View source for Latin gerundives in English

A [[gerundive]] may be defined as a [[verb]]al [[adjective]] of obligation, i.e., an [[adjective]] formed from a [[verb]] to express the thought that the action denoted by the [[verb]] is desirable or obligatory. Verbs in English do not have a gerundival form but in [[Latin]] and ancient [[Greek]] they do: in Latin gerundives are formed by adding ''-andus'', ''-endus'', or ''–iendus'' to the verbal stem, in Greek by adding –τεος (''–teos'').

However, some words which are [[Latin]] gerundives have become part of the English language: Among them are:
*'''[[addendum]]''' ([[plural]] '''addenda'''), a gerundive from the [[verb]] ''addĕre'' ‘to add’,  meaning ‘(something) to be added’. The word may be used of the supplement or appendix of a book, journal, report, or the like.
*'''[[Agend-|agendum]]''' ([[plural]] '''agenda'''), a gerundive from the [[verb]] ''agĕre'' ‘to do, act, perform’, meaning ‘(something) to be done’..The Latin plural form '''agenda''' is the commonly used form in English, where it is treated as a [[singular]] (e.g., ‘This '''agenda''' is even longer than the one for last week’s meeting.’) The word may be applied, e.g., to a list of issues which need to be discussed by a committee or to a schedule of actions which must be carried out as part of a programme. 
*'''[[corrigendum]]''' ([[plural]] '''corrigenda'''), a gerundive from the verb ''corrigĕre'', ‘to make straight, improve, correct’, meaning ‘(something) to be corrected’ The word (usually in the plural) is typically used to refer to the misprints in a book or other printed material, misprints of which the reader is sometimes, though nowadays rarely, informed by means of a slip of paper inserted into the book.
*'''[[Emendenda|emendendum]]''' ([[plural]] '''emendenda'''), from the [[verb]] ''ēmendāre'' 'to emend', is virtually the same as '''corrigendum''' (above).
*'''memorandum''' ([[plural]] '''memoranda''' or '''memorandums'''), a gerundive from the [[verb]] ''memorāre'', ‘to mention, remind’, meaning ‘(something) worthy of being mentioned, (something) of which to be reminded’. The word, which in informal contexts is often abbreviated to '''memo''' ([[plural]] '''memos'''), is used to refer to a written  record, e.g., of the main points in a discussion; to a note or list of items or points to be remembered; or, in the context of diplomacy, to an informal note summarising a government’s position on a particular issue.
*'''pudendum''' ([[plural]] '''pudenda'''), a gerundive from the [[verb]] ''pudēre'' ‘to be ashamed’, meaning ‘(something) about which one should feel shame’. The word, typically in the [[plural]], is used exclusively to refer to the human external genital organs, particularly to the female genital organs. (Incidentally, this use of '''pudenda'''  does not presuppose that we should be ashamed of our genital organs but rather that we should feel shame or embarrassment if they were to be publicly visible and hence that they should be kept covered in public.)
*'''[[referendum]]''' (the regularly formed English [[plural]] '''referendums''' is becoming nore used now than the traditional [[Latin]] '''referenda''', which may still be preferred by academics) is the [[gerundive]] of the [[verb]] ''referre'' 'to refer'. (''[[OED]]'', 2020, notes that the form '''referenda''' "is sometimes deprecated in usage guides, etc., on the grounds that a Latin plural gerundive referenda, meaning ‘things to be referred’, would necessarily connote a plurality of issues, but this view is unlikely to affect actual usage.")

Rather differently, when [[Shakespeare]] wanted a name for his heroine - the daughter of Prospero - in ''The Tempest'' (1610 or 1611), he invented '''Miranda''', the [[feminine]] [[singular]] form of the Latin gerundive meaning "she who should be loved", from the [[verb]] ''mirari'', 'to wonder at'.'ad'''mire'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>). This process seems to heve been imitated in the seventeenth century to produce the girl’s name '''Amanda''', a gerundive from the verb '''''ama'''re'' (‘to love’) and means  ‘deserving to be or worthy of being loved’. See [[Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges (2006)]].

For the most famous use of a gerundive in Roman history - in the sentence ''Delenda est Carthago'' (‘Carthage must be destroyed’) - see [[Cato]], under Marcus Porcius Cato Censorius.

**Some older forms which some of AWE's users might care to revive are
***'''credenda''', the [[gerundive]] of ''credĕre'', 'to believe', meaning 'things that should be believed'. This might be applied, for example, to the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]].

***'''facienda''', the [[gerundive]] of ''facĕre'', 'to make or do', meaning 'things that should be done'. A Roman, or a medieval monk, might have used this as a heading for a 'to do list', had he thought of such a thing.

***'''tacenda''', the [[gerundive]] of ''tacēre'', 'to be silent', meaning 'things not to talk of', 'things about which to keep silent'. ''Cf.'' [[Wittgenstein]]'s famous [[dictum]]:  "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."

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