Genitive

[Lat. genitivus, from gignere, genitum, to beget, to produce.) ( Gram.) Pertaining to a case in the declension of nouns, expre ing primarily the thing from which something else proceeds, but which has been extended to signify property, po e ion, . -2. The po e ive case; the name of the second case in the declension of nouns, generally indicating the relation expre ed i... English by the preposition of . "The Latin G. , " says Max Müller, " is a mere blunder; for the Greek word genike never meant genitivus . Genitivus, if it is meant to expre the case of origin or birth, would in Greek have been called gennetike , not genike . Nor does the G. expre the relation of son to father. For though we may say 'the son of the father,' we may likewise say 'the father of the son.' Genike in Greek had a much wider, a much more philosophical meaning. It meant casus general is, the general case, or, rather, the case which expre es the genus or kind. This is the real power of the G. If I say, 'a bird of the water,' 'of the water' defines the genus to which a certain bird belongs; it refers it to the genus of water-birds." ( Lectures on the Science of Language.) In English, the genitive or po e ive case is marked by the addition of the letter s preceded by an apostrophe; as, the king's son, my fa ther's horse. When the plural ends in s, the additional s of the G. is omitted (excepting sometimes in proper names), and only the apostrophe added, as, the kings ' sons. Gen'ito, in Virginia , a post-village of Powhattan co., on the Appomattox River, about 29 m. W. of Richmond,