17.11.2008.

Old English Nouns

Nouns in OE mark the distinction of the grammatical categories of gender, number and case. It was an open class in the OE period just as it is today. Gender in OE is grammatical, which means that male beings need not necessarily have been denoted by nouns of the masculine gender or female beings by nouns of the feminine gender: WF, n. (= wife) WFMANN, m. (=woman) MEGDEN, n. (= maiden) OE gender, however, often corresponds to natural sex distinction as in: masculine: FDER (= father), CYNING (= king), MANN (=man) feminine: MDOR (= mother), CWN (= queen), DOHTOR (= daughter) The gender in OE is not distinguished either by the nouns inflection or type of declension, the only exception being the -stems, which include only nouns of feminine gender. All other declensions include nouns of two or all three genders. To a certain extent their gender can be identified by the demonstrative pronoun or adjective preceding the noun. Within the grammatical category of case four cases are distinguished in of all different types of declensions: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative. In OE the nominative case also functions as the vocative case, while the dative case is used to denote the instrumental case as well. There are three general declensions masculine, neuter and feminine along with an declension and irregular declensions.

The General Masculine Declension

There are 4 cases in both sg. and pl. forms, therefore 8 forms: HUND, m. SG. N. G. D. A. HLF, m. N. G. D. A. HUND HUND ES HUND E HUND SG. HLF HLF ES HLF E HLF /hla:ves/ /hla:ve/ N. G. A. N. G. D. A. PL. HUND HUND HUND HUND PL. HLF HLF D. HLF AS A HLF AS /hla:vas/ /hla:va/ UM /hla:vum/ /hla:vas/ AS A UM AS

*Intervocalic position of /f/ requires a different pronunciation

DG, m. /dej/ SG. N. G. D. A. DG DG ES DG E DG N. G. D. A. PL. DAG AS DAG A DAG UM DAG AS /daas/ /daa/ /daum/ /daas/

THE ROOT VOWEL CHANGES INTO A VOWEL OF A BACK QUALITY BECAUSE OF THE BACK INFLECTIONAL VOWEL

Other nouns that change after this declension are: STN, m. (=stone) CYNING, m. (=king) RP, m. (=rope) HLF, m. (=loaf) DG, m. (=day) HM, m. (=home) BT, m. (=boat) HWL, m. (=whale) n. pl HWALAS *W & H switched the place

The General Neuter Declension

LAND, n. N. G. D. A.

SG. LAND LAND ES LAND E LAND N. G. D. A.

PL. LAND same as nom. sg. LAND A LAND UM LAND

There was a group of neuter nouns with an ending in nom. pl. and it was U (nom.& acc. plural). But, irregularity in usage of this ending shows that it had gradually disappeared till the end of OE period. These nouns started receiving AS in nom. pl. and later on, in MnE, -ES/ -S as a general plural. The rule for OE niuns changing after this declension was: WHEN A ROOT OF A NOUN IS SHORT, THEN THE NEUTER NOUN RECEIVES U TO DENOTE PLURAL. (The vowel remains very short)

SCIP, n.

SG. SCIP SCIP ES SCIP E SCIP N. G. D. A.

PL. SCIP SCIP SCIP SCIP U A UM U

N. G. D. A.

Other nouns that change after this declension are: WF, n. HS, n. GR, n. DR, n. (=deer) SCP, n. (=sheer)

The General Feminine Declension

GLF, f. (=glove) SG. N. G. D. A. GLF GLF E GLF E GLF E N. G. D. A. PL. GLF GLF GLF GLF A A -UM A

/glo:ve/

LUFU, f. /luvu/ (=love) SG. N. G. D. A. LUFU LUF E LUF E LUF E N. G. D. A.

PL. LUF LUF LUF LUF A A UM A

Other nouns that change after this declension are: TALU, f. STRNGU, f. LENGU, f. LR, f. BRYCG, f. ECG, f. (=edge)