accusative
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English
Etymology
First attested in the mid 15th century. From Middle English accusative, from Anglo-Norman accusatif or Middle French acusatif or from Latin accūsātīvus (“having been blamed”), from accūsō (“to blame”). Equivalent to accuse + -ative. The Latin form is a mistranslation of the Ancient Greek grammatical term αἰτιᾱτική (aitiātikḗ, “expressing an effect”). This term actually comes from αἰτιᾱτός (aitiātós, “caused”) + -ῐκός (-ikós, adjective suffix), but was reanalyzed as coming from αἰτιᾱ- (aitiā-), the stem of the verb αἰτιάομαι (aitiáomai, “to blame”), + -τῐκός (-tikós, verbal adjective suffix).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /əˈkjuːzətɪv/
- (US) enPR: əkū'zətĭv, IPA(key): /əˈkjuzətɪv/
- Hyphenation: ac‧cusa‧tive
Audio (US) (file)
Adjective
accusative (comparative more accusative, superlative most accusative)
- Producing accusations; in a manner that reflects a finding of fault or blame
- Synonyms: accusatory, accusatorial
- 1641 November 22, Edward Dering, a speech:
- This hath been a very accusative age.
- 1984 April 14, William F. Orrell, “Bad Business”, in Gay Community News, page 4:
- The proprietor of the store was rude, insulting and accusative.
- (grammar) Applied to the case (as the fourth case of Latin, Lithuanian and Greek nouns) which expresses the immediate object on which the action or influence of a transitive verb has its limited influence. Other parts of speech, including secondary or predicate direct objects, will also influence a sentence’s construction. In German the case used for direct objects.
Derived terms
Translations
producing accusations; accusatory
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Translations to be checked
Noun
accusative (plural accusatives)
- (grammar) The accusative case.
- (grammar) A word inflected in the accusative case.
- 1911, Hans Reichelt, Avesta Reader: Texts, Notes, Glossary and Index, Strassburg [Strasbourg]: Verlag von Karl J. Trübner, page 105:
- 65 mošu tat̰ ās nōit̮ darəγəm yat̰ . . ‘quickly it (tat̰) happened, it (was) not long till . . . — drūm avantəm airištəm: according to Bartholomae IF. 12. 146 the author of this part was led to use accusatives here (instead of nominatives) by the preceding sentence yezi ǰum frapayeni.
- 1944, W[illiam] F[rancis] Jackson Knight, “Language, Verse, and Style”, in Roman Vergil (Peregrine Books), Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1966, page 265:
- There is some antecedent in old Latin; but as usual the influence is Greek too, for Greek prose and poetry freely use accusatives which are to some extent adverbial accusatives, or accusatives of respect.
- 2000, Mily Crevels, Peter Bakker, “External Possession in Romani”, in Viktor Elšík, Yaron Matras, editors, Grammatical Relations in Romani: The Noun Phrase (Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science: Series IV – Current Issues in Linguistic Theory; 211), Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 181:
- Romani distinguishes dative and accusative pronouns formally and some Romani dialects use accusatives in constructions in which other languages employ a dative.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
accusative case
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French
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Adjective
accusative
Latin
Noun
accūsātīve