Chapter IV
Reading edition
ADJECTIVES
A. The Declension of Adjectives.
1. The Strong Declension.
§ 55. The MHG. adjectives are declined as strong or weak. They have three genders, and the same cases as nouns. The endings of the strong declension are partly nominal and partly pronominal. The nominal endings are: the accusative feminine singular, as blinde like gëbe (§ 48); and the genitive singular masculine and neuter, as blindes like tages, wortes (§§ 43, 46). All the other endings are pronominal. The so-called uninflected form of adjectives in the nom. singular masculine and feminine and the nom. acc. neuter is a remnant of the time when adjectives and nouns were declined alike, see the Author’s Hist. Germ. Grammar, §§ 399-400. The strong declension includes three different types of adjectives, all of which are declined alike: (a) The old a-stems, as blint, infl. form blinter, blind; bar, bare, guot, good, heilec, holy, hol, hollow, michel, great, vinster, dark, and similarly with a very large number of adjectives, including the past participles of strong and weak verbs. (b) The old ja-stems, as lære (OHG. lāri), infl. lærer, empty; dünne, thin, enge, narrow, grüene, green, niuwe, new, reine, pure, schœne, beautiful, senfte, soft, wilde, wild, and many others, including the present participles of strong and weak verbs. The ja-stems only differ from the a-stems in having -e in the uninflected form and umlaut in the stem-syllable when it is capable of it. (c) The old wa-stems, as blā (OHG. blāo, blā), infl. form blāwer, blue; gar (OHG. garo), infl. form garwer (see §§ 9, 1, 36), ready; grā, grey, val, fallow, gël, yellow, kal, bald, &c., all of which have w in the inflected forms.
The adjectival i- and u-stems had come to be declined like the ja-stems in the prehistoric period of the language, but a few remnants of such adjectives have survived in MHG. in forms without the final -e beside those with it, as bereit, bereite, ready, dic, dicke, thick, gāch, gæhe, quick, grīs, grīse, old, grey, hēr, hēre, high, noble, rasch, resche, quick, rīch, rīche, noble, swā, swære, heavy, was, wasse, sharp.
Sing.
Masc. Neut. Fem.
Nom. blinder, blind blindeȥ blindiu
Acc. blinden blindeȥ blinde
Gen. blindes blindes blinder(e)
Dat. blindem(e) blindem(e) blinder(e)
Plur.
Nom. blinde blindiu blinde
Acc. blinde blindiu blinde
Gen. blinder(e) blinder(e) blinder(e)
Dat. blinden blinden blinden
On the loss of the -e in blindem(e), blinder(e), see § 9, 2. Umlaut caused by the -iu occurs in the nom. sing. feminine and nom. acc. pl. neuter of al, all, and ander, other, second, as älliu, ändriu. This rarely happens in other words.
Sing.
Masc. Neut. Fem.
Nom. micheler, great michel(e)ȥ micheliu
Acc. michel(e)n michel(e)ȥ michel(e)
Gen. michel(e)s michel(e)s michelre, micheler
Dat. michelme, michel(e)m michelme, michel(e)m michelre, micheler
Plur.
Nom. michel(e) micheliu michel(e)
Acc. michel(e) micheliu michel(e)
Gen. michelre, micheler michelre, micheler michelre, micheler
Dat. michel(e)n michel(e)n michel(e)n
Like michel are inflected monosyllabic adjectives ending in -l, -r with a short stem-vowel, and polysyllabic adjectives ending in -el, -en, -er, as bar, bare, hol, hollow; zwīvel, doubtful, eigen, own, tougen, secret, ander, other, second, bitter, bitter, vinster, dark; ëben, even, übel, evil, bad, &c. See § 9, 1, 2.
2. The Weak Declension.
§ 56. The weak declension of adjectives agrees exactly with that of the nouns.
Sing.
Masc. Neut. Fem.
Nom. blinde, blind blinde blinde
Acc. blinden blinde blinden
Gen. blinden blinden blinden
Dat. blinden blinden blinden
Plural blinden for all cases and genders.
B. The Comparison Of Adjectives.
§ 57. The comparative was formed by means of the suffix -er(e) = OHG. -iro, -ōro, and the superlative by means of the suffix -est(e) = OHG. -isto, -ōsto. On the loss of the medial or final e in such forms as tiurre, dearer, tiurste; minner, minre, less, minnest, min(ne)ste, see § 9, 3. Most monosyllables have umlaut in the comparative and superlative either exclusively or have mutated beside unmutated forms. The cause of these double forms is in a great measure due to the two OHG. double suffixes: comp. -iro, -ōro and superl. -isto, -ōsto having fallen together in -er(e) and -est(e) in MHG., as elter, older, ermer, poorer, jünger, younger, grœȥer, greater, hœher, higher, beside alter, armer, junger, grōȥer, hōher; superl. eltest, ermest, jüngest, grœȥest, hœhest, beside altest, armest, jungest, grōȥest, hōhest. Adjectives which have umlaut in the positive regularly preserve it in the comparative and superlative.
