Editing Genitive case (section)

==Latin==
The genitive is one of the cases of nouns and pronouns in [[Latin grammar|Latin]]. Latin genitives still have certain modern scientific uses:
*[[Binomial nomenclature|Scientific names]] of living things sometimes contain genitives, as in the plant name ''[[Buddleja davidii]]'', meaning "David's buddleia". Here ''davidii'' is the genitive of ''Davidius'', a [[Latinisation (literature)|Latinized]] version of the Hebrew name. It is not capitalized because it is the second part of a binomial name.
*Names of astronomical constellations are Latin, and the genitives of their names are used in naming objects in those constellations, as in the [[Bayer designation]] of stars. For example, the brightest star in the constellation [[Virgo (constellation)|Virgo]] is called ''Alpha Virginis'', which is to say "Alpha of Virgo", as ''virginis'' is the genitive of ''virgō''. Plural forms and adjectives also decline accordingly: plural ''Alpha Piscium'' ([[Pisces (constellation)|Pisces]]) and ''Alpha Canum Venaticorum'' ([[Canes Venatici]]) versus singular ''Alpha Piscis Austrini'' ([[Piscis Austrinus]]) and ''Alpha Canis Majoris'' ([[Canis Major]]). Astronomy manuals often list the genitive forms, as some are easy to get wrong even with a basic knowledge of Latin, e.g. [[Vela (constellation)|Vela]], which is a neuter plural not a feminine singular: ''Delta Velorum'' not *''Delta Velae''.
* ''[[Modus operandi]]'', which can be translated to English as "mode of operation", in which ''operandi'' is a singular genitive [[gerund]] (i.e. "of operation"), not a plural of ''operandus'' as is sometimes mistakenly assumed.