EVERS

COOK

OL D ENGLISH

GINN

& COMPANY

OLD ENGLISH GRAMMAR

BY

EDUARD

SIEVERS, PH.D.,

PROFESSOR OF GERMANIC PHILOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF HALLE.

TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY

ALBERT

S.

COOK, PH.D.

(JENA),

PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN THB UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.

SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED.

BOSTON, U.S.A.:

PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885,

by

ALBERT

8.

COOK,
Washington.

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887,

by

ALBERT

8.

COOK,
Washington.

to the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

JUN

1 :<M958
TYPOGRAPHY BY
J. 8.

COSHING &
Co.,

Co.,

BOSTON, U.S.A.

FRETWORK BY GlNN &

BOSTON, U.S.A.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

ABOUT a year ago the publisher of the " Series of Brief Grammars of the Germanic Dialects " invited me to prepare the Old English member of the series. At that time the
pressure of other duties did not justify me in promising him more than a revision of an earlier set of lectures on Old

English grammar, adapted to conform to the general plan. The brief sketch which follows, therefore, makes no pretension to be anything

more than such a

revision, although

much has been added

in the process of re-copying

which was

foreign to the original draft.

Hitherto, Old English grammars have virtually been founded Upon the language of the poetical texts. This is to be deplored, especially when we consider that the manuthat scripts in which they are contained are uniformly late the texts themselves were composed at an earlier period, and and that in our present verfrequently in another dialect
;

sions ancient forms are almost hopelessly jumbled with more, modern ones, and specimens of the most widely separated

same composition. the other hand, the language In the present treatise, on of the older prose writings has, to a greater extent than
dialects are occasionally united in the
._

heretofore, been chosen as the basis of grammatical investigation, since it is safe to assume that they represent in

some measure a
of the

single dialect.
is

Besides the characterization

everywhere made the most prominent, an attempt has also been made to give, though in the

West Saxon, which

most concise terms, the chief variations of the other dialects. Moreover, the method followed has been the historical that
;

iv
I

AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

is,

have endeavored to discriminate between early and late in a somewhat more critical manner than has been customary, at least in Germany. In this respect, particuforms
larlv. inv

work

will

need to be supplemented and corrected.

Just here, however, I desire to anticipate one objection which When a sound or inav be brought against my statements.
a,

form

is

said to be "earlier" or

"

later," these terms are to

be understood as designating the relative age of two corresponding sounds or forms, or the great preponderance of the one or the other in documents of an earlier or later date,

and must not be construed as denying the isolated occurrence

In the of "later" forms in earlier texts, or the reverse. state of our knowledge of Old English, it is not present
possible to proceed with any nearer approach to accuracy ; as regards the exact chronology of Old English sounds and

forms, almost everything is 3 et to be done. The citations are not usually intended to be exhaustive, since this was precluded by the very plan of the series.

which appear to be confined exclusively to the of poetry, have been intentionally omitted, because language I believed that the beginner should first acquaint himself with the normal or typical forms of the language it should

Many

details,

be observed, however, that what

treating of West Saxon lic:i<l of the other dialects.

the paragraphs lacking will frequently be found under the

is

in

my

On the other hand, I regret that account of heterogeneous and heteroclitic nouns is not
full

more

and

explicit.

phonology, and especially in that of the vowels, it was impossible to avoid touching upon the theories of comIn the
p:ir:itive philology. Here, again, the utmost attainable In general, an elementary bn-vity has been aimed at.

knowledge of Gothic has been presupposed Old High German and Old Saxon forms have been introduced only in exceptional instances, and then only when they were required to elucidate some difficulty.
;

AUTHOR
The
first

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

English, and the

effectual stimulus to a historical study of Old first outlines of Old English dialectology,

we owe

to

Hemy

Sweet.

In the introduction to his edition

of the Cura Pastoralis the peculiarities of Early West Saxon were pointed out for the first time and his paper entitled
;

" Dialects and Prehistoric Forms of English" (Transactions

of the Philological Society, 1875-76, p. 453
ff.) first

directed

attention to the earliest documents, and briefly characterized Of prime importance are likewise his the principal dialects.
investigations into the quantity of Old English vowels (120. these were intended to prepare the way for a new note)
;

edition of his History of English Sounds, London, 1874, work which leans rather to a theoretical treatment of

Old

English phonology. Besides, the grammatical introduction to Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader (now in its third edition,

Oxford, 1881, though

second) contains
special recognition
in

many

have been able to consult only the valuable and, what is deserving of this department of research, trust-

worthy particulars.

