8. Old English Morphology. Old English Nouns

Old English morphology was that of a typical inflected if somewhat simplified Indo-European language. Parts of speech included noun, pronoun adjective, numeral and verb; all of which formed their paradigmatic forms by inflections, suffixes, and sound interchange. There were no analytical, formations. Nouns in Old English retained only four of the Indo-European 8 cases, adjectives, partly pronouns and numerals agreed with the nouns they modified in number, gender and case. The Old English had two adjective declensions, a strong and a weak. The weak forms were used generally after demonstrative pronouns, and possessive adjectives; the strong were used independently. The comparison of adjectives and adverbs in Germanic languages differs from that in the Romanic languages. Generally, -r and -st endings are added: long, longer, longest.

Free stress (accent) became recessive, and precise accent rules became dominant, with the first root syllable carrying the stress. Umlauting, a processl of modifying vowel sounds, took place extensively in formation of paradigmatic I forms Сman - men; fot -fa) and word building. A system of strong verbs I developed as the result of vowel alternation (ablaut), and a unique way of forming the past tense using dental suffix for weak verbs (ealdian - ealdode to grow old) was created. The number of strong verbs in Germanic is steadily being reduced, and the system does not seem to permit the creation of new strong verbs. Conversely, the number of weak verbs is increasing.

Nouns in Old English had the categories of number, gender and case. Gender is actually not a grammatical category in a strict sense of the word for every noun with all its forms belongs to only one gender (the other nominal parts of speech have gender forms), so this category was formal; but case and number had a set of endings. Nouns used to denote males are normally masculine - maim, faeder, brodor, abbod (man, father, brother, abbot). Naturally, those denoting females should be all feminine, - modor, sweostor, cwene, abbudissa (mother, sister, queen, abbess). Yet there are curious exceptions, such words as masjden (maid), wif (wife) are neuter (compare in Ukrainian хлоп'я, дівча). And unfinan (woman) is masculine, because the second element of the compound is masculine. The gender of the other nouns is unmotivated, the same as in Ukrainian. Still in Ukrainian nouns have endings that can indicate the gender of the noun - степ (чол.), вікно (сер.) вода (жін.). In Old English there are no such endings, and words very similar in form may be of different genders. The same form may have two different meanings distinguished by gender, for example lood masc. "man", but leod (fem.), "people", secj (masc) - man, but secj (fem) - "sword".

There are two numbers - singular and plural, and four cases - nominative, genitive, dative and accusative. Comparing with what we have now we can see that number proved to be a stable category, relevant for rendering the meanings and expressing the true state of things in reality. Case is supplanted by other means to express the relations between the words in an utterance, whereas gender disappeared altogether.

All the nouns can be classified according to the different principles. In traditional historical studies the nouns are divided into classes according to the former stem-forming suffixes, which were hardly visible even in Gothic, the language separated in time from the Old English by centuries. The remnants of these suffixes are even more vague in Old English. Still, these stem-forming suffixes determined what inflections were taken by the nouns. Though lost in Old English they still worked in the way the case and number forms were made (we may compare it with some Russian nouns - without knowing the history of declensions, for instance, it is difficult to explain why in Russian the plural of стол - столы, but that of стул is not стулы but стулья, very similar nouns ночь and дочь are not so similar in the plural: ночи but дочери and not дочи. In Ukrainian the nouns ім'я and хлоп'я look alike but the plural of the first is імена and of the second not хлопена but хлоп'ята.

Without mentioning the effect of the common Indo-European stem- forming suffixes in Russian and Ukrainian І о and | і and er, en we can hardly find reasons for that. Without knowing the original structure of the ⁿouns in the language we can hardly explain the exceptions in the formations of plural of the present-day English nouns, too. Why goose -pi. geese, but moose -pi. moose, foot - feet but boot - boots, sheep pl. sheep, but sheet - sheets. In treating the Old English nouns special attention is to be paid to the original groups of nouns in the language with due respect to their dwindling stem-forming elements. The classification based on historical principles seems to be at least a logical continuation of what the language had had earlier. We are fully aware that the stem-forming elements are just something slightly tangible; one can agree that some classes of nouns lose specific features of the class and tend to be merging with stronger groups of nouns; that the inflections in many cases are almost the same, that the gender of nouns may become more relevant than the original stem-forming suffix.

The nouns in Old English are commonly classified as belonging to strong and weak declension, within each of these groups there are several subgroups.

