THE OLD ENGLISH INFLECTION

The Old English noun

The Old English noun was inflected for Gender, Case

and Number. Gender was not signalled on the form

of the noun. For instance such nouns as:

stān

‘stone’

lār

‘teaching’

hūs

‘house’

have the same syllable structure, i.e. their rhyme

consist of a long vowel followed by one consonant

in coda. There is nothing in the form of those

nouns that would indicate that

stān

is masculine,

lār

is feminine, and

hūs

is neuter. Such information

was coded on the form of other elements of the

Noun Phrase. Case and Number were cumulatively

indicated through endings whose number varied

according to types of declensions

The classification of the Old

English nouns

The Old English nouns took many

different sets of endings. This was

the result of numerous historical

developments. The results of those

developments can be presented in

the form of the classification of Old

English nouns. Two criteria are

crucial for this classification: a.

historical, b. productivity.

The classification of the Old

English nouns

a. The historical criterion: the classification was based on the

formant in which nominal stems ended in prehistorical time (pre-

Proto-Germanic). The prehistorical period nominal stems could

assume one of the three forms:

(i) [

STEM

… VC-

] + inflectional suffix

(ii) [

STEM

… VC-

] + inflectional suffix

(iii) [

STEM

… VC] + inflectional suffix

The nominal declension based on the stem type (i) is termed ‘vocalic’.

It is characterised by a good many endings preserved in the

paradigm. The condition favouring the preservation of these

endings is the structure of the nominal form where the vowel in

which the stem terminated merged with the vowel of the ending

thus reducing the number of the syllables. The nominal inflection

based on the stem type (ii) is termed ‘consonantal’. The paradigm

based on this type of declension is characterised by a

considerable degree of syncretism. Type (iii) will be ignored for a

moment.

b. The productivity criterion: major – the most productive and

minor the least productive (rather marginal)

The classification of the Old

English nouns

VOCALIC

CONSONANTA

MAJOR

STRONG

MASCULINE

STRONG FEMININE

STRONG NEUTER

WEAK MASCULINE

WEAK FEMININE

WEAK NEUTER

MINOR

MASCULINE &

FEMININE

DECLEN.

MASCULINE &

FEMININE

DECLEN.

ROOT CONSONANT

STEM DECLENSION;

-STEMS,

-nd-

STEMS;

-es-/-os-

STEMS

The classification of the Old

English nouns

Productivity criterion:

85% of Old English nouns were inflected due to

Major Vocalic or Major Consonantal.

The remaining 15% of Old English nouns made

Minor Declensions, either vocalic or

consonantal.

As has been mentioned earlier, there is nothing

on the form of the noun itself that would be

responsible for signalling Gender. This

grammatical category was signalled, among

others, through the forms of the OE

determiner.

The Old English determiner

The Old English determiner signalled such grammatical categories as

Gender, Case, and Number.

Singular

Masculine Feminine Neuter

Nominative

se seo

þæt

Genitive

þæs þære

þæs

Dative

þæm þære

þæm

Accusative

þone þā

þæt

Plural

Nom. & Acc.

Þā

Genitive

þara

Dative

þam

Strong Masculine

Declension

Strong Masculine Declension will be illustrated with such nouns as:

ān

‘stone’,

dæġ

‘day’, and

finger

‘finger’

SINGULAR

Nom. se stān dæġ finger

Gen. þæs stān –

dæġ –

fingr –

Dat. þæm stān –

dæġ –

fingr –

Acc. þone stān dæġ finger

PLURAL

Nom.

& Acc. þā stān –

dag –

fingr –

Gen. þara stān –

dag –

fingr –

Dat. þam stān –

dag –

fingr –

As regards the paradigm of the word

dæġ

, one can notice an

irregularity: the paradigm is based on the stem alternation

dæġ

[dæj] ~ daga/u- [da

a/u-]. This alternation is caused by the back

quality of the vowels in the plural.

