REPUBLIC OF MOLODOVA

MINESTRY OF EDUCATION
ION CREANGA STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE
ENGLISH PHILOLOGY DEPARTMENT

REPORT

THE NOUN AND THE ADJECTIVE IN

OLD ENGLISH PERIOD AND THEIR
DECLENSION

SUBMITTED BY:
SCIENTIFIC ADVISER:

CHISINAU 2015

A language whose word patterns show their grammatical function in the sentence by
being declined is called an inflected language. So, Old English is an
inflected language. A set of declined forms of the same word pattern is called a
declension and it becomes more clear and obvious in the following categories:
Case
Gender
Number

Noun Case
The different grammatical functions a language recognizes are called cases. Of eight
Proto-Indo-European cases, Old English keeps just four which were inherited from
the Common Germanic language. In fact, several of original Indo-European noun
cases were weak enough to be lost practically in all branches of the family, coinciding
with other, stronger cases. The ablative case often was assimilated by the genitive (in
Greek, Slavic, Baltic, and Germanic), locative usually merged with dative (Italic,
Celtic, Greek), and so did the instrumental case. That is how four cases appeared in
Germanic and later in Old English - nominative, genitive, accusative and dative.
These four were the most ancient and therefore stable in the system of the IndoEuropean morphology.
The problem of the Old English instrumental case is rather strange - this case arises
quite all of a sudden among Germanic tongues and in some forms is used quite
regularly (like in demonstrative pronouns). In Gothic the traces of instrumental and
locative though can be found, but are considered as not more than relics. But the Old
English must have "recalled" this archaic instrumental, which existed, however, not
for too long and disappeared already in the 10th century, even before the Norman
conquest and transformation of the English language into its Middle stage.
As for other cases, here is a little pattern of their usage in the Old English syntax.

The nominative case indicated the subject of the sentence, for example: se
cyning means 'the king'. It was also used for direct address. Adjectives in the
predicate (qualifying a noun on the other side of 'to be') were also in the
nominative.
The accusative case indicated the direct object of the sentence, the object
immediately affected by the action (what?)

For example: elbald lufode one cyning means "elbald loved the king",
where elbald is the subject and the king is the object. Already the accusative
had begun to merge with the nominative; it was never distinguished in the
plural, or in a neuter noun.
The genitive case indicated possession, whose? of what?
Also after the expression meaning full of , free of , worthy of , guilty of, etc.
For example: the s cyninges scip is "the ship of the king" or "the king's
ship". It also indicated partitive nouns.
The dative case indicated the indirect object of the sentence; the object towards
which the action is directed. To whom or for whom the object was meant.
For example: hringas m cyninge means "rings for the king" or "rings to the
king". Here, the word cyning is in its dative form: cyninge.
There were also several verbs that took direct objects in the dative. After the
after the verbs like "say to smb", "send smb", "give to smb"; "known to smb",
"necessary for smth / smb", "close to smb", "peculiar for smth".
Also in the expressions like from the enemy, against the wind, on the shore.

All genitive plural forms end in -a

All dative plural forms end in um

In Modern English, there are three cases. They are the subjective, the possessive, and
the objective.
Singular
Nominative
Accusative
Genitive
Dative

Old English
stn
stn
stnes
stne

Approximate English Translation

stone
stone
of the stone
to/for the stone

Plural
Nominative
Accusative
Genitive
Dative

Old English
stnas
stnas
stna
stnum

Approximate English Translation

stones
stones
of the stones
to/for the stones

The stem of the Old English word is clearly visible. It's stn to which different
endings are being attached. The case endings are:
Nominative
Accusative
Genitive
Dative

Singular
-es
-e

Plural
-as
-as
-a
-um

nouns with anomalous plural -en.

In Modern English, there are three cases. They are the subjective, the possessive, and
the objective.