The Strong Declension includes nouns that had had a vocalic stem-forming suffix. Former suffixes (a,o,i,u) are no longer found in Old English, moreover, even the very paradigms of these groups of nouns were already splitting (we can see considerable difference in declension of nouns of different genders within the class of nouns originally having the same stem-forming suffix.) Yet the traditional classification will look like this: -a-stems.

They may be either masculine or neuter. The difference between the two genders may be seen only in the nominative:

m n (short root vowel) n (long root vowel)

Singular

Nom. stan scip sceap

Gen. stänes scipes sceapes

Dat. stäne scipe sceape

Асc. stän scip sceap

Plural

Nom. stanas scipu sceap

Gen. stana scipa sceapa

Dat. stänum scipum sceapum

Асc. stänas scipu sceap

stone ship sheep

So, we can see that Old English nouns a-stems neuter with long vowel might give an unchanged plural, and the noun sheep being an exception from the general rule of formation of the plural form goes back to the Old English period.

If there was a mutated vowel in the stem, this sound might be preserved only in the singular:

	m	n
Singular
Norn.	dæ3	fæt
Gen.	dæ3es	fætes
Dat.	dæ3e	fæte
Асc.	dæ3	fæt
Plural
Norn.	da3as	fatu
Gen.	da3a	fata
Dat.	da3um	fatum
Асc.	da3as	fatu
	day	vessel

This group of nouns is of the same origin as that of Ukrainian nouns стіл, день, дно, вікно.

The Ukrainian (and Russian) 2nd declension of nouns (masculine and neuter) originates from the same Indo-European group of nouns (Germanic short о proceeds from Indo-European a).

Examples of Old English a-stems are: masculine earm (arm), eorl (earl), helm (helmet, protection), hrinз (ring), muð (mouth), зear (year), biscop (bishop), cyninз (king), ham (home), heofon (heaven), hrоf (roof) etc.; neuter dor (door), hof (hoof), зeoc (yoke), word (word), deor (wild animal), bearn (child), feoh (cattle), зear (year), hus (house), leað (song), lim (limb), оr (beginning).

There are some peculiarities of declension of the nouns that had originally -/'- or -w- in the stem (they are called -/'a-stems and -vva-stems); they may preserve this sound in declension: but otherwise the differences are minor. Also, some nouns which are rather clumsy in the nominative might have become still clumsier when an inflection was added; so we may see the omission of such sound (the second root vowel in such words as heafod -heafdes (head): seolh (seal, the animal) - seole).

Examples of -ja- stems are: hyse (young warrior), böcere (a learned man), fiscere (fisherman), net (net), bedel (bed), wite (punishment, fine); -Wü­stems: treo (tree), deaw (custom), deow (servant), seam (device), спёо (knee). We can find similar modification of the former Indo-European -o-(which is -e- in Germanic languages) suffix in Ukrainian (the nouns of the second declension листя, життя, where -i-sound merges with -o-, giving the sounds -m 'а (-тя) and a divergency in the paradigm).

The nouns of this class were very numerous and were characterized by high frequency of use in Old English, so this paradigm is highly relevant to the further development of this part of speech.

Nouns belonging to o-stems are all feminine. In the form of the nominative case monosyllabic nouns with a short root vowel of this class have ending -u; if there are two and more syllables or the root vowel is long, there is no ending at all:

Singular

Nom. talu for

Gen. tale fore

Dat. tale fore

Acc. tale fore

Plural

Nom. tala fora

Gen. tala fora

Dat. talum forum

Acc. tala fora

tale journey

Other nouns of this group are: caru (care), scamu (shame), säwol (soul), lufu (love), lär (learning), sorj(sorrow), scir (district), street (road, street), swefn (dream), fid (time, period).

Ukrainian nouns of the 1st declension of feminine gender are related to these (вода, голова etc.).

In this group of nouns the suffix -ö- may also be accompanied by additional і and w, that is -jö- and -wo- stems will give variants of declension:

-jo- stems -wo -stems

Singular

Nom. bгусз sceadu

Gen. bгусзе sceadwe

Dat. bгусзе sceadwe

Асc. bгусзе sceadwe

Plural

Nom. bгусза sceadwa

Gen. bгусза sceadwa

Dat. bгусзит sceadwum

Асc. bгусза sceadwa

bridge shade

In Ukrainian similar additional sound і gives such formations as стаття, копія.

Other examples of the -jö- stems are: endebyrdnes (order, succession), herenes (praise), hild (battle), rest (rest).