Strong Masculine

Declension

ān

were inflected such nouns as:

bāt

‘boat’,

cniht

‘boy’,

dǽl

‘part, deal’,

hām

‘home’;

gāst

‘spirit’;

hund

‘dog’;

tūn

‘enclosure’;

cyning

‘king’;

hlāford

‘lord’.

dæġ

are inflected such nouns as:

hwæl

‘whale’;

stæf

‘staff’;

pæþ

‘path’.

finger

were inflected such nouns as:

engel

‘angel’,

dēofol

‘devil’;

fugol

‘bird’.

Strong Neuter Declension

Strong Neuter Declension will be illustrated with

such nouns as:

čip

‘ship’,

sčeāp

‘sheep’, and

hēafod

‘head’

SINGULAR

Nom. & Acc. þæt

čip sčeāp hēafod

Gen. þæs

čip-

sčeāp-

hēafd-

Dat. þæm

čip-

sčeāp-

hēafd-

PLURAL

Nom. & Acc. þā

čip-

sčeāp hēafod

Gen. þara

čip-

sčeāp-

hēafd-

Dat. Þam

čip-

sčeāp-

hēafd-

Strong Neuter Declension

Noteworthy is the fact that some neuter nouns take the

plural ending in Nom. and Acc. as in, e.g.

þæt sčip

‘the ship’ ~

þā sčipu

‘the ships’ while others do not,

e.g.

ān sčeāp

‘one sheep, a sheep’ ~

eahta sčeāp

‘eight sheep’. The answer to this problem lies in the

structure of the syllable in the stem. In the case of

sčip

the syllable is light, i.e. its Rhyme consists of a

short vowel and a single consonant in coda. Light

syllable stems take plural endings. In the case of

sčeāp,

the stem has a heavy syllable, i.e. its Rhyme

consists of a diphthong and a consonant in coda.

Heavy syllable stems (i.e. the ones whose Rhyme

contains either a diphthong or a long vowel and a

single consonant in coda or a short vowel and a

consonant cluster in coda) as well as disyllabic stems

do not take any plural endings.

Strong Neuter Declension

čip

were declined such words as:

lim

‘limb’,

hlid

‘lid’,

dor

‘door’,

col

‘coal’,

ġebed

‘prayer’,

bæc

‘back’,

bæþ

‘bath’.

sčeāp

were declined such words as:

word

‘word’;

hūs

‘house’,

bān

‘bone’,

sār

‘pain’,

tōl

‘tool’,

wīf

‘wife’,

ġear

‘year’,

land

‘land’,

folc

‘people’,

þing

‘thing’.

hēofod

were declined such words as:

tācen

‘token’,

wǽpen

‘weapon’,

tungol

‘star’.

Strong feminine declension

Strong feminine declension will be illustrated with

such words as:

talu

‘tale’,

ār

‘teaching’, and

sawol

‘soul’.

SINGULAR

Nom. seo tal

-u

lār sawol

Gen. þære tal

-e

lār

-e

sawl

-e

Dat. þære tal

-e

lār

-e

sawl

-e

Acc. þā tal

-e

lār

-e

sawl

-e

PLURAL

Nom.

& Acc. þā tal

-a

lār

-a

sawl

-a

Gen. þara tal

-a

lār

-a

sawl

-a

Dat. þam tal

-um

lār

-um

sawl

-um

Strong feminine declension

talu

were inflected such words as:

caru

‘care’,

stalu

‘theft’;

lufu

‘love’,

andswaru

‘answer’,

giefu

‘gift’.

ār

were inflected such words as:

ār

‘respect’,

glōf

‘glove’,

hwīl ‘

while,

space of time’;

þēod

‘people, nation’,

bryčġ

‘bridge’

sawol

were inflected such words

as:

frōfor

‘comfort’,

čeaster

‘city’.

Weak declensions

Old English weak declensions are

characterised by a considerable syncretism

of forms (consonantal stems). According to

these paradigms were inflected masculine,

feminine, and neuter nouns. To a certain

degree the declensions are similar to one

another. They differ slightly in one or two

endings. Weak declensions will be illustrated

with such words as:

hunta

‘hunter’ for Weak

Masculine,

tunge

for Weak Feminine, and

ēare

for Weak Neuter.

