morpheme boundary in archaic Latin. The corresponding Ancient Greek ending -τρον (-tron) enjoyed a wider use, and some Greek words with this ending were adapted in ancient times as Latin words ending in -trum, such as scēptrum (from Greek σκῆπτρον (skêptron)) and metrum (from Greek μέτρον (métron)). In addition, -trum has occasionally been used to derive neologisms from Latin roots outside of the two conditions described above. The earliest example of this may be spectrum, from speciō, first attested in antiquity in a pair of letters between Cicero and Cassius Longinus, where it is implied that Catius may have created the word as a translation of the Greek philosophical term εἴδωλον (eídōlon). In New Latin, -trum has become more productive and popular as a means of forming neuter instrument nouns, apparently influenced by the masculine agent noun suffix -tor, and by the way that certain modern languages use endings derived from -tor to form inanimate nouns. For example, the New Latin terms computātrum and ōrdinātrum have been coined for 'computer' by partial analogy with words such as Spanish computador and French ordinateur. Other New Latin coinages in -trum include mōtrum and monitrum; compare English motor and monitor. In effect, some New Latin authors use -trum as a neuter version of the agent noun suffix -tor, similar to how -trīx serves as its feminine equivalent (despite the fact that in classical Latin, only a small number of masculine agent nouns in -tor have a corresponding neuter noun in -trum). The suffix is typically neuter, but a feminine by-form -tra can be seen in the instrument noun mulctra (also mulctrum), possibly also in mollestra (but it is dubious whether this word contains this suffix). A masculine by-form -ter can be seen in the instrument noun culter (“knife”) and in arāter, a rare variant form of arātrum (“plough”). ==== Declension ==== Second-declension noun (neuter). ==== Derived terms ==== === References ===