Chapter III
Reading edition
DECLENSION OF NOUNS
§ 41. MHG. nouns have two numbers: singular and plural; three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter, as in OHG. and NHG., from which the gender of nouns in MHG. does not materially differ; four cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative. Traces of an old locative occur in what is called the uninflected dative singular of hūs, house, beside hūse, and in proper names like Engellant beside Engellande. The vocative is like the nominative.
In MHG., as in the older periods of the other Germanic languages, nouns are divided into two great classes, according as the stem originally ended in a vowel or a consonant, cp. the similar division of nouns in Latin and Greek. Nouns whose stems originally ended in a vowel belong to the vocalic or so-called strong declension. Those whose stems originally ended in -n belong to the so-called weak or n-declension. All other consonantal stems are generally put together under the general heading, ‘Minor Declensions’. In OHG. nouns whose stems originally ended in a vowel are subdivided into the a-declension including pure a-stems, ja-stems, and wa-stems; the ō-declension including pure ō-stems, jō-stems, and wō-stems; the ī̆-declension, and the u-declension. All the nouns belonging to the u-declension went over into other declensions in MHG. (cp. §§ 43, 44, 49). But as all final vowels either disappeared (some of them already in OHG.) or were weakened to e in MHG. (see §§ 7, 8), it is no longer practicable to retain the OHG. subdivision fully without entering into the oldest and in many cases into the prehistoric period of the language, which would be quite out of place in a MHG. grammar. The old ‘Minor Declensions’ had begun to pass over into the vocalic, especially into the i- and a-, declensions in the oldest OHG. The remnants of the old inflexions preserved in MHG. will be noted in the following paragraphs. The neuter nouns whose stems originally ended in -os, -es (cp. § 47) are in this Primer included in the strong declension.
A. The Vocalic or Strong Declension.
1. Masculine Nouns.
§ 42. First declension.—To this declension belong all masculine nouns which form their plural in -e only. It includes: (a) the old masculine a-stems; (b) the old masculine wa-stems which lost their final -w after long vowels in OHG., as sē, sea, gen. sēwes, pl. sēwe, and similarly bū, dwelling, rē (also neuter), corpse, snē, snow, see § 36; and (c) the old masculine i-stems which could not have umlaut in the plural (§ 44).
Sing.
Nom. Acc. tac, day kil, quill engel, angel
Gen. tages kil(e)s engel(e)s
Dat. tage kil(e) engel(e)
Plur.
Nom. Acc. Gen. tage kil(e) engel(e)
Dat. tagen kil(e)n engel(e)n
On the interchange between fortis and lenis, as in tac, day, lop, praise, sant, sand, hof, court, gen. tages, lobes, sandes, hoves, see § 33.
Like tac are also declined the old consonantal stems vīent, enemy, and vriunt, friend, but pl. vriunde beside the old plural vriunt.
Like kil are declined all monosyllabic masculine nouns having a short stem-vowel and ending in -l or -r (§ 9, 1).
Like engel are declined masculine polysyllabic nouns ending in -el, -em, -en, -er, when their stem-syllable is long, as mantel, mantle, ātem, breath, morgen, morning, acker, field. Those in -em, -en generally retain the e in the dative plural. Polysyllabic nouns with short stem-syllables fluctuate between the retention or loss of the e, as gen. sing. vogeles or vogels, dat. sing, and nom. acc. pl. vogele or vogel, and similarly vadem, thread, rëgen, rain, sumer, summer, see § 9, 2.
§ 43. Second declension.—To this declension belong all masculine nouns whose nom. and acc. singular end in -e, which is the only difference between this and the first declension. It includes: (a) the old masculine ja-stems; (b) many old u-stems with short stem-syllable, as fride (OHG. fridu), peace, site (OHG. situ), custom, and similarly huge, thought, mëte, mead, sige beside sic, victory, wite, wood (see § 36); (c) the old short i-stem wine, friend; and (d) the old masculine wa-stem schate (gen. schat(e)wes beside schates), shadow.
Sing. Plur.
Nom. Acc. hirte, shepherd hirte
Gen. hirtes hirte
Dat. hirte hirten
§ 44. Third declension.—To this declension belong all masculine nouns which form their plural in -e and with umlaut of the stem-vowel. It includes: (a) the old masculine i-stems; (b) the old masculine u-stem sun (OHG. sunu, sun), son; and (c) the two old consonant stems fuoȥ, foot, zant (gen. zandes), zan, tooth.
Sing. Plur.
MHG. OHG. MHG. OHG.