Noun Gender
All Old English nouns possess what is called "gender". That is, a noun will be
masculine, feminine, or neuter. Don't confuse this kind of grammatical gender with
biological gender. There is nothing biologically feminine about nouns which are
grammatically feminine, nothing biologically masculine about nouns which are
grammatically masculine, and nothing biologically neuter about nouns which are
grammatically neuter. It's just that nouns have a feature which we call gender by
convention. And this is a feature which cannot change in a noun. A noun may change
its case or number, but a noun will never change its gender. This is a fixed feature, and
you must be told what gender a noun is when you look it up in the dictionary.
Three genders are strong enough, and only northern dialects can sometimes lose their
distinction. But in fact the lose of genders in Middle English happened due to the drop
of the case inflections, when words could no longer be distinguished by its endings.

Actually we dont have gender in English.

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Strong and Weak Nouns

All Old English nouns were divided into strong and weak ones, the same as verbs in
Germanic. While the first had a branched declension, special endings for different
numbers and cases, the weak declension was represented by nouns which were
already starting to lose their declension system. The majority of noun stems in Old
English should be referred to the strong type. Here are the tables for each stems with
some comments - the best way of explaining the grammar.

Strong Nouns
Noun Classes
Like adjectives and pronouns, Old English nouns are declined: different endings are
attached to the stem of a word, and these endings indicate what case a word belongs
to (and therefore, what grammatical function that word is fulfilling in a sentence.
Old English nouns are divided into three main groups, strong, weak, and "minor,"
based on the noun's stem and the endings that each noun takes in different
grammatical cases.
A useful rule of thumb is that nouns whose stems end with a consonant are strong,
while nouns whose stems end with a vowell (except for "u") are weak (we will learn
the paradigms for weak nouns in the next chapter).
The strong declension is itself subdivided into first, second, and third declensions,
which are also called "masculine," "neuter," and "feminine." We'll call label the
declensions first declension, second declension and third declension (weak nouns,
the subject of Chapter 14, are often called fourth declension) but we'll also put in the
"masculine," "neuter," and "feminine" labels since these are used so frequently in
dictionaries and editions of Old English texts.
Strong First Declensions (Masculine) Nouns
While we'll use first declension to label these nouns which end in consonants; other
grammars, dictionaries and editions will call the masculine. You may think of this
group of nouns as the "spear-stone-king" group, since all of those words have
traditional masculine associations and all are masculine strong first declension nouns.
Some Strong First Declension (Masculine) Nouns:
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Old English

gar
stan
cyning
fugol
dream

Modern
English
spear
stone
king
bird
joy

You'll find the endings for these nouns in the table below
(a dash - in the paradigm indicates that the stem gets no additional ending)

Strong First Declension (Masculine) Nouns Paradigm

Case
Singular Plural
Nominative
as
Genitive
es
a
Accusative
as
Dative
and
e
um
Instrumental
Strong First Declension (Masculine) Singulars: Examples
Case

Old English Translation

Nominative

cyning

king (subject)

Genitive

cyninges

of the king

Accusative

cyning

king (direct object)

Dative and Instrumental cyninge

with the king

king (indirect object)

Strong First Declension (Masculine) Plurals: Examples

Case

Old EnglishTranslation

Nominative

cyningas

kings (subject)
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Genitive

cyninga

of the kings

Accusative

cyningas

kings (direct object)

Dative
Instrumental

and

cyningum

with the kings

kings (indirect object)

Strong Second Declension (Neuter)

We'll use "second declension" to label those nouns which end in consonants but
whose plurals use "u" instead of "as." Some dictionaries will call these nouns
"neuter."
Some Strong Second Declension(Neuter) Nouns:
Old
English
scip
riht
mgen
tungol

Modern
English
ship
law
power
star

The endings for these nouns are given in the table below.
(the dash - indicates that the stem gets no additional ending)
Strong Second Declension (Neuter) Nouns Paradigm
Case
Nominative
Genitive
Accusative
Dative and Instrumental

Singular
es
e

Plural
u
a
u
um

Note that the only real difference between the first declension (masculine) and second
declension (neuter) ending occurs in the nominative and accusative plurals, which
are u. The rest of the paradigm is the same for both first declensions and second
declension nouns.
Strong Second Declension (Neuter) Singulars: Examples
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Case

