Part 2 — CHAPTER XI. The Consonant Declensions of Nouns.

The Weak or n-Declension.

63.

The n-Declension contains almost all of the O.E. nouns belonging to the Consonant Declensions. The stem characteristic n has been preserved in the oblique cases, so that there is no difficulty in distinguishing n-stems from the preceding vowel stems.

The n-Declension includes (a) masculines, (b) feminines, and (c) neuters. The masculines far outnumber the feminines, and the neuters contain only ēage, eye and ēare, ear. The masculines end in -a, the feminines and neuters in -e.

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Paradigms of (a) sē hunta, hunter; (b) sēo tunge, tongue; (c) ðæt ēage, eye:

Sing. N. hunt-a tung-e ēag-e

G.D.I. hunt-an tung-an ēag-an

A. hunt-an tung-an ēag-e

Plur N.A. hunt-an tung-an ēag-an

G. hunt-ena tung-ena ēag-ena

D.I. hunt-um tung-um ēag-um

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Vocabulary.

sē adesa, hatchet, adze.

sē ǣmetta, leisure [empt-iness].

sē bǫna (bana), murderer [bane].

sēo cirice, church [Scotch kirk].

sē cnapa (later, cnafa), boy [knave].

sē cuma, stranger [comer].

ðæt ēare, ear.

sēo eorðe, earth.

sē gefēra, companion [co-farer].

sē guma, man [bride-groom1].

sēo heorte, heart.

sē mōna, moon.

sēo nǣdre, adder [a nadder > an adder2].

sē oxa, ox.

sē scēowyrhta, shoe-maker [shoe-wright].

sēo sunne, sun.

sē tēona, injury [teen].

biddan (with dat. of person and gen. of thing3), to request, ask for.

cwelan, to die [quail].

gescieppan, to create [shape, land-scape, friend-ship].

giefan (with dat. of indirect object), to give.

healdan, to hold.

helpan (with dat.), to help.

scęððan4 (with dat.), to injure [scathe].

wiðstǫndan (-standan) (with dat.), to withstand.

wrītan, to write.

66.

Exercises.

I. 1. Sē scēowyrhta brȳcð his ǣmettan. 2. Ðā guman biddað ðǣm cnapan ðæs adesan. 3. Hwā is sē cuma? 4. Hielpst ðū ðǣm bǫnan? 5. Ic him ne helpe. 6. Ðā bearn scęððað ðæs bǫnan ēagum ǫnd ēarum. 7. Sē cuma cwielð on ðǣre cirican. 8. Sē hunta wiðstęnt ðǣm wulfum. 9. Ðā oxan berað ðæs cnapan gefēran. 10. Sē mōna ǫnd ðā tunglu sind on ðǣm heofonum. 11. Ðā huntan healdað ðǣre nǣdran tungan. 12. Hē hiere giefð ðā giefa. 13. Ðā werod scęððað ðæs cyninges feldum.

II. 1. Who will bind the mouths of the oxen? 2. Who gives him the gifts? 3. Thou art helping him, and I am injuring him. 4. The boy’s companion is dying. 5. His nephew does not enjoy his leisure. 6. The adder’s tongue injures the king’s companion. 7. The sun is the day’s eye. 8. She asks the strangers for the spears. 9. The men’s bodies are not here. 10. Is he not (Nis hē) the child’s murderer? 11. Who creates the bodies and the souls of men? 12. Thou withstandest her. 13. He is not writing.