| accusative |
| Definition: The grammatical case that shows which noun is receiving the verb's action (i.e., the case that indicates the direct object of a transitive verb). |
| Example: It is almost extinct in Modern English, but there are a few remaining artifacts from Old English: (1) whom, the accusative form of who and (2) the accusative forms of the personal pronouns: e.g., her (the accusative form of she) and him (the accusative of he). |
| Etymology: It derives from the Latin casus accusativus, the case of accusing. Note: It was coined by someone mistranslating the Greek phrase ptosis aitiatikem, the case of that which is caused. |
| OED: The word's first OED citation is from circa 1440: "The fourte case is accusatif case.' (Gesta Rom. (1879) 417) |