Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1400-1500
Language: Latin
Origin: dativus 'of giving', from dare 'to give'

dative

 noun
     
Related topics: Linguistics, Grammar
da‧tive [countable usually singular]
SL a particular form of a noun in some languages such as Latin and German, which shows that the noun is the indirect object of a verb
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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