The history of certain parts of the Old English vowel-system has been, for the first time, illustrated in the researches of H. Paul into the Germanic vowel-system (Beitriige zur GeVI.
schichte der Deutschen Sprache und Literatur IV. 315 ff., and 1 ff.). To these should be added the articles by Ten

Brink (Zeitschrift fiir Deutsches Alterthum, XIX. 211 ff., Anglia, I. 512 ff.), and by J. Zupitza (Anzeiger fur Deutsches Alterthum, II. 1 ff.). Of monographs on special points but few have been published. Zupitza has fully discussed
the language of the important Kentish Glosses (Zeitschrift fiir Deutsches Alterthum, 1 ff.) ; while, besides Sweet,

XD.

P. J. Cosijn has shed light upon Early West Saxon by his admirable studies of the Cura Pastoralis and the Old English Chronicle

II.

115

ff.,

240

(Taalkundige Bijdragen, Haarlem, 1877 ff., ff.), as well as by his Kurzgefasste Altwest(I. Theil,

stichsische

Grammatik

Die Vocale der Stammsilben,

vi

AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

Leiden, 1881). The northern dialects, moreover, which had been almost overlooked since the labors of K. W. Bouterwek
(Introduction to his edition of the Four Gospels in the Old Northumbrian Language, Gutersloh, 1857; the edition is totally useless so far as the text is concerned) and of M.

Heyne (Kurze Grammatik der Altgermanischen Dialecte), have recently been made the objects of study. The language
of the Psalter (Appendix, p. 222) has been very critically elucidated by R. Zeuner (Die Sprache des Kentischen Psal-

1881), and compared with that of the oldest Kentish texts the author, relying upon an earlier opinion of Sweef s, regarded the Psalter as Kentish, but this view is shown to be untenable by his own statements in the treatise
ters, Halle,
;

referred to.

Finally, a similar comprehensive investigation of the Northumbrian documents is soon to be expected from

Professor Albert S. Cook.

To what extent I am indebted to these and other predecessors for opinions or material can be easily determined by comparison. To assure every one his due is rendered impossible by the To my friend
for his aid in

compass and plan of this sketch. W. Braune I owe grateful acknowledgments the correction of proof-sheets, and for many
itself.

valuable suggestious with regard to the text

E.
JENA, February
1,

SIEVERS.

1882.

EDITOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION,

WHILE Sievers' Angelsachsische Grammatik was passing through the press, I was a student of philology at the UniThe author had obligingly allowed me to versity of Jena.
read the whole manuscript before it was placed in the printer's hands, and now favored me with copies of the

Under these proof-sheets as fast as they were issued. circumstances it was natural that, when the project of an English version was mooted, I should offer myself as the
translator.
I did

honored teacher
his
it

his cordial permission to

so offer myself, and received from my make such use of

work as

to

my

I might deem proper; in other words, he left option to expand, curtail, or otherwise modify the

original in

any way that commended itself The permission thus generously accorded, aim not
to abuse.

to
it

my

judgment. has been my

grammar has been left intact. seemed labyrinthine, and capable of much Upon but I was soon persuaded, upon nearer exsimplification amination, that the complexity of design was owing to the multiplicity of phenomena presented by the three Old English dialects, and still further increased by the endeavor to discriminate between the earlier and later stages of West Saxon. The author might have made his Grammar easier had he chosen to ignore facts which clamored for explanation, instead of seeking to harmonize and account for them if the work is more difficult, it is also more scientific and
original plan of the
first

The

view
;

it

comprehensive. Moreover, much of the apparent complexity vanishes in actual use. The dialectal variations may be
entirely disregarded
;

examples of Late West Saxon are

viii

EDITOR'S PREFACE TO

THE FIRST EDITION.

and the system of cross-referchiefly confined to the notes ; not only facilitate the settlement of a doubtful ences will
point, but,
if

perseveringly utilized, will enable the student

readily to comprehend the relations between the different an organism which is not the parts of the whole organism

figment of scholastic invention, but essentially natural and

rational.

With

tions of matter, the modifications that

the exception of one or two unimportant redistribuhave been made are

confined to excisions, additions, changes in terminology, and changes in accent. The excisions are of such details as were
criticised
in

my

review of the

Grammar

in the

American

Journal of Philology, VI. 228, and need not be dwelt upon

in this place.

Important supplementary matter has been furnished by

articles in various philological journals.

