2. Acc. sing.: (a) no termination, (b) -en. (a) Tag (-om), Gast (-im), Sohn (-um), Gabe (-am), Vater (-m), Nacht (-m). (b) Wort (-om), Herz (-ōn), (acc. neut. =nom.). (c) Boten, old form Zungen (ōn-m). 3. Gen. sing.: (a) -es (-s), (b) no termination, (c) —en (-n). (a) Tages (-e-so), Gastes (-oi-so), Sohnes (-ou-so). (c) Boten, Herzen (s) (-en-es), old form Zungen (-ōn-es). 4. Dat. sing.: (a) −e, (b) no termination, (c) -en (-n). (a) Tage (-o-i), Gaste (-oi-i), Sohne (-ou-i). (b) Gabe (-a-i), Vogel (-o-i), Vater (-er-i), Nacht (-i). 5. Nom. plur.: (a) -e, (b) no termination, (c) -en (-n), (d) -er. (a) Tage (-o-es), Gäste (-ei-es>Gc. -Iz), Söhne (-eu-es> Gc. -iz), Worte (−ā). (b) Vögel <Vogele (-o-es), Väter (-er-es). (c) Boten, Zungen (-ōn-es), Herzen (-ōn-ā). (d) Lämmer (-es-ā). 6. Acc. plur.:=nom. plur.; as far as NHG. is concerned, the termination (IE. -o-ns, -ins, etc.) is dropt or retained under the same conditions as IE. -o-es, -ei-es, -eu-es. Tage (-o-ns), Gäste (-i-ns), Väter (-ns). 7. Gen. plur.:=nom. plur., the ending being treated like that of the nom. and acc. 8. Dat. plur. ends in -en (-n) with all nouns. Tagen (-o-mis), Gästen (-i-mis), Söhnen (-u-mis), Gaben (-a-mis), Zungen (-on-mis), etc. 61. Transfer of Forms. The principles of noun declension underwent a similar shifting of the view-point as the principles of conjugation. Here, tense was substituted for manner of action; there, the stem classes originally tantamount to differences of the way of designationwere gradually replaced by sharp contrasts between other categories, namely, (a) between the genders, (b) between the numbers, (c) between animate beings and things. While the process of establishing these contrasts has not yet been completed in NHG., and perhaps never will be, it is clearly marked in unmistakable directions of development. -The principal means by which these changes were effected consist in a generalization of vowel mutation beyond its phonetic sphere (38B), and in a considerable extension of the n- (and s-)stems. The final appearance of the NHG. declensional system, as brought about in this way, is represented by the recognition of a 'strong,' 'weak,' and 'mixed' declension; mutation, either actual or potential, characterizes the first, extension of the n-stems the second, and incomplete transfer of forms the third of these groups. NOTE. In Latin and Greek there are clear traces of a similar process in its beginning, but in modern Romance languages and in English we find a tendency to eliminate rather than to intensify declensional contrasts. English, e.g., expresses nearly all plurals by one and the same ending, mutation having been given up almost entirely (exceptions: mice, lice, geese, feet, teeth, men); French hardly expresses the plural at all, except by the form of the article and by spelling. A. THE CONSOLIDATION OF GENDERS. It is not very much of an exaggeration to say that NHG. possesses two or three declensional systems to correspond to the two or three genders (depending on whether one prefers to consider the neuter a special gender or a subdivision of the masculine). Their consolidation proceeded in the following way: Different genders tend towards different declensional classes; masculines are apt to enter (or remain in) the o- and i-classes, feminines, the n-class, neuters, the o- and s-classes. In general, we are almost certain to find that feminines that belong to the i-class now (by virtue of vowel mutation), e.g., Kraft-Kräfte, or masculines that are 'weak' in NHG., have always belonged to these classes; but that n-feminines, or o- or i-masculines as often as not have come from some other declension. (a) About fifty MASCULINES of the n-declension have entered the o-class; this was done by leveling out the -n of the oblique cases into the nominative and adding -s to the genitive sing.; thus, der Brunn(e), des Brunnen became der Brunnen, des Brunnens. Some of the most important nouns of this group are Balken, Bissen, Bogen, Braten (compare Wildpret = Wildbraten), Brunnen (compare Schönbrunn), Daumen (: Daumschrauben), Flecken (: Fleckseife), Galgen, Garten, Kasten, Knochen, Kuchen, Laden, Magen, Rahmen, Riemen, Tropfen (: der Tropf); see list in Wright, Historical German Grammar, § 383. - Garten and Graben always, Kasten, Kragen, Magen, Laden frequently mutate their vowel. As the forms in parentheses show, compounds often have preserved the older forms; as to Tropfen: