The tendency seen in the above classification must not be taken as a systematic and conscious process of language for the purpose of making these suffixes mean one thing more than another. The verb stems do strongly influence the meaning of the whole noun, usually more than anything else does, but the variety of precise meanings due to context, which will be shown in the next chapter, almost precludes a systematic classification on any basis.
CHAPTER III
An attempt was made in the preceding chapter to show how the meaning of words formed with -mentum, -bulum and -culum was influenced by the verb stem. It will be the purpose of this chapter to illustrate how such general meanings get still greater precision from some element in the context. This study, as is intimated in the introductory paragraph of this paper, is a semantic one, but it is not lexicographical; and no attempt will be made to explain, any farther than was done in the preceding chapter, such words as show no variation in meaning due to context. For example, frumentum always means grain, no matter in what context it stands; iumentum, cattle; testamentum, a will; venabulum, a hunting spear; cubiculum, a bed-room. The reason is that these words are neat expressions of a precise idea and their meaning is therefore less likely to be shifted. This fact also illustrates, in general, the difference in variation possible in a noun and in an adjective. The latter, being in so many instances equivalent to a genitive, can, like the genitive, express a great variety of relations between its governing noun and its noun stem; while a noun, being a more finished product, that is, its meaning settling more easily in clear-cut limits, cannot be expected to show such wide variations. Aside from the figurative use of the nouns, the most frequent influence of context comes from a genitive dependent on the noun. The other elements that enter in will be noticed as each word is discussed, and wherever possible, the word or group of words which contributes to the meaning will be italicized.
First, there are a few nouns which are used in apposition with a proper noun, or are applied to persons. This use is a special illustration of the figurative meaning of these words: intercessit iste Ligus nescio qui, additamentum inimicorum meorum, Sest. 68; Sertia uxor, quae incitamentum mortis et particeps fuit, Tac. A. 6, 29; in conspectu parentum coniugumque ac liberorum, quae magna etiam absentibus hortamenta animi sunt, Liv. 7, 11, 6; acerrima seditionum ac discordiae incitamenta, interfectores Galbae, Tac. H. 2, 23; Fufidius, ancilla turpis bonorum omnium dehonestamentum, Sall. Lep. 22; P. Rutilius qui fuit documentum hominibus nostris virtutis, antiquitatis, prudentiae, Rab. Post. 27; illius sum integumentum corporis, Bacc. 602; vidi hunc ipsum Hortensium, ornamentum rei publicae, paene interfici, Milo, 37; ipsa quae sis stabulum nequitiae, Truc. 587; quod umquam huiuscemodi everriculum [Verres] ulla in provincia fuit, Verres, 4, 5, 3; quid, duo propugnacula belli Punici, Cn. et P. Scipiones cogitassene videntur, P. 12; qui sibi me pro deridiculo et delectamento putat, Heaut. 952.
These examples show that the suffixes do not imprint on the nouns the idea of instrument, or any other idea, so strongly that the nouns may not be applied to human beings as well.
Of those nouns which get precision of meaning from a dependent genitive, perhaps there is no better example than fragmentum, which, expressing the result of the action of breaking, may mean a piece or fragment of any breakable object: tribunum adoriuntur fragmentis saeptorum, Sest. 79; ut glaebum aut fragmentum lapidis dicemus, N. II, 82; fragmenta tegularum, Liv. 34, 89, 11; fragmenta ramorum, Liv. 23, 24, 10; fragmenta crystalli sarciri nullo modo queunt, Plin. 37, 2, 10; fragmenta panis, Plin. 9, 8, 8; mille carinis abstulit Emathiae secum fragmenta ruinae [the remnants of the army], Lucan, 9, 38. The genitives all answer the question, fragments of what?
Another noun of general meaning which gets precision from a genitive is fundamentum; whether literal or figurative, we want to know, the foundations of what? and the context tells, though not always merely by means of a genitive: quin cum fundamento aedes perierunt, Most. 148; solum et quasi fundamentum oratoris vides, locutionem emendatam et Latinam, Brut. 258; fundamenta rei publicae ieci, Fam. XII, 25, 2; fundamenta ieci salutis tuae, Fam. X, 29, 1; arcem Syracusis a fundamentis disiecit, Nepos, XX, 3, 3; hic locus sicut aliquod fundamentum est huius constitutionis, Inv. II, 19; qui a fundamentis mi usque movisti mare, Rud. 539; prima fundamenta urbi iacere, Liv. 1, 12, 4; alta fundamenta theatri locare, Aen. 1, 428; fundamenta altae Carthaginis locare, Aen. 4, 266; urbs a fundamentis diruta, Liv. 42, 63, 11; fodere fundamenta delubro, Plin. 28, 2, 4; pietas fundamentum est omnium virtutum, Planc. 29; fundamentum iustitiae est fides, Off. 1, 7, 23; narratio est fundamentum constituendae fidei, Part. 9, 31; fundamentum eloquentiae, De Or. 3, 151; fundamentum philosophiae, Div. 2, 1, 2; initium ac fundamentum defensionis, Clu. 10, 30; quod fundamentum huius quaestionis est, id videtis, N. I, 44; fundamentum horum criminum, Cael. 13, 30; disciplina nixa fundamento veritatis, Gell. 14, 1, 20; fundamentum et causa imperii, Sen. Ep. 87, 41; fundamenta libertatis, Balb. 13, 31; fundamentum consulatus tui, Pis. 4, 9; senectus quae fundamentis adolescentiae constituta est, C. 18, 62; fundamenta pacis ieci, Phil. 1, 1, 1; fundamentum domus novae iacere, Suet. Cal. 22; villa a fundamentis inchoata, Suet. Caes. 46.
Incitamentum is nearly always followed by a genitive or a gerundive construction expressing the object toward which a thing or circumstance is an inducement. The noun is used most frequently in Tacitus: hoc maximum et periculorum incitamentum est et laborum, Arch. 23; uxor, quae incitamentum mortis fuit, Tac. A. 6, 29; incitamenta irarum, Tac. A. 1, 55; incitamenta victoriae, Tac. Agr. 32; incitamentum ad honeste moriendum, Curt. 9, 5, 4; incitamentum fortitudinis, Tac. G. 7, 9; incitamentum cupidinis, Tac. A. 6, 1, 10; incitamenta belli, Tac. A. 12, 34, 2; est magna illa eloquentia alumna licentiae, comes seditionum, effrenati populi incitamentum, Tac. D. 40, 11. In the last example the genitive is a real objective genitive, while the participle limiting it expresses the result of incitement expressed by the genitives in the other examples.