Old English Translation

Nominative

scip

ship (subject)

Genitive

scipes

of the ship

Accusative

scip

ship (direct object)

Dative/Instrumental scipe

with the ship

(indirect object)

Strong Second Declension (Neuter) Plurals: Examples

Case

Old
English

Translation

Nominative

scipu

animals (subject)

Genitive

scipa

of the ships

Accusative

scipu

ships (direct object)

Dative
Instrumental

and

scipum

with the ships

animals (indirect object)

Strong Third Declension(Feminine) Nouns

What we'll call "third declension" nouns, dictionaries may label as "feminine." They
include the Old English words for "help," "need" and "gift."
Some Strong Third Declensions (Feminine) Nouns
Old English
liornung
earf
rest
geoc
giefu

Modern English
learning
need
rest
help
gift

The endings for these nouns are given in the table below
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(the dash - indicates that the stem gets no additional ending)

Strong Third Declension (Feminine) Nouns Paradigm
Case
Nominative
Genitive
Accusative
Dative
Instrumental

Singular Plural
a or e
e
a or ena
e
a or e
and
e
um

Yes, there really are two possibilities for the nominative, genitive and accusative
plurals.
Strong Third Declension (Feminine) Singulars: Examples
Case

Old English Translation

Nominative

giefu

gift (subject)

Genitive

giefe

of the gift

Accusative

giefe

gift (direct object)

Dative and Instrumental giefe

with the gift

gift (indirect object)

Strong Third Declension (Feminine) Plurals: Examples

Case

Old English

Translation

Nominative

giefa

gifts (subject)

Genitive

giefena

of the gifts

Accusative

giefa

gifts (direct object)

Dative/Instrumental giefum

with the gifts

gifts (indirect object)

Weak Nouns
Fourth Declension ("weak") nouns are nouns whose stems end in a vowel (except for
nouns that end in u, which are either third declension or minor declension). You do
not need to be concerned about the gender of a fourth declension noun.
Some Fourth Declension (Weak) Nouns:
Old English Modern English
blostma
flower
draca
dragon
eage
eye
sceaa
enemy
hte
heat
The endings for these nouns are given in the table below
(the dash - indicates that the stem gets no additional ending)
Fourth Declension (Weak) Nouns Paradigm
Case
Nominative
Genitive
Accusative
Dative
Instrumental

Singular Plural
an
an
ena
an
an
and

an

um

Fourth Declension (Weak) Singular Nouns: Examples

Case

Old
English

Translation

Nominative

draca

dragon (subject)

Genitive

dracan

of the dragon

Accusative

dracan

dragon (direct object)

Dative
Instrumental

and dracan

with the dragon

dragon

(indirect

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object)

Fourth Declension (Weak) Plural Nouns: Examples

Case

Old
English

Translation

Nominative

dracan

dragons (subject)

Genitive

dracena

of the dragons

Accusative

dracan

dragons (direct object)

with the dragons

Dative/Instrumental dracum

dragons
object)

