Grammatical Categories. Use of Cases

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The OE Noun had two grammatical and morphological categories: number and case. In addition, nouns distinguished three genders, but this distinction was not a grammatical category. It was merely a classifying feature, accounting for the division of nouns into morphological classes.

The category of Number consisted of 2 members: singular and plural. They will be clearly seen in all declensions.

The Noun had four cases: Nominative, Genitive, Dative, and Accusative. In most declensions two or even three forms were homonymous, so that the formal distinction of cases was less consistent than that of numbers.

The Nominative Case can be loosely defined as the case of the active agent, for it was the case of the subject used with the verbs, denoting activity; the Nominative case could also indicate the subject, characterised by a certain quality or state; the Nominative case could serve as a predicative and as the case of address.

The Genitive Case was the case of nouns and pronouns serving as attributes to other nouns.

e.g. hiora scipu (their ships)

The Dative Case was the chief case used with prepositions: on moʒenne (in the morning) alongside with the Accusative, Dative could indicate the passive subject of a state.

The Accusative Case was the form that indicated a relationship to a verb. Being a direct object it denoted the recipient of an action, the result of the action and other meanings.

e.g. hive na-nes Þinʒes ne lyste (nothing pleased him)

It should be noted that one and the same verb could be construed with different cases without any noticeable change of meaning. The vague meaning of cases was of great consequence for the subsequent changes of the case system. 

Morphological Classification of Nouns. Declension

The most peculiar feature of OE nouns was their division into several types of declensions, which was a sort of morphological classification. The term declension is also known as stem. The stem is the root together with the stemsuffix.

The Indo-European noun consisted of 3 morphemes:

The division of nouns into declensions was as follows:

I. Nouns with vowel-stems (vocalic stems/strong declension):

a-stems (masc., neutr.) and wa-stems, ja-stems

o-stems (fem.) and wo-stems, jo-stems

u-stems (masc., fem.)

i-stems (masc., fem., neutr.)

II. Nouns with n-stems (the weak declension). Nouns of all genders belong here.

II. Nouns with consonant-stems:

r-stems

s-stems

nd-stems

Nouns of all genders belong here.

IV. Nouns with root-stems. The nouns of masc. and fem. belong here.

The division into stems does not coincide with the division into genders. Some stems were confined to one or two genders only, thus a-stems were only masc. or neutr., o-stems were always fem. and others included all genders.

Strong Declension (Vocalic Stems)

A-stems

The difference between the 2 genders is only seen in the Nominative plural. In the Nominative gender the ending depends on two factors:

– on the number of syllables;

– on the quantity of the root-syllable (shortness/length).

In monosyllabic words with a short root-syllable, the Nominative and Accusative plural have the ending u.

In monosyllabic words with long, root-syllable these cases have no ending at all. In disyllabic words with a short root-syllable, these cases have no ending. In disyllabic words with a long root-syllable, they have the ending u. These differences depend on rhythmical causes. The words, having the vowel ǽ in the singular change it into a in the plural.

In words, ending in f, Ѳ these consonants become voiced v, ð before a case ending.

There are two variants of a-stem: wa-, ja-stems. They have the elements of j and w in their paradigm. As far as ja-stems are concerned, their root vowel undergoes mutation under the influence of an original j in the stem.

O-stems

Germanic o-stems are sometimes called a-stems, because their o corresponds to the Indo-European a. O-stems are all feminine. The form of the Nominative depends on two factors: the number of syllables and the shortness/length of the root-syllable. Monosyllabic words with a short root-syllable take in this case the ending u. Monosyllabic ones with a long root-syllable and disyllabic ones have no ending at all.

Sg.

Pl.