Nom. Acc. gast gast, guest geste gesti
Gen. gastes gastes geste gesteo, -io
Dat. gaste gaste gesten gestim
The singular of nouns of this declension was inflected like the a-stems (§ 42) already in OHG. And owing to the weakening of the case-endings of the plural in passing from OHG. to MHG. (§ 7), the only difference in the two declensions is the presence or absence of umlaut in the plural. The old masculine i-stems which could not have umlaut in the plural accordingly came to be inflected entirely like the old masculine a-stems, as schrit, step, snit, cut, biȥ, bite, pl. schrite, snite, biȥȥe. A further consequence of the singular being inflected alike in both declensions is that the old a-stems began to have umlaut in the plural after the analogy of the i-stems, as gedenke, thoughts, nägele, nails, wägene, wagons, beside gedanke, nagele, wagene.
Nouns ending in the fortis p, t, c, or f (= Germanic f) regularly change the fortis to lenis in the inflected forms, as korp, basket, walt, wood, slac, blow, brief, letter, gen. korbes, waldes, stages, brieves.
§ 45. The old consonant stems vater, father, bruoder, brother, often remain uninflected in the singular, as gen. vater, bruoder beside vaters, bruoders (cp. § 9, 2). In the plural they take umlaut, as veter, brüeder. The old consonant stem man, man, is either declined like tac (§ 42) or remains uninflected throughout, as
Sing. Plur.
Nom. Acc. man manne, man
Gen. mannes, man manne, man
Dat. manne, man mannen, man
The nom. plural man, now written mann, is still preserved in counting, as hundert mann, a hundred men.
2. Neuter Nouns.
§ 46. First Declension.—To this declension belong all neuter nouns which have their nominative case singular and plural alike. It includes three different types of nouns: (a) The old neuter a-stems like wort, word, venster, window. (b) The old neuter ja-stems like künne, race, generation, bette, bed, netze, net. The characteristic of this type of noun is that it has umlaut in all forms of the singular and plural when the stem-vowel is capable of it (cp. § 31, 3). And (c) the old neuter wa-stems (cp. § 36) like knie, knee, gen. kniewes.
Sing.
Nom. Acc. wort venster künne knie
Gen. wortes vensters künnes kniewes (knies)
Dat. worte venster künne kniewe (knie)
Plur.
Nom. Acc. wort venster künne knie
Gen. worte venster künne kniewe (knie)
Dat. worten venstern künnen kniewen (knien)
(a) On the interchange between the fortes p, t, c and the lenes b, d, g, as in grap, grave, gëlt, money, dinc, thing, gen. grabes, gëldes, dinges, see § 33.
Like venster are declined the neuter polysyllabic nouns ending in -el, -em, -en, -er, as luoder, bait, wāfen, wāpen, weapon; schapel, garland, gadem, house, wëter, weather. On the endings, see §§ 9, 42.
(b) Like künne is also declined the old neuter u-stem vihe (OHG. fihu), cattle.
(c) Like knie are declined mël, meal, rē (also masc.), corpse, smër, fat, strō, straw, tou, dew, wē, woe, gen. mëlwes, rēwes, smërwes, strōwes, touwes, wēwes, see § 36.
§ 47. Second declension.—To this declension belong all neuter nouns which form their plural in -er and by umlaut of the stem-vowel when it is capable of it. This class of nouns corresponds to the Latin neuters in -us, as genus, gen. generis, pl. genera. The -er (OHG. -ir) was originally a stem-forming suffix which came to be regarded as a plural ending. In the oldest period of the language only about half-a-dozen nouns belonged to this class, but during the MHG. period nearly twenty neuter a-stems passed into this declension, and in NHG. the number has increased to about a hundred.
Sing. Plur.
MHG. OHG. MHG. OHG.
Nom. Acc. lamp lamb, lamb lember lembir
Gen. lambes lambes lember lembiro
Dat. lambe lambe lembern lembirum
On the loss of the e in the gen. and dat. plural, see § 9, 2.
Other examples are: ei (pl. eiger, eijer, eier, § 35), egg, huon, hen, kalp, calf, rat, wheel, rint, bullock, tal, dale.
3. Feminine Nouns.
§ 48. First declension.—To this declension belong all feminine nouns having their nominative case singular and plural alike. It includes: (a) the old feminine ō-stems, as gëbe, gift, sēle, soul, zal, number; (b) the old feminine jō-stems, as küneginne, künegin, künegīn, queen, and similarly vriundinne, friend, gütinne, goddess; (c) the old feminine wō-stems with and without w, as brāwe, brā, brow, pl. brā beside weak pl. brāwen; diuwe, diu, servant; (d) the old feminine abstract nouns in -ī, as vinster (OHG. finstrī), darkness, schœne (OHG. scōnī), beauty; and (e) the old consonant stem, swester, swëster, sister.
Sing.
Nom. Acc. gëbe zal vinster
Gen. gëbe zal vinster
Dat. gëbe zal vinster
Plur.
Nom. Acc. gëbe zal vinster
Gen. gëben zaln vinstern
Dat. gëben zaln vinstern
On the endings in nouns declined like zal, number, dol, pain, wal, choice, nar, food, schar, flock, and vinster, see § 9, 1, 2.
