20. Strong declension of noun.

1. The Vocalic or Strong Declension.

a-declension, masculine and neuter nouns

Nominative	Singular	Plural
	dags “day”	dagōs
Accusative/Vocative	Dag	dagans
Genetive	Dagis	dagē
Dative	Daga	dagam

PG forms of dags were: Sing nom. *đagaz, acc. *đagan, voc *đag(e), gen. *đagesa, dat. *đagai< PIE *dhoghōĩ.

Like dags are declined a great many Gothic masculine nouns: akrs “field”, bagms “tree”, fisks “fish”, hunds “dog”, himins “heaven etc.

Compare also OE Masculine like stan “stone”, scip “ship” etc.

Masculine	Singular	Plural
OE Nominative	Stān	stānas
Genetive	Stānes	stāna
Dative	Stāne	stānum
Accusative	Stān	stānas

The ō-declensioninclude feminine nouns only and correspond to IE ā-declension

Singular	Plural
Nom.Acc. giba ‘gift’	gibōs
Gen. gibōs	gibō
Dat. Gibái	gibōm

Like giba are declined a very large number of feminine nouns, as bida “request”, bōka “book”, kara “care’, fēra “country”, mōta “custom-house”, rūna “mystery”, háirda etc.

The i-declensioncontains only masculine and feminine nouns and correspond to the Latin and Greek i-declension.

Singular	Plural
Nom. gasts “guest”	gasteis
Acc. gast	gastins
Gen. gastis	gastē
Dat. gasta	gastim
Voc. Gast	-

Like gasts are declined arms, “arm”, balgs “wine-skin”, barms “bosom”, gards “house”, saggws “song”, sáiws “sea” etc.

21. Weak declension of nouns.

2. Weak Declension (n-stems).

In the parent language the nom. Sing ended partly in –ēn, -ōn, and partly in –ē, -ō. The reason for this difference is unknown. Here belong masculines, feminines and neuters.

Singular	Plural
Nom. hana “cock”	hanans
Acc. Hanan	hanans
Gen. hanins	hananē
Dat. hanin	hanam

Like hana are declined a great number of masculines: aha “mind”, ahma “spirit”, atta “father’, brunna “well”, blōma “flower”, falga “cross”, gajuka “companion”, garda “fold’, guma “man”, nuta “fisherman” etc.

22. Adjectives: strong and weak declension.

In the parent PIE language nouns and adjectives were declined alike without any distinction in endings, as in Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit. In PG adjectives were divided into two groups: strong and weak.

The so-called weak declension of adjectives is a special Germanic formation by means of the suffixes –en-, -on-, which were originally used to form nomina agentis, and attributive nouns as Lat. ēdo “glutton”, Goth. staua “judge’, wardja “guard”. Already in PG the weak declension became the rule when the adjective followed the definite article, as in ahma sa weiha “ghost the holy one”, OE Wulfmær se geonga “Wulfmær the Young”, OHG Ludowīg ther snello Ludwig the Brave”. At a later period but still in PG, the two kinds of adjectives – strong and weak – became differentiated in use. When the one and when the other form was used in Gothic is a question of syntax.

In Gothic the adjectives are declined as strong or weak. They have three genders and the same cases as nouns.

They also have degrees of comparison. The PIE parent language had several suffixes by means of which the comparative degree was formed. But in the individual branches of the parent language one of the suffixes became more productive than the rest. The only PIE comparative suffix which remained productive in the Germanic languages is –is-, which became –iz- (=Goth. –iz-, OHG –ir-, OE –r-) in PG by Verner’s law. Beside the suffix –iz- there was also in PG a suffix –ōz- (Goth. –ōz-, OHG –ōr-, OE –r-). This suffix is a special Germanic new formation, and arose from the comparative of adverbs whose positive degree originally ended in –ō-. And then at a later period it became extended to adjectives. In Gothic the –ja- stems, I-stems, and –u- stems take the suffix –iz-, a-stems sometimes take the one, sometimes the other.

Positive	Comparative
manags “great	managiza
juggs “young”	jūhiza
swinþs “strong”	swinþōza
alþeis “old”	alþiza
hardus “hard”	hardiza