J a-stems

These substantives are a special type of a-stems. Their root vowel undergoes mutation under the influence of an original -j- in the stem.

Substantives with an originally short root syllable have their final consonant lengthened; in substantives with an originally long root syllable and those with an originally short root syllable ending in -r- the final consonant is not lengthened and the nomina­tive and accusative singular end in -e.

Examples of ja-stems: (1) masculine: bocere ‘scholar’, fiscere ‘fisherman’; (2) neuter: net ‘net’, bed ‘bed’, wite ‘punishment’.

ja-stems correspond to Russian substantives of the types ручей, белье and to Latin substantives of the types gladius ‘sword’, officium ‘office’.

wa-stems are another special type of а-stems. The nominative and accusative singular of the masculine substantives and the nom­inative and accusative singular and plural of the neuter ones end in -u.

The final -u is sometimes weakened to -o: bearo, bealo.

Examples of wa-stems: (I) masculine: snaw ‘snow’, рёат ‘custom’, (2) neuter: searu ‘armour’, treow ‘tree’.

о-stems are all feminine. The form of the nominative depends on two factors: the number of syllables and the shortness or length of the root syllable. Monosyllabic substantives with a short root syllable take in this case the ending -u; monosyllabic ones with a long root syllable and dissyllabic ones have no ending at all.

Examples of о-stems: caru ‘care’, lufu ‘love’, ides ‘woman’.

о-stems correspond to Russian substantives of the type рука and to Latin 1st declension substantives, as silva ‘wood’.

Among i-stems there are substantives of all three genders. The masculine and neuter i-stems do not much differ in their declension from the а-stems, and the feminine ones do not much differ from the о-stems. The root vowel has undergone mutation. Among the masculine there are also several names of tribes which are only used in the plural: Engle ‘Angles’, Seaxe ‘Saxons’, Mierce ‘Mercians’, Norphymbre ‘Northumbrians’, Dene ‘Danes’, etc. Examples of i-stems: (1) masculine: mere ‘sea’, ‘lake’, mete ‘food’, bite ‘bite’ (2) neuter: spere ‘spear’, (3) feminine cwen ‘woman’.

The i-stems correspond to Russian substantives of the type кость and to Latin ones of the 3rd declension, like finis ‘end’.

Among the u-stems there are masculine and feminine substantives. The form of the nominative and accusative singular of these sub­stantives depends on the length or shortness.of their root syllable. Substantives having a short root syllable have in the nominative and accusative singular the ending -u; those with a long one have no ending at all.

Examples of u-stems: (1) masculine: wudu ‘wood’, medu ‘honey’, ‘mead’, weald ‘forest’, sumor ‘summer’; (2) feminine: nosu ‘nose’, flor ‘floor’.

u-stems correspond to Latin substantives of the 4th declension, such as fructus ‘fruit’.

WEAK DECLENSION

Masculine n-stems end in the nominative singular in -a, feminine and neuter ones in -e; in the neuter substantives the accu­sative, in accordance with the general rule, is the same as the norni- native. No other difference between the genders is found.

Examples of n-stems: (1) masculine: guma ‘man’, wita ‘wise man’, steorra ‘star’, топа ‘moon’; (2) feminine eorfie ‘earth’, heorte ‘heart’, sunne ‘sun’; (3) neuter eare ‘ear’.

n-stems correspond to Russian substantives like имя and to Latin 3rd declension substantives like nomen ‘name’.

In all Germanic languages there is a type of substantives which differs in its morphological structure from all other types. These are the root stems, i.e. substantives which never had any stem- forming suffix, so the case endings were added on immediately to the root.

This type of stem is represented in various Indo-European lan­guages.

In OE there are a number of substantives of all three genders which wholly or partly belong to the root-stem declension.

In three case forms: in the dative singular and in the nominative and accusative plural there is the result of mutation.

The OE root stems correspond to Latin 3rd declension substan­tives, as pes, pedis ‘foot’; pax, pads ‘peace’.

r-stems are represented by a few masculine and feminine substantives denoting relationship: fseder ‘father’, bropor ‘brother’, modor ‘mother’, dohtor ‘daughter’, sweostor ‘sister’. The dative singular of these substantives usually has mutation.

r-stems correspond to the Russian substantives мать, дочь and to Latin 3rd declension substantives, as pater and mater.

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