3Ii. Weak declension.

Here belonged nouns in n-stem, they were numerous, and had 3 genders. In the Nom., sing., Masc. the nouns ended in –a, Fem. and Neut. – in -e.

Masculine Neuter Feminine

Singular

N. 3uma (man) N. ēa3e N. tun3e

G. 3uman G. ēa3an G. tun3an

D. 3uman D. ēa3an D. tun3an

Ac. 3uman Ac. ēa3e Ac. tun3an

Plural

N. 3uman N. ēa3an N. tun3an

G. 3umena G. ēa3ena G. tun3ena

D. 3umum D. ēa3um D. tun3um

Ac. 3uman Ac. ēa3an Ac. tun3an

3Iii. Root declension.

The Root-stem declension includes Masculine, Neuter, and Feminine nouns which do not contain any stem-suffix, i.e. in which inflexions are added straight to the root. Root stems differed from other stems in that they had the vowel-gradation in the root. These nouns are not numerous but vividly preserved in Modern English. Originally the inflexions of these nouns in plural had the element -i- which caused i-umlaut of the root-vowel and later dropped it out.

Masculine Neuter Feminine

Singular

N. fōt N. mūs N. scrūd (shroud –покров, кожух)

G. fōtes G. mūse / mys G. scrūdes

D. fēt D. mys D. scryd

Ac. fōt Ac. mūs Ac. scrūd

Plural

N. fēt N. mys N. scrūd/ scryd

G. fōta G. mūsa G. scrūda

D. fōtum D. mūsum D. scrūdum

Ac. fēt Ac. mys Ac. scrūd/ scryd

3Iv. Minor declension

Among other consonantal stems we should mention a small group of nouns denoting family relationship with stem-suffix -r- (broþor, fæder, mōdor), and also with -s- stem (which later changed into -r-: according to Verner’s law), and nd/nt-stems.

Nouns of r-stem were not numerous. Their declension paradigm was not stable as, foe example, nouns mōdor and dohtor are common to brōþor in singular. But in plural Nominative and Accusative they could aquire the ending –a like mōdra and dohtra (compare: мать-матери):

Masculine Feminine

Singular

N. fæder brōþor N. dohtor

G. fæderes brōþor G. dohtor

D. fæder brēþer D. dehter

Ac. fæder brōþor Ac. dohtor

Plural

N. fæderas brōþor N. dohtor (tra)

G. fædera brōþra G. dohtra

D. fæderum brōþrum D. dohtrum

Ac. fæderas brōþor Ac. dohtor (tra)

Nouns of nd/nt-stem are represented by some nouns of Masculine gender which originated from Participle I of some verbs like tō freōn (любити) – freōnd (люблячий).

The group of s-stem nouns included a few nouns of Neuter gender. The peculiarity was that in plural they regularly kept their former suffix r (note: r-z-s).

Neuter

Singular Plural

N. låmb N. låmbru

G. låmbes G. låmbra

D. låmbe D. låmbrum

Ac. låmb Ac. låmbru

We may conclude that the system of noun declensions in OE lacked consistency. There were many polyfunctional and homonymous markers of the paradigm. The distinction between morphological classes was not strict. Towards the end of OE formal variation grew and the system tended to be re-arranged.