Expert: Maria - 10/28/2011

Question
I am making a student appreciation piece for our school and wanted to inscribe, in Latin, the following words:

"friendship"

"support" (as in helping another through actions or in spirit, versus holding something up--if there is a distinction in Latin)

"passion" (as in a love for an activity or cause, versus love for another person--if there is a distinction in Latin)

Answer
Hello,

Here are the Latin words you asked me:

-AMICITIA (nominative feminine singular, 1st.declension) =friendship

-AUXILIUM or ADIUMENTUM (both in the nominative neuter singular, 2nd.declension) =“support” as helping another through actions or in spirit.

-STUDIUM (nominative neuter singular, 2nd.declension) = “passion” as love for an activity or cause.

Read more below.

Best regards,
Maria
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Note that :

-“support” as holding something up is PRAESIDIUM (nominative neuter, 2nd.declension)in Latin.

-“passion” as love for another person” is AMOR  (nominative masculine, 3rd.declension) in Latin.

All the above nouns are in the nominative which the case of the subject of a sentence.

When these nouns are used as direct/indirect object, they change ending, as Latin is an inflected language where each word changes ending, according to its role in a phrase and to the gender/number of the noun it refers to.