A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

-biont, gen.sg.-biontis (s.n.III), abl.sg. –bionte: -biont (Eng.suffix); in Gk. comp.“one having a (specified) form of life” (WIII); "living in the environment specified," used in the formation of compound words, e.g. symbiont[> Gk. “bios (s.m.I), life, i.e. not an animal life (=zOE) but mode of life, manner of living; one’s lifetime; livlihood, means of living; a life, biography” (after Liddell & Scott)]; [lichens] see mycobiont; see phycobiont.

In Greek, to form the present active participle of -O verbs [omega], such as βῐόω, one adds the present active participle endings of the infinitive einai, i.e. , to the verb stem (einai is the present infinitive of eimi, ‘I am’):

‘being,’ pres. active part. of eimi, ‘I am,’ infinitive, einai, ‘to be;’

            sing.                  pl. being, pres. active part. of eimi,
                                      ‘I am,’ infinitive, einai, ‘to be;’
        m.    f.   n.           m.    f.     n.
Nom   On     ousa   on        ontes  ousai   onta
Gen.  ontos  ousEs  ontos     ontOn  ousOn   ontOn
Dat.  onti   ousE   onti      ousi   ousais  ousi
Acc.  onta   ousan  on        ontas  ousas   onta

The Greek present active participles of βιόω (bióō),‘I live,’ infinitive biOnai, ‘to live, pass one’s life’ is: masculine: βιῶν(biôn), feminine: βιοῦσᾰ, neuter βιοῦν); of the first declension (feminine), and third declensions (masculine and neuter).

The suffix, ‘–biont,’ derives from the neuter of the present active participle of the Greek verb βιόω (bióō), ‘I live.’

NEUTER present active participle eimi and βῐόω (bioO), after Latinization and assignment of Latin declensional paradigms of the third declension:

         ‘being’                           ‘living’
Greek: singular    plural     Latin: singular      plural
    Nom. on        onta         Nom.  bion        bionta 
    Gen. ontos     ontOn        Gen.  biontis     biontum
    Dat. onti      ousin        Dat.  bionti      biontibus
    Acc. on        onta         Acc.  bion        bionta
----                            Abl.  bionte      biontibus

NOTE: -bion,-biontis is not an i-stem noun of the third declension, as it does not end in s, or x in the nominative singular, hence the gen.pl. is ‘biontum.’ NOTE: bio- + -on becomes ‘bion,’ the initial ‘o’ of the participle is elided.

NOTE: the masculine plural present active participle of bioO in the nominative case is biountes; the neuter plural is biounta.

This paradigm follows that of the noun archOn, -ontos (s.m.III), q.v.: “a ruler, commander, chief, captain” (Liddell & Scott). Archon is a masculine present active participle of the verb archO, ‘to rule, govern, command,’ used as a noun.

NOTE: archon (Eng.transliteration) is not a neuter word, but a masc. one, the ‘o’ being an omega.

Aerobiont (Eng.noun): an organism that needs air (free oxygen) to survive [> Gk. [> Gk. aer-, air + -biont, q.v., > bios, ‘life, mode of life’]; opp. anaerobiont, q.v.

Aerobion, -ontis (s.n.III), = an aerobiont;


      singular          plural
Nom.  aerobion        aerobionta        
Gen.  aerobiontis     aerobiontum
Dat.  aerobionti      aerobiontibus
Acc.  aerobion        aerobionta
Abl.  aerobionte      aerobiontibus