Nomenu gramatiskā pamatinformācija latīņu valodas elektroniskajā vārdnīcā
Grammatical fundamentals of nomina in the Electronic Latin Dictionary

Summary/Abstract: This study is undertaken within the framework of the Department of European Languages, Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia, and contributes to the development of the basic structure of the first Latin–Latvian electronic dictionary. The aim of the article is to explore and assess both the quality and quantity of the grammatical information required for the representation of nominals in the electronic dictionary. The analysis is based on a comparative examination of existing Latin electronic dictionaries, as well as a systematic review of the grammatical categories and defining features of Latin nominals. The primary function of a Latin dictionary is not to furnish exhaustive grammatical information for each entry; however, it must provide a sufficient degree of grammatical and semantic data – particularly with regard to essential grammatical categories – to enable accurate understanding of a word’s inflectional behaviour, lexical meaning, syntactic function, and contextual usage. Latin nominals – nouns, adjectives, and numerals – are characterized by a shared set of grammatical categories, including gender, number, and inflectional morphology, and by revealing them, basic information is provided for each word. For example, in the representation of nouns, an indication of word class, gender, nominative and genitive forms is essential for understanding their usage, inflection, attitudes, and coordination with other elements of the utterance. A declension indication could potentially also be included. Similarly, in the case of adjectives and numerals. However, throughout the historical development of Latin vocabulary and its varied usage, the grammatical paradigms (such as inflection, number, comparative degree etc.) of many nominals have not always been complete or homogeneous. There are nominals for which, over time or in texts of different genres and authors, parallel forms (individual inflections, comparative degrees) have been used, including archaic forms in important texts of the classical period. Some words are represented only by incomplete paradigms, individual forms, or specific forms with particular meanings. While it is important not to overload the grammatical information, these details should still be included in the dictionary for clear understanding but always evaluating their scope and usefulness. Additionally, nominals are often closely linked through processes of semantic development (e.g., substantivized or adverbialized words) and these relationships should also be reflected in the dictionary.

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