Template:U:la:distributive numeral

This is part of the Latin series of distributive numerals. These numerals are inflected as first/second-declension adjectives; in Classical Latin, they typically accompany plural nouns (with which they agree in case and gender) and have the following functions:


 * to express the sense “[numeral] [noun]s each/apiece”, as in hominis digiti ternos articulos habent, “a man’s fingers have three joints each ” (Pliny the Elder, Natural History 11.244.3).


 * to express multiplication after a numeral adverb, as in Gallinaciis enim pullis bis deni dies opus sunt, pavoninis ter noveni  "hens' [eggs] need twice ten days, peahens' thrice nine " (Marcus Terentius Varro, Res Rusticae 3.9.10)


 * to express the sense of cardinal numerals when used with pluralia tantum (plural-only nouns) such as castra "camp": for example, "twelve camps" is expressed by duodēna castra (Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7.105.5). Distributive forms are regularly used in this context for the number 2 and for all numbers greater than 4. For 1, plural-only nouns are used with plural inflected forms of the cardinal, as in  "one flight of stairs" (rather than with forms of the distributive numeral ). For 3 and 4, plural-only nouns are used with the plural inflected forms of  and , as in   "three camps" (rather than with forms of  and , which tend to be used in distributive function ).

These adjectives do not normally occur in the singular. Because of this, many grammars and dictionaries treat them as plural-only words and refer to them using the nominative masculine plural form in -ī, rather than the nominative masculine singular form in -us (which is often unattested in Classical Latin). However, some of these adjectives are attested in the singular in Classical Latin poetry (e.g. Sed neque Centauri fuerunt, nec tempore in ullo / esse queunt duplici natura et corpore bino..., Titus Lucretius Carus, De Rerum Natura 5.879, and Sic tu bis fueris consul, bis consul et ille, / inque domo binus conspicietur honor, Publius Ovidius Naso, Epistulae ex Ponto 4.9.64; "corpore bino" here seems to have the sense of "twofold body", and "binus ... honor" the sense of "double/dual/twofold honor"). Singular forms are also attested in postclassical Latin, where these adjectives sometimes have non-distributive meanings (taking an ordinal, cardinal, or collective sense instead). These alternative senses are sometimes continued by Romance descendants (e.g. Spanish from Latin ).

The genitive plural of is usually /, but distributive numerals greater than one commonly use short genitive plural forms ending in  rather than the longer forms ending in  and.