The nouns formerly having -i-sufix, now called -j-stems might belong to all the three genders, and the case endings are different for different genders - masculine and neuter have the same endings as masculine and neuter nouns of the -a- stems, and feminine noun endings repeated the endings of the -o-stems.

m n f

Singular

Nom. hyll spere cweri

Gen. hylles speres cwene

Dat. hylle spere cwene

Acc. hyll spere cwen

Plural

Nom. hyllas speru cwene/cwena

Gen. hylla spera cwena

Dat. hyllum sperum cwenum

Acc. hyllas speru cwene/cwena

hill spear woman

Other nouns of this group are: masculine - sije (victory), mere (sea), mete (food), dsel (part), jiest (guest), drync (drink), jebeorscipe (feast), deodscype (people); neuter - sife (sieve), hilt (hilt), Даме (flesh), yfel (evil), mynster (monastery); feminine - wiht (thing), hyde (hide), woruld (world, age), frumsceaft (first creation), fyrd (army). In Ukrainian the sound і caused the palatalization of the previous consonant and was lost: тесть, гість.Nouns belonging to -u-stems may be of masculine or feminine gender:

	m	f
Singular
Nom.	sunu	dum
Gen	suna	dura
Dat.	suna	dura
Acc.	sunu	dum
Plural
Nom.	suna	dura
Gen	suna	dura
Dat.	sunum	durum
Acc.	suna	dura
	son	door

Other nouns of this group are: masculine - wudu (wood), medu (honey), weald (forest), sumor (summer), feld (field), heoro (sword), liefe (weight); feminine: nosu (nose), or (floor), hand (hand), hi en du (dishonour), sal (rope), swadu (way, path).

In the course of language development the nouns belonging to -i-, -ō-and stems preserved nothing of their former appurtenance: yet it is significant that -ō- and -u- stems in Old English had only three distinctive endings both for the singular and the plural and that was sufficient for proper communication; no ambiguity arose when they were accompanied by demonstrative pronouns, -i- stems, on the other hand, illustrate the tendency to dissolution of the former classes of nouns and a certain tendency for regrouping the declensions according to the gender of the noun.

This class of nouns of weak declension consists of a rather numerous group of nouns originally having -n-stems; the suffix is well-preserved in declension of nouns in Old English, but disappeared in the nominative case (compare Ukrainian nouns like ім'я, плем'я), -n- stem nouns may be of all three genders. But actually no difference in declension of nouns of different genders can be found, for example:

	m	Singular	n	f
Nom.	nama		ēare	tun3e
Gen	nam an		ēaran	tun3an
Dat.	naman		ēaran	tun3an
Асc.	naman	Plural	ēaran	tun3an
Nom.	naman		ēaran	tun3an
Gen	namena		ēarena	tun3ena
Dat.	namum		ēarum	tun3um
Асc.	naman		ēaran	tun3an
	name		ear	tongue

Other examples of this group are: masculine - junta (man), wita (wise man), steorra (star), топа (moon), dema (judge), flota (ship, fleet), intinja (case), pie ja (play, game), draca (dragon), hara (hare), oxa (ox); neuter - baje (eye), cofa (chamber, repository); feminine - eorde (earth), heorte (heart), sunne (sun), hearpe (harp), midde (middle), cirice (church), cwme (woman), flan (arrow).

Nouns belonging to the group of -n- stems were numerous, and later there was very strong, but nevertheless pronounced, tendency to adopt though the ending of the plural form by other nouns. Due to this tendency such hybrids as brethren and children appeared in Middle English and are preserved up to now.

The nouns belonging to -r-stems were of masculine and feminine gender, the group is a closed system. It included only the terms of kinship. The endings here are scarce; a distinctive feature is that the dative case singular had a mutated vowel.

m m f

Singular

Nom. fæder brōðor mōdor

Gen. fæder(es) brōðor mōdor

Dat. fæder brēðer mēdor

Асc. fæder brōðor mōdor

Plural

Nom. fæderas brōðor mōdru(-a)

Gen. fædera brōðra mōdra

Dat. fæderum brōðrum mōdrum

Асc. fæderas brōðor mōdru(-a)

father brother mother

Other nouns are dohtor (daughter), sweostor (sister) Such nouns existed in other languages, too. Ukrainian noun мати might be mentioned as a relic of former -r- stems (матері), and in Russian мать and дочь preserved the -r- suffix in plural and in indirect cases.

