Ficus Declension?

[David Amicus]

So what do you all here think - is "ficus" second or fourth declension?


https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ficus


Could one be the tree and the other the fruit?

[Ed Cryer]

fīcus, i and ūs (
dat. sing., gen., dat., and abl. plur., always of second decl.; in other
cases of second or fourth; v. Neue, Formenl. 1, 532 sq.—Masc., Mart. 1,
65, 4; 7, 71, 6; Macr. S. 2, 16. The declension and gender were disputed
even among the ancients
(L&S)

Second declension seems to have been more prevalent.

Ed

[Evertjan.]

David Amicus <davida...@gmail.com> wrote on 23 May 2016 in
alt.language.latin:

> So what do you all here think - is "ficus" second or fourth declension?
>
> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ficus
>
> Could one be the tree and the other the fruit?

Let us consider only classic Latin use,
not a definition by Carolus Linaeus [Carl Graf von Linné].

"Even among Classical grammarians, the gender (masculine or feminine) and
declension (second or fourth) were debated." [wiktionary]

Ancient Greek has such two different words:
Sukon/Tucon [Neutrum] = fruit of the Sukeh [Feminine]
[Homeros, Odyssey 7.121 "sukon d'epi sukooi",
Hehrodotos, Histories 2.40 "kai sukoon"]

Still this does not address the Latin duality, imho.

One should read all the texts and try to interprete the meaning,
then do a statistical analysis.

Untill/even then the "could" cannot definitely be concluded
as "no, it could not".

David, I hope Ed will not see this as bullying you.

--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)

[David Amicus]

Thank-you!

[Ed Cryer]

I forgive the old Romans for confusing their nouns when I hear things
like this in English from a BBC news presenter;
"there's three good reasons why ......."

I suppose "domus" is the archetype for confused declensions. Nobody
seems to have tried to clear it up. They just lived with the mixture.

Ed