Tropf, see below, C. With some nouns, the old and the new (leveled) forms exist side by side, which means that the transition is not completed: Funke, Gedanke, Glaube, Haufe, Name, Same, Wille, Fels, Friede (u-stem) have nominatives in -e and -en, but new genitives. The n-NEUTERS Herz, Auge, Ohr tend in the same direction; Herz is inflected like Fels, while the singular of Auge and Ohr has entered the o-class altogether, without leveling the -n ('Mixed Declension'). (b) Among the a- and n-FEMININES, there took place a sort of interchange of forms (following principle B, see below). The MHG. declension of an a-feminine like gebe 'Gabe' was: sing. gebe, gebe, gebe, gebe; plur. gebe, geben, geben, gebe; the n-feminine Zunge had in MHG. the forms: sing. zunge, zungen, zungen, zungen; plur. zungen, zungen, zungen, zungen. A combination of these two paradigms yielded a new declensional type in NHG., in which the ā-feminines took n-plurals, while the n-feminines dropt their singular endings, thus giving up all differences between the types Gabe and Zunge. The nouns in in, -ung, -heit, -keit, −schaft (old ā- or jā-stems) form a large proportion of this new class. Many feminine, but no masculine, i-stems followed the same model, e.g., Arbeit, Last, Tat. Also one root-feminine, Burg (old plural Burg), has entered the new 'weak declension.' The -n of the oblique cases of n-feminines is preserved in a number of old phrases (auf Erden, unsrer Lieben Frauen) and in many compounds, like Ammenmärchen, Tulpenzwiebel, Kirchenmaus, Sonnenstrahl, Wochentag, etc. The old plural of some i-nouns is preserved in singular meaning, e.g., die Fährte (old plural of Fahrt), Blüte (MHG. sing. bluot), Ente, Leiche, Mähne, Stätte, Stute, Tür(e); new n-plurals were formed to these secondary singulars. (c) NEUTERS, originally, belonged chiefly to the o(jo-)class and many of them have remained there, e.g., the o-stems Bein, Brot, Ding, Haar, Jahr, Pfund, Recht, Roß, Schaf, Tier, Messer, Feuer, Mädchen; the jo-stems Kreuz, Netz, Gedicht, Gesetz, Gebirge, Gemüse, Getreide, etc. -But in ever increasing numbers, neuters, especially those of one syllable, adopted a plural type, which originally had been very rare in Germanic, viz., the forms of the old s-stems, cp. Lat. genera, plur. of genus (with r for s). From hardly half a dozen in Germanic, their number has risen to more than a hundred in NHG., e.g., Bad (but Baden, name of a city, originally dat. plur.), Blatt, Faß, Feld, Grab, Gras, Huhn, Gesicht, Kalb, Kleid, Lamm, Land, Nest, Schwert, Weib, Wort, and the neuters (and masculines) in -tum. About eight masculines joined this new neuter declension for reasons of analogy: Mann, Geist, Wurm (and perhaps Gott, which, however, was an old neuter) followed such names of human beings or animals as Kind, Weib, Kalb, Lamm, Huhn; Leib, perhaps, followed Weib, while differentiation form Laib Brot may have contributed; Rand followed Band and Land, Wald (old u-stem) followed Feld (cp. Unterwalden). See B (a). B. THE CONTRAST OF NUMBERS had partly disappeared thru the weakening of final syllables; root nouns (like Mann, Nacht, Burg), o-neuters, and masculines and neuters in -el, -er, -en had lost their plural endings altogether. With some masculine and neuter nouns, the identity of forms has been retained, the difference of the singular and plural articles offering sufficient contrast, e.g., with jo-stems like Lehrer, Schüler, Meister, Gebirge, Gemüse, o-stems like Messer, Himmel, Esel, Wesen, Mädchen, Vöglein; also after numerals old endingless plurals are preserved: zehn Pfund, tausend Mann. But in an overwhelming majority of cases, regardless of gender, identity of the singular and plural forms has been remedied in the following ways: (a) By the addition of an ending: -e was added to some o-neuters, especially monosyllabic ones, like Wort, Brot, Roß, etc. (see above); the OHG. and MHG. plural forms had been wort, ros, etc. -er was added to the rest of the monosyllabic o-neuters and to some masculines (see above). Sometimes both forms exist in competition; in such cases, the -e plural usually belongs to the elevated, the -er plural to the colloquial language, e.g., Lande - Länder, Bande Bänder, GewandeGewänder, Dinge - Dinger, Schilde - Schilder, Reste - Rester; also Bröter, Rösser, Jöcher, Beiner occur colloquially. -en was used extensively to establish sharp contrasts of number in the new weak declension; see above, A (b). |