Less numerous and less significant for the development of the present-day nominal system are the nouns that had other consonants as a stem-forming suffix, -s- stems had had this suffix in older times, in Old English due to rhotacism they changed it into occasional appearance of -r- sound in indirect cases. They are all neuter.

n n n

Singular

Nom. lamb cealf cild

Gen. lambes cealfes cildes

Dat. lambe cealfe cilde

Acc. lamb cealf cild

Plural

Nom. lambru cealfru cild, cildru

Gen. lambra cealfra cilda, cildra

Dat. lambrum cealfrum cildum

Acc. lambru cealfru cild, cildru

lamb calf child

So, in the present-day plural form children we find the remains of the Old Endlish stem-forming suffix -s- turned through rhotacism into -r-. The -еn-suffix was added later, in Middle English, by analogy with the inflection of another influential group of nouns.

Although not very numerous, it has left traces of the former stem-forming suffix in present-day Ukrainian and Russian, too (небо - небеса, небесний, чудо - чудеса, чудесніш).

Comparatively new for Old English are several substantivated participles forming a separate group of -nd- stems. They are all masculine and their declension combines the peculiarities of the declension of -a-stems and, to some extent, -r- stems as they all denote persons (they may form their plural form without any ending). Here the paradigm of the noun looks like following:

Singular

Nom. frēond

Gen. frēondes

Dat. frēonde

Acc. frēond

Plural

Nom. frēondas, frīend, frēond

Gen. frēonda

Dat. frēondum

Acc. frēondas, frīend, freond

friend

Here belong also such words as fēond (accuser), wealdend (ruler), wīзend (warrior), scyppend (creator), brimlī ðend (seafarer) etc.The system of endings of the Old English nouns can be represented as follows:

stems	-a-	-ō-	-i-	-u-	-n-	root	-r-	-s-	-nd-
	stems	stems	stems	stems stems		stems	stems	stems	stems
gender	m n	fem	m n f	mf	m f n Singular	m f	mf	n	in
Nom	-	-u	-e/-	-u	-a/-e/-	-/u	-/-	-	-
					e
Gen	-es	-e	-es/-es/-e	-a	-an	-es/-e	-/-es	-es	-es
Dat	-e	-e	-e/-e/-e	-a	-an	mutated vowel	mutated vowel	-e	-/-е/ mutated vowel
Acc		-e		-a	-an/-e Plural	-/-	-/-	-	-
Nom	-as/u	-a	-e/- eas/- u/-a	-a	-an	mutated vowel	-/-as/-u/-a	-ru/-	-as/-/ mutated vowel
Gen	-a	-a	-ea/-a/-a	-a	-ena	-a	-a	-ra	-a
Dat	-um	-um	-um	-um	-um	-urn	-urn	-um/-rum	-um
Ace	-as/u	-a	-e/- eas/- u/-a	-a	-an	mutated vowel	-/-as/-u/-a	-ru	-as/-/ mutated vowel

The morphological system can be represented differently, if we take into account only the existing Old English noun forms. Nevertheless, though it might seem more logical, the system does not become simplier, and what is more then the chain of systematic changes seems to be broken. Randolph Quirk and C.L. Wrenn (Old English Grammar London 1955), for instance, suggest the following classification:

A - General Masculine Declension - cyninз (king), stāin (stone), fæder (father)

В - General Neuter Declension -scip (ship), land (land), wife (punishment)

С - General Feminine Declension - talu (tale), зlōf (glove)

D - the -an Declension - зuma (man), byrnee (coat of mail), ēaзe(eye)

E- Irregular Declensions: (a) - a-plurals sunu (son), hand (hand)

(b) - ru -plurals æз (egg), lamb (lamb)

(c) - uninflected plurals sceap (sheep), brōðor (brother), rīdend (rider)

(d) – mutated plurals: fōt (foot), mūs(mouse), lūs (louse).

The nouns from root stems group comprises the nouns that never had a stem suffix; hence it had a mutated root vowel, for formerly case endings might have had a front vowel, which no longer was present in Old English. The group was not numerous (more than 20 nouns), but the words belonging to it were characterised by high frequency of use - they were the nouns used in everyday speech and therefore remained the most conservative - a group of exceptions with mutated root vowel preserved the majority of nouns belonging to this class:

m f n

Singular

Nom. mann 3ōs scrud

Gen. mannes 3ōse scrudes

Dat. menn 3ēs scryd

Асc. mann 3ōs scrud

Nom.

menn

3ēs

scrudu

Gen. manna 3ōsa scruda

Dat. mannum 3ōsum scrudum

Асc. menn 3ēs scrudu

man goose clothing

Other nouns of this class are all compound nouns containing the morpheme man: wimman (woman), ssemann (seaman, viking), ealdorman (nobleman, leader) and also root-words tod (tooth), fat (foot), mas (mouse), lüs (louse), hoc- (book), clc (oak), burh/burj (fortress, town).