The comparative is declined weak, but the superlative is declined strong and weak.
§ 58. The following adjectives form their comparative and superlative from a different root than the positive:—
guot, good, beȥȥer, beȥȥest, beste (§ 23).
übel, bad, wirser, wirsest, wir(se)ste.
lützel, little, minner, minre (§ 9, 3), minnest, min(ne)ste.
michel, great, mērer, mēr(r)e, meiste.
§ 59. The following adjectives are defective:—
ērer, ērre, ërre, former, ērest, ērste, first.
hinder, hinder, hinderste, hindmost.
ober, upper, oberste, uppermost.
leȥȥeste, leste (§ 23), last.
vorder, former, vorderste, foremost.
C. Formation of Adverbs from Adjectives.
§ 60. 1. By adding -e (= OHG. -o) to the adjective when this does not already end in -e, as ëben, even, hōch, high, lanc, long: adv. ëbene, hōhe, lange; edele (OHG. edili), noble, übel (OHG. ubil), evil: adv. edele (OHG. edilo), übele (OHG. ubilo).
2. Dissyllabic adjectives ending in -e and containing a mutated stem-vowel change it to the corresponding unmutated vowel, when used as adverbs, as schœne (OHG. scōni), beautiful, herte, hard, senfte, soft, süeȥe, sweet, swære, heavy: adv. schōne, harte, sanfte, suoȥe, swāre.
3. By adding -līche or -līchen to the adjective, as ganz, whole, vlīȥec, diligent: adv. ganzlīche(n), vlīȥeclīche(n).
4. The comparative and superlative degrees of adverbs are the same as the corresponding uninflected forms of the adjectives without umlaut:—
Adjective lanc, long lenger lengest.
Adverb lange langer (OHG. langōr) langest (OHG. langōst).
§ 61. The following are irregular:—
wol, well baȥ, better best(e), best.
wirs, worse wirsest, wirste, worst.
min, minner, minre, less minnest, minste, least.
mē, mēr, mēre, more meist, meiste, most.
ē, formerly ēr(e)st, ērste, first.
§ 62.
D. Numerals.
Cardinal. Ordinal.
ein, -er, -eȥ, -iu, one ērste
zwei, two ander
drī, three dritte
vier, four vierde
fünf (finf), five fünfte, finfte
sëhs, six sëhste
siben, seven sibende, -te
ahte, eight ahtede, ahte
niun, nine niunde, -te
zëhen, ten zëhende, -te
einlif (eilif), eleven ei(n)lifte, eilfte
zwelf, twelve zwelfte
drīzëhen, thirteen drīzëhende
vierzëhen, fourteen vierzëhende
fünfzëhen, fifteen fünfzëhende
sëh(s)zëhen, sixteen së(h)szëhende
sibenzëhen, seventeen sibenzëhende
ah(t)zëhen, eighteen ah(t)zëhende
niunzëhen, nineteen niunzëhende
zweinzic (or -zec), twenty zweinzigeste
drīȥic„ thirty drīȥigeste
vierzic„ forty vierzigeste
fünfzic„ fifty fünfzigeste
sëhszic„ sixty sëhszigeste
sibenzic„ seventy sibenzigeste
ah(t)zic„ eighty ah(t)zigeste
niunzic„ ninety niunzigeste
zëhenzic or hundert hundred zëhenzigeste or hundertste
zwei hunt or hundert two hundred zweihundertste
tūsent thousand tūsenste
zwei tūsent two thousand zweitūsentste
§ 63. Ein follows the strong declension, when used as a numeral. The dat. einme is generally contracted to eime (§ 9, 3). When ein is used in the sense of alone, it follows the weak declension. On the inflexion of ander, second, see § 55. Zwei and drī are declined as follows:—
Masc. Neut. Fem.
Nom. Acc. zwēne zwei zwō, zwuo, zwā
Gen. zwei(g)er (§ 35) zwei(g)er zwei(g)er
Dat. zwein, zweien zwein, zweien zwein, zweien
Nom. Acc. drī, dr[i]e driu drī, drīe
Gen. drī(g)er (§ 35) drī(g)er drī(g)er
Dat. drī̆n, drīen drī̆n, drī̆en drī̆n, drīen
§ 64. The other cardinals up to twelve are sometimes inflected; when such is the case the endings are:—
Masc. and Fem. Neut.
Nom. Acc. -e -iu
Gen. -er -er
Dat. -en -en
hundert and tūsent are neuter nouns.