Gerundive

In Latin grammar, a gerundive () is a verb form that functions as a verbal adjective.

In Classical Latin, the gerundive has the same form as the gerund, but is distinct from the present active participle. In Late Latin, the differences were largely lost, resulting in a form derived from the gerund or gerundive but functioning more like a participle. The adjectival gerundive form survives in the formation of progressive aspect forms in Italian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese and some southern/insular dialects of European Portuguese. In French the adjectival gerundive and participle forms merged completely, and the term ''gérondif'' is used for adverbial use of ''-ant'' forms.

There is no true equivalent to the gerundive in English, but it can be interpreted as a future passive participle, used adjectivally or adverbially; the closest translation is a passive to-infinitive non-finite clause such as ''books to be read''. That reflects the most common use of the Latin gerundive, to combine a transitive verb (such as ''read'') and its object (such as ''books''), usually with a sense of obligation.
Another translation is the recent development of the ''must-'' prefix as in ''a must-read book''.Referendums and the Gerundive
Mark Forsyth.

Latin

Form

The Latin gerundive is a form of the verb. It is composed of:
* the infectum stem (the stem used to form Present and Imperfect tense forms)
* a vowel appropriate to the verb class or conjugation of the verb
* the suffix -nd-
* an adjectival Inflectional ending
For example:

Related gerund forms are composed in a similar way with nominal inflexional endings.

Meaning and use

In principle, the gerundive could express a wide range of meaning relationships: 'capable of', 'prone to', 'ripe for' (killing, dying, rising, rolling etc.). Some gerundives have much the same meaning as present participles: ''secundus'' 'following'; ''oriundus'' 'arising, descended from'; ''volvendus'' 'rolling'. Originally it could express active or passive meaning, and therefore could be used with verbs in intransitive as well as transitive use. However, the great majority of gerundive forms were used with passive meaning of transitive verbs.

The gerundive could be used as either a predicative or an attributive adjective. However, attributive use was rare, largely confined to verbs expressing approval or disapproval. The predicative use invited a secondary meaning of obligation (a meaning not shared with the gerund). Thus:

This sense of obligation with passive meaning is by far the most common use of the gerundive. Thus it has been equated with a future passive participle.

A neuter form without a noun may function as an impersonal expression, for example: ''addendum'' 'something to be added'; ''referendum'' 'something to be referred back'. These are not gerund forms; the -um form of the gerund is used only after prepositions. The plural forms without nouns such as ''agenda'' 'things to be done' are also adjectival gerundives; the gerund has no plural form.

For details of the formation and usage of the Latin gerundive, see and .

Gerundive expressions widely quoted or adopted in English

*Cato the Elder, a Roman senator, frequently ended his speeches with the statement '' Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse'' ("I also think Carthage to be omethingthat must be destroyed", i.e. "Besides which, I think Carthage must be destroyed").
* (Horace, ''Odes'', 1.37) "now it is necessary to drink!", in other words, it's time to celebrate.
*Mutatis mutandis, "changing nlythose things which need to be changed" or more simply " nlythe necessary changes having been made".
*A gerundive appears in the phrase ''quod erat demonstrandum'' ("which was to be demonstrated"), whose abbreviated form ''Q.E.D.'' is often used after the final conclusion of a proof.
* The motto ''Nil desperandum'' 'Nothing is to be despaired at' i.e. 'Never despair'. Based on this the cod Latin ''Nil illegitimis carborundum'' 'Don't let the bastards grind you down'.
*The name Amanda is the feminine gerundive of ''amare'' ("to love"), and thus means roughly " he who isto be loved", "worthy of being loved", "worthy of love", or simply "lovable". Similarly with the name Miranda; ''mirari'' means "to admire", so the name means " he who isto be admired", "worthy of admiration", or "admirable".
*A number of English words come from Latin gerundives. For example, ''addendum'' comes from the gerundive of ''addere'' ("to add"), and so means ''something that must be added''; ''referendum'' comes from the gerundive of ''referre'' ("to bring back" o the people; '' agenda'' comes from the neuter plural of ''agendus'', the gerundive of ''agere'' "to do", and so means ''things that must be done''; ''reverend'' comes from the gerundive ''reverendus'', and refers to a person who ''should be revered''; ''propaganda'' comes from a Neo-Latin phrase containing a feminine form of ''propagandus'', the gerundive of ''propagare'' ("to propagate"), so that ''propaganda'' was originally something that ''should be propagated''; ''legend'' in Latin is ''legenda'', which originally meant ''things you should read,'' (from ''legere'' "to read") but became a (fem. sing.) word in its own right in medieval times; a dividend is ''something to be divided mong shareholders'.
* The expression ''de gustibus non est disputandum'' ("matters of taste should not be debated").

Later developments

In Late Latin, the distinction between gerundive and future participle was sometimes lost. So, gerundive ''moriendi'' is found for ''morituri'' 'about to die'. Conversely, future participles ''recepturus'' and ''scripturus'' are found for ''recipiendus'' and ''scribendus/scribundus''. More regularly, the gerundive came to be used as a future passive participle. Ultimately the gerundive in the nominative case came to substitute for the present participle.

Other languages

The term is occasionally used in descriptions of English grammar, to denote the present participle used adjectivally or adverbially e.g. 'take a running jump'. That form, ending in ''-ing'', is identical to that of the English gerund, but it is generally called a gerund when it is used as a noun, not as an adjective or adverb e.g. 'running burns more calories than walking'.

In Old Irish, a form known in the literature as the ''verbal of necessity'' is used as the predicate of the copula in the function of the Latin gerundive, e.g. ' "the things that are to be admired".

The term ''gerundive'' may be used in grammars and dictionaries of Pali, for example the Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary of 1921–25.Pali Text Society Pali-English Dictionary, edited by T W Rhys Davids and William Stede, 1921-25
/ref> It is referred to by some other writers as the ''participle of necessity'', the ''potential participle'' or the ''future passive participle''. It is used with the same meaning as the Latin gerundive.

In the east African Semitic language Tigrinya, ''gerundive'' is used to denote a particular finite verb form, not a verbal adjective or adverb. Generally, it denotes completed action that is still relevant. A verb in the gerundive can be used alone or serially with another gerundive verb. In the latter case, it may sometimes be translated with an adverbial clause: ''bitri hidju kheydu'' (literally, "a-stick he-took-hold-of he-began-walking") means "while holding a stick, he is walking", i.e. "he is carrying a stick".

References

External links

The following pages provide definitions or glosses of the term ''gerundive'':
*As applied to Latin:

at Merriam Webster




quoting Random House Unabridged Dictionary

in Wiktionary
*As applied to Tigrinya:

Department of Linguistics, UCSD states

{{lexical categories, state=collapsed

Verb types
Adjectives by type
Latin grammar