Labels for local cases

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Local cases [1]

The usual labels for local are cases built on the model of the Latin ablātīvus 'ablative' which is made up of the preposition ab 'from' plus a stem lātīvus the root of which is lāt, which is used for the perfect participle of ferō 'I bear'. Other labels are formed by varying the preposition or by combining prepositions with the stem essīvus from esse 'to be'.

Latin root Meaning Case label Meaning
ad 'to' allative 'to(wards) (the exterior of)'
in 'into' illative 'into'
ab 'from' ablative 'from (the exterior of)'
e(x) 'out of elative 'from (the inside of)'
super 'above' superlative 'to the top of'
trans 'through' translative 'through'
per 'through' perlative 'through, along'
essive 'at (cf. locative)'
in 'in' inessive 'in(side)'
ad 'to' adessive 'at'
super 'above' superessive 'above'
sub 'under' subessive 'below'

There are other local cases and labels for local cases as well, but these are the most common, except that the case covering the 'at' function is more commonly called locative, while essive is used for a case that carries the meaning of a temporary state of being, often equivalent to the English "as a...".

Table of labels for local cases [2]

Please mark tentative or doubtful labels with a query (e.g. ?translative ) and newly coined labels with an asterisk (e.g. *preterlative !


Type of location A. at rest B. motion to C. motion from D. motion past
1. general at locative to lative from separative past *preterlative[3]
2. proximate near (to) adessive near allative from near ablative near
3. interior in(side) inessive in(to) illative out of elative through  ?translative[4]
4. exterior outside up to  ?terminative away from  ?egressive past prolative
5. anterior in front of in front of from in front of in front of
6. posterior behind *postessive behind *postlative from behind *depostlative behind
7. superior above/over *supraessive above *supralative from above *desuperlative over
8. superior-contact on superessive on(to) sublative off over
8a. surface on on(to) off delative over/across
9. inferior below/under *subteressive, *infraessive below/under *subterlative, *infralative from under *desubterlative, *deinfralative under
10. inferior-contact under subessive under from under under
11. lateral beside apudessive beside from beside past
12. lateral-contact on pertingent on(to) off over, along prolative
13. citerior on this side of  ?cislocative to this side of  ?cislative from this side of *?ecislative on this side of
14. citerior-contact on this side of to this side of from this side of on this side of
15. ulterior beyond beyond from beyond beyond
16. ulterior-contact on the other side of/across across from across on the other side of
17. medial (2) between between from between between
18. medial (3+) among among from among through prolative
19. circumferential - - - round
20. citerior-anterior opposite opposite from opposite on the other side
21. interior (long object) through/along
22. exterior (long object) past/along prosecutive
23. superior along (above)
24. superior-contact (long object) along (on top of)
24a. surface (long object) along  ?vialis
25. inferior (long object) along (under)
26. inferior-contact (long object) along (under)

Notes

^  Source: Barry J. Blake, Case, Cambridge: Camb. U. P., 1994. ISBN 0521441145 (cased), ISBN 0521446619 (pbk).

^  This is based on a table of possible local semantic functions in the The Lingua Descriptive Studies Questionnaire, section 2.1.1.5.

^  A more conservative label for "general motion past" might be perlative

which more specifically labels motion "over/across a surface" (8a.d.). Such homonymies arise because the more general and more specific cases seldom occur simultaneously in a single language, so that linguists and grammarians have found no need to distinguish them.

^  translative

is more familiar as the label for a case indicating "a change into a state", e.g. in Finnish, but it seems correct to use this label also for "motion through something", at least in terms of the general meaning of Latin trans.