gaudii

Gaudii is the genitive singular form of the Latin noun gaudium, meaning “joy” or “delight.” It is commonly encountered in Latin texts as part of a possessive or descriptive phrase, for example to indicate “of joy” or “relating to joy.”

Gaudium, the nominative singular, is a second-declension neuter noun. Its full paradigm is: singular gaudium (nom./acc.), gaudii (gen.), gaudio (dat./abl.); plural gaudia (nom./acc.), gaudiorum (gen.), gaudiis (dat./abl.). The genitive gaudii is thus the standard form used to express possession or attribution in phrases alongside other nouns or adjectives.

In usage, gaudii appears mainly in genitive constructions to convey relational meaning, such as gaudii causa “for the sake of joy” or gaudii memoria “in memory of joy.” It can also contribute to abstract or ethical expressions, where the notion of joy or delight qualifies another idea. In poetry and rhetoric, gaudium and its genitive may be combined with adjectives or other nouns to create nuanced emotive or evaluative phrases.

Etymologically, gaudii derives from gaudium, a noun denoting joy, with gaudere (“to rejoice”) as its related verb. The form gaudii is the standard genitive singular provided by Latin grammar for the base noun gaudium.

See also: gaudium, gaudere, Latin grammar on the second declension neuter nouns.