(indirect

8. Adjectives
8.1. Quick Start
Surely the oddest grammatical feature belonging to the Germanic languages is that
they can inflect almost any adjective in either of two very different ways. If the
adjective follows ademonstrative pronoun, possessive adjective, or genitive noun
or noun phrase, one of the so-called weak endings is added to it; otherwise it is
given a strong ending.
In Old English it is difficult to discern a distinction in meaning between the strong
and weak adjectives, though there must originally have been one. But the distinction
is widespread (all the early Germanic languages have it) and surprisingly durable:
strong and weak adjectives were still distinguished in Chaucers English, and they are
distinguished even now in German.
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At this point you may be grumbling that we have arbitrarily doubled the amount of
memorization required to learn the adjectives. If so, calm down: adjectives are really
quite easy. The weak adjectives are almost exactly the same as the weak nouns. Most
of the strong adjective endings resemble those of either the strong nouns or
the demonstrative pronouns. In this chapter you will see almost no endings that you
have not seen before.
Indeed (though some Old English teachers may not approve of our telling you so),
you may find it possible to read Old English prose pretty well without having put in a
lot of work on adjectives. In a noun phrase like s elan bceres the noble
scholars, you can get the information that the phrase is genitive singular from either
the demonstrative pronoun or the noun. The weak adjective elan doesnt tell you
much. In a phrase like eonge prostas young priests, the strong ending of the
adjective eonge is less ambiguous, but it is also redundant: you can get all the
information you need from the noun. It becomes important to recognize the
adjectives ending when it gets separated from its noun:
h lt him of handon lofne flogan
hafoc wi s holtes
[he then let his beloved hawk fly from his
hands towards the woods] (The Battle of Maldon, ll. 7-8.)
Here hafoc hawk is the accusative direct object of lt let. The
adjective lofne beloved is separated from this noun by the infinitive flogan fly,
and so it is helpful that lofne has the masculine accusative singular ending -ne so that
you can associate it correctly with its noun. You will run into this kind of situation
more often in poetry than in prose.
Table 8.1 summarizes the adjective endings.
Table 8.1. Adjective endings
masculine

neuter

feminine

Strong
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singular

nominative

-u /

accusative

-ne

-e

genitive

-es

-es

-re

dative

-um

-um

-re

-e

-e

-e

-u / / -e

-a / -e

genitive

-ra

-ra

-ra

dative

-um

-um

-um

instrumental
nominative
accusative
plural

Weak
nominative

-a

-e

-e

accusative

-an

-e

-an

genitive

-an

-an

-an

dative

-an

-an

-an

-an

-an

-an

-ra / -ena

-ra / -ena

-ra / -ena

-um

-um

-um

singular

nominative
accusative
plural
genitive
dative

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8.2. Strong adjectives

Table 8.2 shows the strong endings attached to an adjective with a long stem. (Forms
in bold type should be compared with the demonstrative pronouns, others with
the strong nouns.)
Table 8.2. Strong adjectives (long stems)
masculine
nominative

neuter

gd good

feminine
gd

gd
accusative
singular

gdne

genitive

gde
gdes
gdre

dative

gdum

instrumental

gde

nominative
gde

gd, gde

gda, -e

accusative
plural
genitive

gdra

dative

gdum

The adjectives are subject to the same kinds of transformations that affect the nouns.
Those with long stems differ from those with short stems (table 8.3) in that the
feminine nominative singular and the neuter nominative/accusative plural end in u (see 6.1.1 for an explanation).
Table 8.3. Strong adjectives (short stems)

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masculine
nominative

neuter

hwt vigorous

feminine
hwatu

hwt
accusative
singular

hwtne

genitive

hwate
hwtes
hwtre

dative

hwatum

instrumental

hwate

nominative
hwate

hwatu, -e

hwata, -e

accusative
plural
genitive

hwatra

dative

hwatum

Table 8.3 also shows that when the vowel of an adjective with a short stem is or ea,
it alternates with a, as has already been discussed in connection with nouns. In some
other adjectives, his dropped between voiced sounds, so, for example, the masculine
accusative singular of hah high is hane and the feminine nominative singular
is ha.
The masculine/neuter dative singular ending -um may cause confusion, for this is also
the ending of the dative plural nouns and adjectives, and you may already have come
to think of it as plural. Remember it this way: -um is always dative, and in nouns it is
always plural.
The second syllable of a two-syllable adjective, like that of a two-syllable noun,
may be syncopated, so the dative plural of hli holy is hlgum but the
masculine accusative singular is hline.

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 The nominative and accusative plural ending -e is very frequent for both
feminines and neuters in late Old English, when -e becomes the dominant
ending for all genders. You will also see occasional -a in nominative and
accusative plural neuters.
Possessive adjectives are always declined strong, and so is er other, second,
regardless of context.

