Latin

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Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (sweet).[1][2][3] The extension of the u-stem into an i-stem is regular (compare brevis, tenuis) and must have occurred before the loss of *-d- in medial *-dw-.[3]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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suāvis (neuter suāve, comparative suāvior, superlative suāvissimus, adverb suāve or suāviter); third-declension two-termination adjective

  1. sweet, pleasant, delicious

Declension

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Third-declension two-termination adjective.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masc./Fem. Neuter Masc./Fem. Neuter
Nominative suāvis suāve suāvēs suāvia
Genitive suāvis suāvium
Dative suāvī suāvibus
Accusative suāvem suāve suāvēs
suāvīs
suāvia
Ablative suāvī suāvibus
Vocative suāvis suāve suāvēs suāvia

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Catalan: suau
  • Italian: soave, suave (archaic)
  • Old French: soef
  • Middle English: suave
  • Middle French: suave
  • Portuguese: suave
  • Spanish: suave

References

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  1. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “su̯ād-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 1039f.
  2. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “suāvis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 594
  3. 3.0 3.1 Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, § 185.2, page 180

Further reading

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  • suavis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • suavis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • suavis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.