12.3: §82. English Derivatives from Latin Present Participles

Last updated
Save as PDF

Page ID: 8399

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

LATIN VERB	English derivatives from Latin pres. participle in –ant-/-ent-/-ient–	English derivatives from Latin noun in –antia/-entia/-ientia
1ST CONJUGATION
portare	important	importance
stare	constant, instant, distant, extant	stance, constancy, instance, substance, circumstance^[1]
2ND CONJUGATION
sedere	dissident, president, resident	presidency, residence
tenere	abstinent, (in)contient, (im)pertinent	abstinence, (in)continence, (im)pertinence
videre	evident, provident (= prudent)	evidence, providence (= prudence)
3RD CONJUGATION
agere	agent, cogent, exigent, intransigent	agency, cogency, exigency
cadere	decadent, accident(al), incident(al), coincident(al), occident(al)	cadence, decadence, incidence, coincidence
cedere	antecedent, decedent	antecedence, precedence
currere	current, concurrent, recurrent	currency, occurrence, recurrence
ferre	afferent, efferent, different, preferent	circumference, conference, inference, interference, preference, transference
ponere	component, deponent, exponent, opponent, proponent
loqui	eloquent, grandiloquent	eloquence, grandiloquence
sequi	consequent, subsequent	sequence, consequence
3RD CONJUGATION (I-BASE)
capere	incipient, percipient, recipient
facere	deficient, (co)efficient, proficient, sufficient, abortifacient, rubefacient	efficiency, proficiency, etc.
gradi	gradient, ingredient
4TH CONJUGATION
salire	salient, resilient	salience, resilience, resiliency
sentire	sentient	sentience, sentence [irreg.]
venire	(in)convenient	(in)convenience

These illustrations of the Latin present participle and its English derivatives have been drawn entirely from the verb vocabulary that you met in Chapter 9. In the table, the original Latin forms are not listed, because the English word in -ant or -ent exactly matches the base form of the Latin present participle. Notice that English derivatives of this type are sometimes used as nouns: agent usually means a person “doing”; president, a person “sitting before” (prae- + sedere). For the most part, however, the participial derivatives in -ant or –ent continue to be used as English adjectives, and their etymological and dictionary meanings are often surpisingly close. It is very helpful to know that abstinent means “holding away from,” and that incontinent means (“not holding together”). If you realize that afferent and efferent mean “bringing to” and “bringing from” (ad- and ex- + ferre, with assimilation), you won’t confuse those precise neurological terms. The etymological meaning of provident, “looking forward,” is exactly what that adjective means today; prudent is a doublet—a contraction that goes all the way back to classical Latin. What are the etymological meanings of distant, recurrent, and inconvenient?

From the Latin noun circum-stant-ia (“a standing around”) came the adjective circum-stant-i-alis, source of the English word circumstantial. ↵