Weak declensions

Masculine Feminine Neuter

SINGULAR

Nom. se hunt

-a

seo tung

-e

þæt ēar

-e

Gen.

þæs hunt

-an

þære tung

-an

þæs ēar

-an

Dat.

þæm hunt

-an

þære tung

-an

þæm ēar

-an

Acc.

þone hunt

-an

þā tung

-an

þæt ēar

-e

PLURAL

Nom. &

Acc. þā hunt

-an

þā tung

-an

þā ēar

-an

Gen. þara hunt

-ena

þara tung

-ena

þara ēar

ena

Dat. þam hunt

-um

þam tung

-um

þam ēar

-um

Weak declensions

Weak Masculine: like

hunta

were inflected

such words as:

guma

‘man’,

ōna

‘moon’,

oxa

‘ox’,

dēma

‘judge’,

hara

‘hare’,

fōda

‘food’,

tīma

‘time’,

ġerēfa

‘reeve’;

Weak Feminine: like

tunge

were inflected such

words as:

sunne

‘sun’,

eorþe

‘earth’,

beriġe

‘berry’,

ælmesse

‘alms’,

čiriče

‘church’,

heorte

‘heart’,

ūle

‘owl’,

hlæfdiġe

‘lady’.

Weak Neuter: Like

ēare

was inflected only

ēaġe

‘eye’.

Minor declensions –

declension

-declension

comprised masculine and feminine nouns. The

words to illustrate this declension are:

sunu

‘son’,

duru

‘door’, and

hand

‘hand’

SINGULAR

Masculine Feminine

Nom. Acc. sun

-u

dur

-u

hand

Gen. Dat. sun

-a

dur

-a

hand

-a

PLURAL

Nom. Gen. Acc. sun

-a

dur

-a

hand

-a

Dative sun

-um

dur

-um

hand

-um

sunu

were declined such words as:

wudu

’wood’,

nosu

‘nose’.

hand

were declined such words as:

cweorn

‘hand-mill’,

ōr

‘floor’.

Minor declension – Root

Consonant Stems

A small group of nominal forms had descended from

the prehistorical, i.e. pre-Proto-Germanic, form

where the stem was the root, i.e. the root was not

modified by any formant, and the grammatical

ending was added directly to the root. The structure

of such forms can be presented as follows:

[

STEM

ROOT] + grammatical suffix.

In prehistorical times the suffixes from which Genitive

and Dative had descended had the vowel

–i-

is, -i

for Nominative Plural and Dative Singular

respectively). This vowel brought about the change

of the quality of the vowel in the root syllable

(UMLAUT).

Minor declension – Root

Consonant Stems

This declension comprised only masculine and

feminine nouns. It will be illustrated with such

nouns as:

man

‘man’,

ōt

‘foot’ for masculine and

bōc

‘book’ and

mūs

‘mouse’ for feminine.

SINGULAR

Masculine Feminine

Nom. Acc. man(n), fōt bōc mūs

Gen. mann

-es

fōt

-es

č m

ỹ

Dat. m

n(n) f

t b

č m

ỹ

PLURAL

Nom. Acc. m

n(n) f

t b

č m

ỹ

Gen. mann

-a

fōt

-a

bōc

-a

mūs

-a

Dat. mann

-um

fōt

-um

bōc

-um

mūs

-um

Minor declension – Root

Consonant Stems

man(n)

was inflected

wifman

‘wife’;

ōt

was inflected

tōþ

‘tooth

;

bōc

were inflected

gōs

, ‘goose’,

gāt

‘goat’

lūs

‘louse’,

cū

‘cow’.

Minor inflections -

-es-/-os-

declension

This limited declension comprised only three

neuter nouns,

čild

‘child’,

lamb

‘lamb’,

æġ

‘egg’.

SINGULAR

Nom. Acc. þæt čild (sčip)

Gen. þæs čild

-es

(sčip

-es

)

Dat. þæm čild

-e

(sčip

-e

)

PLURAL

Nom. Acc. þā čild

-r-

(sčip

-u

)

Gen. þara čild

-r-

(sčip

-a

)

Dat. þam čild

-r-

(sčip

-um

)

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