Karnatakabhashabhushana 4.1

The nominative is used when expressing only the meaning of the nominal stem and number.

When only the meaning of the nominal stem and number are intended to be expressed, the nominative case inflection occurs.

First, for the nominal stem alone:

dēvaṁ ["a god"],

nr̥paṁ ["a king"],

nāri ["a woman"],

nallaḷ ["a beloved woman"],

kulaṁ ["a family"],

jalaṁ ["water"].

For meaning alone: [as in]

uccaṁ ["high"],

nīcaṁ ["low"].

For number alone: [as in]

ondānuṁ ["one"],

eraḍānuṁ ["two"].