Old | Middle | |
N. (no ending) | as | es |
A. (no ending) | as | es |
G. es | a | e |
D. e | um | en |
Old | Middle | |||
N. hund | "hound" | hundas | hundes | "hounds" |
A. hund | "hound" | hundas | hundes | "hounds" |
G. hundes | "hound's" | hunda | hunde | "hounds' " |
D. hunde | "to a hound" | hundum | hunden | "to hounds" |
hund, hound | "hound" |
þegn, þein | "servant" |
god | "God" |
wisdom | "wisdom" |
engel | "angel" |
deofol, deovel | "devil" |
Foreign | |
castel | "castle" |
mægester, maister | "master" |
caiser | "emperor" |
vertu | "virtue" |
bataille | "battle" |
Other Words | |
on | "in or on" |
æt, at | "at" |
of | "from" |
ofer, over | "over" |
æfter, after | "after" |
swiþe | "very" |
micel | "great, much" |
ic, ich | "I" |
þu | "thou, you" |
Old | Middle | |
N. (no ending) | u | e |
A. (no ending) | u | e |
G. es | a | e |
D. e | um | en |
Old | Middle | |||
N. scip | "ship" | scipu | scipe | "ship" |
A. scip | "ship" | scipu | scipe | "ships" |
G. scipes | "ship's" | scipa | scipe | "ships' " |
D. scipe | "to a ship" | scipum | scipen | "to ships" |
One-syllable | |
word (not wordu) | "words" |
deor (not deoru) | "animals" |
þing (not thingu) | "things" |
More than One syllable | |
wæteru or wæter | "waters" |
tungolu or tungol | "stars" |
tacenu or tacen | "signs" |
gewrit n. | "writing" |
lim n. | "limb" |
bod n. | "command" |
faðm n. | "embrace" |
Old | Middle |
N. u | e |
A. e | e |
G. e | e |
D. e | e |
Old | Middle |
a | e |
a | e |
a | e |
um | en |
Old | Middle |
N. talu | tale |
A. tale | tale |
G. tale | tale |
D. tale | talen |
"tale" |
"tale" |
"tale's" |
"to a tale" |
Old | Middle |
tala | tale |
tala | tale |
tala | tale |
talum | talen |
"tales" |
"tales" |
"tales' " |
"to tales" |
One-syllable | |
lar (not laru) | "lore" |
sped (not spedu) | "luck" |
wund (not wundu) | "wound" |
More than One syllable | |
ceaster (not ceasteru) | "city" |
sawol (not sawolu) | "stars" |
candel (not candelu) | "candle" |
lufu, love f. | "love" |
giefu f. | "gift" |
cearu f. | "care" |
ea f. | "water" |
stræt f. | "street" |
Masculine | |
N. - | as (es) |
A. - | as (es) |
G. es | a (e) |
D. e | um (en) |
Neuter | |
N. - | u (e) |
A. - | u (e) |
G. e | a (e) |
D. e | um (en) |
Feminine | |
N. u (e) | a (e) |
A. e | a (e) |
G. e | a (e) |
D. e | um (en) |
Masculine | ||
N. oxa | oxan | |
A. oxan | oxan | |
G. oxan | oxena | |
D. oxan | oxum |
Neuter | ||
eage | eagan | |
eage | eagan | |
eagan | eagena | |
eagan | eagum |
Feminine | ||
cyrice | cyrican | |
cyrican | cyrican | |
cyrican | cyricena | |
cyrican | cyricum |
1. Sunu Nouns | ||
N. sunu | suna | |
A. suna | suna | |
G. suna | suna | |
D. suna | sunum |
This group includes only masculine and feminine nouns that both take endings like the masculine noun sunu "son". As in the Strong Declension, many nouns omit the -u ending. Below is a list of all the nouns that belong to this declension: Masculine: sunu "son", medu "mead", wudu "wood", sidu "custom", lagu "lake", bregu "prince", hearu "sword", eard "land", flod "flood", ford "ford", had "condition", weald "forest", hearg "shrine", æppel "apple", sumor "summer", winter "winter", færelt "journey" Feminine: duru "door", nosu "nose", hand or hond "hand", cweorn "mill", flor "floor". |
2. Mann Nouns | ||
N. mann | menn | |
A. mann | menn | |
G. mannes | manna | |
D. menn | mannum |
This group includes some masculine and feminine nouns, that originally had a special letter i in some of their endings. This i vanished but left behind a trail of influenced vowels to remind us it was there. Its influence included changing a in some places to e or æ (as in menn "men" and gæt "goats" ), o to e (as in fet "feet"), and u to y (as in mys "mice"). The feminine nouns of this group differ from the masculine only in the singular genitive. Instead of -es the feminine words use the word with its vowel changed and no ending, or else use only the ending -e: as bec or boce "book's". Masculine: mann "man", wifmann "woman", fot "foot", toð Feminine: boc "book", broc "pair of breeches", gos "goose", cu "cow", mus "mouse", lus "louse", burg "city", turf "turf", hnutu "nut", studu "post", ac "oak", gat "goat", furh "furrow", sulh "plough". |
