declension (n.)

In GRAMMAR, a traditional term for a CLASS of NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, or PRONOUNS in an INFLECTING language, which occur with the same range of FORMS. In Latin, for example, the ‘first declension’ refers to nouns whose endings are -a, -am, or -ae, in the various cases in the SINGULAR (e.g. insula ‘island’, poeta ‘poet’). There are a further four declensions with different types of ending, as well as several nouns which decline in an IRREGULAR way. The term is not usually found in modern LINGUISTIC analysis (which talks in terms of ‘word-classes’), but will be encountered in studies of LINGUISTIC HISTORIOGRAPHY).