declinaatio

Declinaatio is a Latin term that translates to "declension" in English. In the context of language, declension refers to the change in the form of a noun, pronoun, adjective, or numeral to express grammatical case, number, and gender. These changes are often indicated by adding or altering suffixes. For instance, in Latin, the word "mensa" (table) changes its ending to "mensae" when it is in the genitive case (possessive), meaning "of the table."

Different languages have varying degrees of declension. Some, like Latin and Greek, are highly inflected and feature extensive declension systems. Others, such as English, have largely lost their original declension systems, retaining only vestiges, such as the possessive 's for nouns and different pronoun forms (e.g., I, me, my). The purpose of declension is to convey grammatical relationships between words in a sentence, helping to clarify meaning and structure. Understanding declension is crucial for comprehending the grammar of many ancient and modern languages.