3. -End Nouns | ||
N. hælend | hælend | |
A. hælend | hælend | |
G. hælendes | hælendra | |
D. hælende | hælendum |
These nouns are all masculine and have the special ending -end. This ending was more commonly used to make present tense adjectives from verbs, equivelent to modern English -ing as in singing. A few of these adjectives however became specially used as nouns. Two words from this group that survived into Modern English are freond "friend" and feond "fiend". Freond "freeing one/ loving one" is from the verb freon "to free, to love" and feond "hating one" is from the verb feon "to hate". Four nouns of this group have -nd instead of -end: freond "friend", feond "fiend", teond "accuser" and goddond "good-doer". In the singular dative and in the plural nominative and accusative the eond of the first three words shows up as iend instead. These four nouns also usually use the ending -a instead of -ra in the genitive plural. . All nouns in this group sometimes mimic the Strong Declension and use the plural -as ending, as hettend or hettendas "enemies" plural of hettend "enemy". |
4. Family Nouns | ||
N. broðer | broðer | |
A. broðer | broðer | |
G. broðer | broðra | |
D. breðer | broðrum |
The family nouns include the masculine nouns broðer "brother" and fæder "father", and the feminine nouns modor "mother", dohtor "daughter" and sweostor All of these have some oddities and variations: (a) Those with the vowel -o- : Broðor, modor, dohtor become breðer, meder, and dehter in the singular singular. (b) Broðor, modor, and sweostor sometimes have plural in -u: broðru "brothers", modru "mothers", sweostru "sisters". (c) fæder often uses endings from the Strong Declension: fæder or fædres "father's", fæder or fædras "fathers". |
5. Cildru Nouns | ||
N. cild | cildru | |
A. cild | cildru | |
G. cildes | cildra | |
D. cilde | cildrum |
The "Cildru Nouns" include some neuter nouns that have a unique -r- in their plural forms. One word with this -r- still survives in Modern English: children. The original plural of cild was cildru, but later on it came use -an from the Weak Declension, and eventually this an became en. Below are the seven words that belong to this declension: Neuter: cild "child", æg "egg", cealf "calf", lamb "lamb", bread "crumb", speld "torch", hæmed "cohabitation". |
6. Hæleþ Nouns | ||
N. hæleþ | hæleþ | |
A. hæleþ | hæleþ | |
G. hæleþes | hæleþa | |
D. hæleþe | hæleþum |
This group includes the two masculine nouns, hæleþ "hero" and monaþ or moneþ "month", the feminine noun mægeþ "maiden", and the neuter noun ealu "ale". All of these may sometimes lose the vowel before þ when endings are added. For example hæleþes "hero's" may also be hælþes (a) Hæleþ sometimes has the form hæle (without -þ) in the singular nominative and accusative. Also hæleþ and monaþ sometimes use the -as ending from the Strong Declension: hæleþas "heroes" moneþas "months". (b) Mægeþ is different from the masculine nouns only in using no endings in the singular. (c) Ealu has forms with and without -þ-: Nominative: ealu "ale" ealoþ "ales" Accusative: ealu "ale" ealoþ "ales" Genitive: ealoþ "ale's" ealoþa "ales' " Dative: ealoþ "to ale" ealoþum "to ales" |
Old | Middle |
N. ic | ich |
A. me | me |
G. min | min |
D. me | me |
"I" |
"me" |
"mine = my" |
"(to) me" |
Old | Middle |
we | we |
us | us |
ure | ure, ures |
us | us |
"we" |
"us" |
"our' " |
"(to) us" |
Old | Middle |
N. þu | þu |
A. þe | þe |
G. þin | þin |
D. þe | þe |
"thou" |
"thee" |
"thy" |
"(to) thee" |
Old | Middle |
ge | 3e |
eow | eow, ow |
eower | eower, ower |
eow | eow, ow |
"ye" |
"you" |
"your' " |
"(to) you" |
Old | Middle |
N. he | he |
A. hine | hine |
G. his | his |
D. him | him |
"he" |
"him" |
"his" |
"(to) him" |
Old | Middle |
N. hit | hit |
A. hit | hit |
G. his | his |
D. him | him |
"it" |
"it" |
"its" |
"(to) it" |
Old | Middle |
N. heo | ho, hi |
A. hie | hie |
G. hiere, hire | hiere, hire |
D. hiere, hire | hiere, hire |
"she" |
"her" |
"her" |
"(to) her" |
________________ ___________________ \ / \/"They"
Old | Middle |
hie, hi | hie, hi |
hie, hi | hie, hi |
hiera | hiera |
him | him |
"they" |
"them" |
"their' " |
"(to) them" |