The gen. plural had the ending of the weak declension already in the oldest period of the language. Through the nom. singular and the gen. and dat. plural having the same endings as the feminine weak declension (§ 53), ō-stems began in OHG. to be inflected after the analogy of the weak declension, especially in the plural. This process spread considerably in MHG. with concrete nouns, but not often with abstract nouns.
§ 49. Second declension.—To this declension belong all feminine nouns which form their plural in -e and have umlaut in the stem-vowel. It includes: (a) the old feminine i-stems; (b) the old u-stem hant, hand; and (c) several old consonantal stems, see below.
Sing. Plur.
MHG. OHG. MHG. OHG.
Nom. Acc. anst anst, favour enste ensti
Gen. enste or anst ensti enste ensteo, -io
Dat. enste or anst ensti ensten enstim
In jugent (OHG. jugund, pl. jugundi), youth, gen. dat. jugende beside jugent, pl. jugende, the original -i being in the third syllable did not cause umlaut in the stem-syllable; and similarly tugent, valour.
hant, hand, originally belonged to the u-declension, which explains forms like gen. sing, and plural hande beside hende, dat. pl. handen beside henden. The old gen. plural has been preserved in NHG. allerhand, and the dat. plural in abhanden, beihanden, vorhanden, zuhanden.
Several old consonant stems went over partly or entirely into this declension, viz. maget, meit (§ 37), maid, pl. mägede or meide; kuo, cow, pl. küeje or küewe (OHG. kuoi), sū, sow, pl. siuwe (OHG. sūi); both these nouns generally remained uninflected in the gen. and dat. singular. naht, night, has gen. and dat. singular naht beside nähte; pl. nom. acc. gen. naht beside nähte, dat. nahten beside nähten, cp. also NHG. weihnachten, MHG. zën wīhen nahten. The MHG. adverbial gen. nahts, dës nahtes was formed after the analogy of dës tages. Like naht were also inflected brust, breast, and burc, citadel.
muoter, mother, and tohter, daughter, remain uninflected in the singular. In the plural they have umlaut: müeter, töhter.
B. The Weak Declension (N-Stems).
§ 50. The weak declension contains a large number of masculine and feminine nouns, but only four neuter nouns, viz. hërze, heart, ōre, ear, ouge, eye, and wange, cheek; these nouns, especially hërze, sometimes form their nom. acc. plural after the analogy of nouns like künne (§ 46). The original case endings of the weak declension had disappeared in the oldest period of the language except in the nom. singular (masc. -o, fem., and neut. -a), the gen. pl. (ōno) and dat. pl. (-ōm). Owing to the weakening of the -o, -a to -e in MHG. the nom. singular became alike in all genders. And similarly the endings -ōno, -ōm and the endings of the other oblique forms were all weakened to -en in MHG. (§ 7), so that the element which originally formed part of the stem came to be regarded as a case ending.
On the loss of the final and medial e in nouns like ar, eagle, bir (fem.), pear, gevangen(e), prisoner, beside the inflected forms arn, birn, gevangen from *gevangen-en through the intermediate stage *gevangenn, see § 9, 1, 2.
§ 51.
1. Masculine Nouns.
Sing.
MHG. OHG.
Nom. bote boto, messenger
Acc. boten boton, -un
Gen. boten boten, -in
Dat. boten boten, -in
Plur.
Nom. Acc. boten boton, -un
Gen. boten botōno
Dat. boten botōm
§ 52.
2. Neuter Nouns.
Sing.
MHG. OHG.
Nom. Acc. hërze hërza, heart
Gen. hërzen hërzen, -in
Dat. hërzen hërzen, -in
Plur.
Nom. Acc. hërzen hërzun, -on
Gen. hërzen hërzōno
Dat. hërzen hërzōm
§ 53.
3. Feminine Nouns.
Sing.
MHG. OHG.
Nom. zunge zunga, tongue
Acc. zungen zungūn
Gen. zungen zungūn
Dat. zungen zungūn
Plur.
Nom. Acc. zungen zungūn
Gen. zungen zungōno
Dat. zunge zungōm
C. Declension of Proper Names.
§ 54. Names of persons ending in e in the nominative follow the weak declension. Masculine names of persons take -es in the genitive, -e in the dative, and -en in the accusative after the analogy of the strong adjectives. The accusative ending -en was sometimes extended to the dative, and the dative ending -e to the accusative. And sometimes both these cases were without endings. Names of countries ending in -lant often have no ending in the dative, as Engellant beside Engellande, see § 41. Feminine names of persons ending in a consonant take -e in the genitive, dative and accusative, but occasionally remain uninflected throughout.
Masculine.
Nom. Sīfrit Hagene
Gen. Sīfrides Hagenen
Dat. Acc. Sīfrit, Sīfride(n) Hagenen
Feminine.
Nom. Kriemhilt Uote
Gen. Dat. Acc. Kriemhilde, Kriemhilt Uoten