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The OE noun had two grammatical or morphological cate­gories: number and case. In addition, nouns distinguished three genders, but this distinction was not a grammatical category; it was merely a classifying feature accounting, alongside other features, for the division of nouns into morphological classes.

The category of number consisted of two members, singular and plural.

The noun had four cases: Nominative, Genitive, Dative and Accu­sative. In most declensions two, or even three, forms were homonymous, so that the formal distinction of cases was less consistent than that of numbers.

MORPHOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

The most remarkable feature of OE nouns was their elaborate system of declensions, which was a sort of morphological classification. Every morphologi­cal class had either its own specific endings or a specific succession of markers.

In the first place, the morphological classification of OE nouns rested upon the most ancient (IE) grouping of nouns according to the stem-suffixes. Stem-suffixes could consist of vowels, of consonants, of sound sequences. Some groups of nouns had no stem-forming suffix or had a “zero-suffix”; they are usually termed “root-stems” and are grouped together with conso­nantal stems, as their roots ended in consonants, e. g. OE man, boc (NE man, book).

The loss of stem-suffixes as distinct component parts had led to the formation of different sets of grammatical endings. The merg­ing of the stem-suffix with the original grammatical ending and their phonetic weakening could result in the survival of the former stem-suffix in a new function, as a grammatical ending; thus u-stems had the inflection -u in some forms.

Sometimes both elements — the stem-suffix and the original end­ing — were shortened or even dropped in a-stems.

Another reason which accounts for the division of nouns into numerous declensions is their grouping according to gender. OE nouns distinguished three genders: Masc., Fem. and Neut. Sometimes a derivational suffix referred a noun to a certain gender and placed it into a certain semantic group. Alongside Masc. and Fem. nouns denoting males and females there were nouns with “unjustified” gender.

Division into genders was in a certain way connected with the division into stems, though there was no direct correspondence between them: some stems were represented by nouns of one particular gender, e. g. о-stems were always Fem., others embraced nouns of two or three genders.

Other reasons accounting for the division into declensions were structural and phonetic: monosyllabic nouns had certain peculiar­ities as compared to polysyllabic; monosyllables with a long root-syl­lable differed in some forms from nouns with a short syllable.

Vocalic sterns					Consonantal stems
Strong declension					n-stems (weak de­clension)		Root- stems		Other minor stems: r~, s-, nd-
a-stems and their ja-stems wa-stems	O-stems variants jo-stems wo-stems	i-stems	u-stems
Division according to gender
MN	F	MNF	MF	MNF		MF		MNF
Division according to length of the root-syllable
short long	short long	short long	short long

TYPES OF DECLENSIONS

• THE STRONG DECLENSION

a-stems may be either masculine or neuter. The difference between the two genders is only seen in the nominative, and accu­sative plural always had the ending -as. In the neuter substantives, the ending depends on two factors: on the number of syllables and on the quantity (shortness or length) of the root syllable.

Examples of a-stems: (1) masculine: earm ‘arm’, eorl ‘earl’; helm ‘helm’; (2) neuter: dor ‘gate’, hof ‘courtyard’, deor ‘animal’, beam ‘child’, gear ^syear’.

а-stems correspond to Russian substantives of the types стол, окно and to Latin 2nd declension substantives of the types hortus ‘garden’, oppidum ‘town’.

j a-stems

These substantives are a special type of a-stems. Their root vowel undergoes mutation under the influence of an original -j- in the stem.

Substantives with an originally short root syllable have their final consonant lengthened; in substantives with an originally long root syllable and those with an originally short root syllable ending in -r- the final consonant is not lengthened and the nomina­tive and accusative singular end in -e.

Examples of ja-stems: (1) masculine: bocere ‘scholar’, fiscere ‘fisherman’; (2) neuter: net ‘net’, bed ‘bed’, wite ‘punishment’.

ja-stems correspond to Russian substantives of the types ручей, белье and to Latin substantives of the types gladius ‘sword’, officium ‘office’.

wa-stems are another special type of а-stems. The nominative and accusative singular of the masculine substantives and the nom­inative and accusative singular and plural of the neuter ones end in -u.

The final -u is sometimes weakened to -o: bearo, bealo.

Examples of wa-stems: (I) masculine: snaw ‘snow’, рёат ‘custom’, (2) neuter: searu ‘armour’, treow ‘tree’.

о-stems are all feminine. The form of the nominative depends on two factors: the number of syllables and the shortness or length of the root syllable. Monosyllabic substantives with a short root syllable take in this case the ending -u; monosyllabic ones with a long root syllable and dissyllabic ones have no ending at all.

Examples of о-stems: caru ‘care’, lufu ‘love’, ides ‘woman’.

о-stems correspond to Russian substantives of the type рука and to Latin 1st declension substantives, as silva ‘wood’.

Among i-stems there are substantives of all three genders. The masculine and neuter i-stems do not much differ in their declension from the а-stems, and the feminine ones do not much differ from the о-stems. The root vowel has undergone mutation. Among the masculine there are also several names of tribes which are only used in the plural: Engle ‘Angles’, Seaxe ‘Saxons’, Mierce ‘Mercians’, Norphymbre ‘Northumbrians’, Dene ‘Danes’, etc. Examples of i-stems: (1) masculine: mere ‘sea’, ‘lake’, mete ‘food’, bite ‘bite’ (2) neuter: spere ‘spear’, (3)feminine cwen ‘woman’.

The i-stems correspond to Russian substantives of the type кость and to Latin ones of the 3rd declension, like finis ‘end’.

Among the u-stems there are masculine and feminine substantives. The form of the nominative and accusative singular of these sub­stantives depends on the length or shortness .of their root syllable. Substantives having a short root syllable have in the nominative and accusative singular the ending -u; those with a long one have no ending at all.

Examples of u-stems: (1) masculine: wudu ‘wood’, medu ‘honey’, ‘mead’, weald ‘forest’, sumor ‘summer’; (2) feminine: nosu ‘nose’, flor ‘floor’.

u-stems correspond to Latin substantives of the 4th declension, such as fructus ‘fruit’.

WEAK DECLENSION

Masculine n-stems end in the nominative singular in -a, feminine and neuter ones in -e; in the neuter substantives the accu­sative, in accordance with the general rule, is the same as the norni- native. No other difference between the genders is found.

Examples of n-stems: (1) masculine: guma ‘man’, wita ‘wise man’, steorra ‘star’, топа ‘moon’; (2) feminine eorfie ‘earth’, heorte ‘heart’, sunne ‘sun’; (3) neuter eare ‘ear’.

n-stems correspond to Russian substantives like имя and to Latin 3rd declension substantives like nomen ‘name’.

In all Germanic languages there is a type of substantives which differs in its morphological structure from all other types. These are the root stems, i.e. substantives which never had any stem- forming suffix, so the case endings were added on immediately to the root.

This type of stem is represented in various Indo-European lan­guages.

In OE there are a number of substantives of all three genders which wholly or partly belong to the root-stem declension.

In three case forms: in the dative singular and in the nominative and accusative plural there is the result of mutation.

The OE root stems correspond to Latin 3rd declension substan­tives, as pes, pedis ‘foot’; pax, pads ‘peace’.

r-stems are represented by a few masculine and feminine substantives denoting relationship: fseder ‘father’, bropor ‘brother’, modor ‘mother’, dohtor ‘daughter’, sweostor ‘sister’. The dative singular of these substantives usually has mutation.

r-stems correspond to the Russian substantives мать, дочь and to Latin 3rd declension substantives, as pater and mater.