Glommish/Middle: Difference between revisions

This declension has as counterparts the second declension (us/um) of Latin, and the omicron declension (os/on) of Greek. It contains masculine and neuter nouns.

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! colspan="2" | '''Singular'''

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! '''Nominative'''

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! '''Accusative'''

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! '''Genitive'''

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! '''Dative'''

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! '''Instrumental'''

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Notes:

*Dissyllabic nouns ending in '''-al''', '''-ar''' and '''-an''', with long stems, sometimes drop the '''-a-''' before an ending beginning with a vowel, e.g. masculine singular '''ackar''' "acre, field", genitive singular '''ackres'''.  Note that in these cases, the '''-a-''' is an epenthetic vowel that was not originally present (compare [[Gothic language|Gothic]] '''akrs''' < [[Proto-Germanic]] '''*akraz'''), and so the "deletion" of this vowel is really the preservation of the original form.

*The situation with long-stemmed dissyllabic nouns ending in '''-al''', '''-ar''' and '''-an''' is the same as for the corresponding masculines, e.g. nominative '''zwīfal''' "doubt", genitive '''zwīfles'''.

*Diminutives in '''-īn''' and '''-līn''', e.g. '''magatīn''' "little maid" (neuter!), '''fingarlīn''' "little finger", are declined the same except in the [[Upper German]] dialects.  In those dialects, final '''-n''' is dropped in the nominative and accusative, and furthermore in [[Alemannic German|Allemannic]] the nominative and accusative plural end in '''-iu'''.

This declension was really just the '''-a''' declension with a '''j''' immediately preceding.  However, due to various sound laws, a new declension subcategory has arisen that does not exactly follow the form of the plain '''-a''' declension.  Similar developments occurred in Greek and the Slavic languages, among others.

{| class="wikitable"

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! '''Nominative'''

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! '''Accusative'''

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! '''Genitive'''

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! '''Dative'''

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! '''Instrumental'''

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! colspan="4" | '''''kneo; kneo''<br> knee n.

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! '''Nominative'''

|| kneo || '''–o, –''' || kneo || '''–o, –'''

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! '''Genitive'''

|-

! '''Dative'''

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{| class="wikitable"

! rowspan="2" |

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! colspan="2" | '''Singular'''

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! '''Nominative'''

|-

! '''Accusative'''

|-

! '''Genitive'''

|-

! '''Dative'''

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! rowspan="3" |

! colspan="12" | '''''sunta; sunte, -eā (-iā) / suntā''<br> sin f.

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! colspan="6" | '''Singular'''

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This declension counterparts the vowel stems of the third declension (is) of Latin, and the third declension of Greek. It contains masculine and feminine nouns.  Note that masculine nouns have become identical to -a stem nouns in the singular, while feminine nouns have preserved the original declension.

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This declension was much reduced compared to other old Germanic languages such as [[Old English]].  Most nouns were transferred outright to the '''i-''' or sometimes the '''a-'''declension, and the remaining nouns were heavily influenced by the '''i-'''declension—only the nominative and accusative singular are different, ending in '''-u'''.

*The only trace of a feminine '''u-'''declension is in the word '''hant''' "hand", declined as a feminine '''i-'''stem except in the dative plural, where the old '''u-'''declension forms '''hantum, -un, -on''' persist.

This class consists of feminine abstract nouns and came about through the falling together of two declensions that were still different in [[Gothic language|Gothic]]: compare the Gothic '''-ei''' stems (a subclass of the weak declension, formed from adjectives, e.g. '''diupei''' "depth", genitive '''diupeins''', from '''diups''' "deep") and '''-eins''' stems (a subclass of the '''i-'''declension, formed from Class I weak verbs, e.g. '''dáupeins''' "a dipping", genitive '''dáupeináis''', from '''dáupjan''' "to dip").

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Examples of other members of this class: '''scōnī''' "beauty", '''suoẓẓī''' "sweetness", '''snëllī''' "quickness", '''tiufī''' "depth", '''menigī, managī''' "multitude", '''irstantanī''' "resurrection", '''toufī''' "a dipping", '''welī''' "choice", '''leitī''' "a leading", '''riudī''' "mange".