8.3. Weak adjectives

The weak adjectives (table 8.4) are almost exactly like the weak nouns. The difference
is that the ending of the genitive plural of a weak adjective is usually the same as that
of a strong adjective.
Table 8.4. Weak adjectives
masculine
nominative

neuter

gda good

feminine
gde

gde
accusative

gdan

gdan

singular
genitive
gdan
dative
nominative
gdan
accusative
plural
genitive

gdra, -ena

dative

gdum

There is no distinction between long and short stems, except that or ea in a short
root syllable always becomes a, so the weak masculine nominative singular
of hwt vigorous is hwata. Because all weak endings begin with vowels, h is always
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dropped at the end of a root syllable (as with some nouns), so the weak
nominative/accusative plural of hah high is han. As withnouns and strong
adjectives, the second syllable of a two-syllable adjective can be syncopated, so the
weak nominative/accusative plural of hli holy is hlgan.
Comparative adjectives and ordinal numbers (except for er second) are always
declined weak.

8.4. Comparison of adjectives

The comparative adjective is made by adding -r- between the root syllable and the
inflectional ending, which is always weak regardless of context. The superlative is
made by adding -ost, which may be followed by either a weak or a strong inflection.
Examples:
heard hard, fierce
milde kind
hli holy
sweotol clear

heardra
mildra
hlira
sweotolra

heardost
mildost
hlgost
sweotolost

Some adjectives have i-mutation in the comparative and superlative forms, and in
these cases the superlative element is usually -est. For example:
eald old
eong young
hah high
lang long
strang strong

ieldra
inra
hera
lenra
strenra

ieldest
inest
hehst
lenest
strenest

You may occasionally encounter unmutated forms, e.g. strangost strongest.

A few adjectives have anomalous comparative and superlative forms; these are still
anomalous in Modern English, though sometimes in different ways:
gd good
ltel small
miel large

betera
slra
lssa
mra

betst
slest
lst
mst
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yfel bad

wiersa

wierrest, wierst

Modern English has lost the alternative comparative and superlative slra better
and slest best.
Comparative adjectives sometimes cause problems for students who are not on the
lookout for them, or who confuse comparative -r- with the -r- of the feminine
genitive/dative singular ending -re or the genitive plural -ra. The Old English
comparative -r- may not look enough like the Modern English comparative -er to be
easy for you to detect. The only solution to the problem is to be alert when you read.

8.5. The adjective in the noun phrase

Just as a pronoun can help you figure out the gender, case and number of a noun
phrase (6.1.4), so can an adjective. This is particularly true of strong adjectives,
which have less ambiguous endings than weak ones. An extreme yet representative
example involves the nouns fder father, which has no ending in any singular case
(6.3.2), and sunu son, which has -a in both the genitive and dative (6.3.1):
er is se hd lmihties fder, er is lmihties suna.
[One is the person of the almighty father, the other (that) of the almighty son.]
The adjective endings in -es tell us that both noun phrases, lmihties
fder and lmihties suna, are genitive singular, even though the nouns are
ambiguous. The weak adjective, which is sometimes used without a pronoun in
poetry, can occasionally be useful in the same way:
Gomela Scylfing hras heoroblc.
[The old Swede fell, battle-pale.]
(Beowulf, ll. 24878)
The weak ending -a marks the noun phrase Gomela Scylfing as nominative. It is more
common, of course, for the weak adjective to be preceded by a pronoun, and in such
cases the pronoun will be more help than the adjective:
Hwt wite be m gdan men?
[What do you know about that good man?]
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The adjective gdan and the noun menn could together be dative singular or
nominative/accusative plural; but the pronoun m in the noun phrase m gdan
menn rules out everything but dative singular.
The examples given here and in 6.1.4 are very simple. A noun phrase can also
contain embedded clauses and prepositional phrases; but usually the nouns, pronouns
and adjectives will be most helpful in determining the function of the phrase in the
sentence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
https://www.uni-due.de/SHE/HE_Grammar_OE-ME_nouns.htm
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Old_English/Adjectives
http://www.csun.edu/~sk36711/WWW/KAG/howto.html
http://www.jebbo.co.uk/learn-oe/nouns1.htm

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