Glommish/Middle: Difference between revisions

Note: Declensions are named according to their form in [[Proto-Germanic]].  Often intervening sound changes render the once transparent stem endings opaque, and the name may no longer make much sense [[Synchrony and diachrony|synchronic]]ally.

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.

*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.

Sample nouns like '''kunni''': '''enti''' "end", '''rīchi''' "kingdom", '''betti''' "bed", '''gizungi''' "language", '''finstarnessi''' "darkness", '''heri''' "army" (genitive singular '''heries''', dative singular '''herie, herige''').

{| class="wikitable"

*Neuter '''rēo''' "corpse", '''zëso''' (genitive '''zësawes''') "right side", '''smëro''' (genitive '''smërawes''') "grease".

This declension counterparts the first declension (a) of Latin, and the alpha declension (a/as) of Greek. It contains feminine nouns. The nominative, which should have had the ending -u, has been merged with the accusative in -a.

Sample nouns of this declension: '''gëba''' "gift", '''ërda''' "earth", '''ēra''' "honor", '''zala''' "number", '''triuwa''' "fidelity", '''corunga''' "temptation", '''hertida''' "hardness", '''miltida''' "compassion", '''gi-nāda''' "favor", '''lōsunga''' "deliverance", '''stunta''' "time".

{| class="wikitable"

! rowspan="3" |

Sample nouns like '''kuningin''': '''forasagin''' "prophetess", '''friuntin''' "friend", '''burdin''' "burden".

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.

|}

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").

{| class="wikitable"