# cor



## dcx97

Hello,

I just found out that the genitive plural of "cor" (heart) is "cordium". Shouldn't it have been "cordum"? Why is there an "i" there?

Thanks!


----------



## Pietruzzo

dcx97 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I just found out that the genitive plural of "cor" (heart) is "cordium". Shouldn't it have been "cordum"? Why is there an "i" there?
> 
> Thanks!


"Cordium" is correct. There are many nouns in the 3rd declension with genitive in -ium.
The main groups are:
Nouns with same number of syllables in noninative and genitive (cives-civis)
Nouns with root ending with two consonants (cor-co*rd*is)
Neuter nouns in al-ar-e (mare-maris).


----------



## dcx97

But it's neuter. A neuter noun can have a genitive in -ium only if its nominative singular ends in -al, -ar, or -e.


----------



## Pietruzzo

dcx97 said:


> But it's neuter. A neuter noun can have a genitive in -ium only if its nominative singular ends in -al, -ar, or -e.


As I was saying,


Pietruzzo said:


> Nouns with root ending with two consonants (cor-co*rd*is)


 Nouns in this group can be masculine, feminine or neuter. Another example: os- ossis (gen.pl. ossium).


----------



## dcx97

I see. Thank you. I wonder why my textbook got it wrong. My textbook is Wheelock's Latin, the standard in the field!


----------



## Scholiast

salvete amici!


dcx97 said:


> I wonder why my textbook got it wrong. My textbook is Wheelock's Latin, the standard in the field!


Pardon me for intervening here. As Pietruzzo said (# 2), the stem of _cor_ is actually _cor*d*-_, though, as with numerous 3rd-declension nouns, this is not immediately obvious from the nominative singular. I'm not sure that the (generally admirable) Wheelock 'got it wrong'—he was perhaps not quite _complete_, as despite its neuter gender, the declension of _cor_(_d_)- follows the principle in category §2 of the page dcx97 has reproduced in #3.
Σ


----------



## dcx97

Thanks.


----------