Among
;

these

may

be mentioned the papers contained in Englische Studien, VI. 149 ff., 290 ff., and in Auglia, VI. 171 ff. the valuable
F. Kluge to Kuhn's Zeitscbrift fur Vergleichende Sprachforschuug, XXVI. 68 ff., the Beitrage zur Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache und Literatur, VIII.
contributions of

506

Anzeiger zu Band V. 81 ff. but espefrom Sievers' own hand (Beitrage, IX. 197-300). So much of this store as promised to render the Grammar more serviceable has been incorporated into its
ff.,

and

to Anglia,

cially the rich collections

pages, though frequently with such alterations of form as to become practically unrecognizable, except upon careful

The First Half of scrutiny. Grammatik unfortunately came

any

Cosijn's Altwestsiichsische to hand too late to be of

service. Besides the additions made to the body of the work, the index has been amplified to include all the new words under the head of Inflection.

The term "Old English" has been

for

"Anglo-Saxon."
justification.

extended

substituted throughout This change will hardly call for an Whatever reasons may be advanced

EDITOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

for the retention of the
in favor of

ix

name "Anglo-Saxon," the arguments "Old English" are manifestly, and, to my mind, overwhelmingly superior. The latter rest upon the practically
invariable usage of our English forefathers, and upon the need of marking, by a simple as well as intelligible nomenclature, the succession of periods or stages in the develop-

ment of our language.

At

the very beginning of the Preface

to the English Chronicle, we are told that "in this island there are five languages : English (Englisc) , British, Scotch,

and Latin." Alfred, in his circular letter prefixed to the Pastoral Care, advises that all freemen's sons be set to learning " until such time as they can interpret English (Englisc) writing well," and states that he has undertaken
Pictish,

to

"render into English" the book known in Latin as " Pastoralis." A century later, ^Elfric, speaking of his
:

grammar, says "I, ^Elfric, have attempted to translate this little book into English speech"; further on, when treating of he states that " littera is staef in 4
letters,

P^nglish" (p.

of Znpitza's edition)
in

English writings." the Gospels, the text of

and again, that "y is very common Again, in the Old English version of

Matthew 27

46, interpreting the

Aramaic, reads, "that is in English (Englisc), My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And while "English" is thus repeatedly employed to denote the language, "AngloSaxon " never once occurs in this sense. But, if the appliis

cation of the term "English" to the speech of our ancestors warranted by their own practice, the phrase "Old English"
is

at least equally well supported

by convenience, analogy,

and sound

philological principles.

No

one scruples to say

while the

"Old Saxon," "Old Norse,"

or

"Old French,"

sequence of Old High German, Middle High German, and Modern or New High German (Brandt's German Grammar,
485) is too well established to be overthrown. The designation of the successive epochs in the history of English by the same terms, Old, Middle, and Modern, which have been

EDITOR'S PREFACE TO

THE FIRST

EDITION.

so long and consistently applied to the sister tongue, can therefore hardly be regarded as constituting a serious innoThese adjectives carry their meaning on their face, vation.

and do not require, for ordinary purposes, an interpretation at the hands of the professional philologist yet, while suf;

ficiently flexible for

popular use in their current acceptations, they admit of strict scholarly definition, and are thus open
to

no valid objection on either score. to accent, I have followed Sweet in the third edition of his Reader; that is, I have uniformly employed the acute, and placed it over the former of the two elements

With regard

in a long diphthong, thus differing

from Sievers, who writes

simple long vowels with the circumflex, and places the acute uniform over the second element of a long diphthong.

dictated by considerations of simplicity and economy, while Sievers himself distinctly affirms that the stress in every diphthong falls upon
is

adherence to one or the other accent

the

first

of the two components, though he ignores the theory

in his notation.

the o, standing for

In conformity with Sweet's practice, I have designated a before nasals, by <?, and the umlaut-e

$, original e being left unmarked. edition has been replaced by g, since

by

The 5
it is

of the

German

not easy to discern any advantage in the retention of the manuscript form. In the index, ff, whether initial or medial, has been made to
follow t, instead of being inserted,

when medial, after d. The monograph on Northumbrian, announced in Sievers' preface, has not yet been completed. Though its claims upon

my

time and attention have been temporarily superseded by

others, I have

good hope that any moderate expectations founded upon Professor Sievers' generous notice need not

much longer be disappointed. The typographical form of this volume

of Messrs. J. S. Cushing

is

due to the taste

Their labors,

&

Co., of Boston.
still

arduous at best, have been

further heightened

by three

EDITOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

;

xi

thousand miles of distance the patience and good judgment displayed under these conditions is, therefore, deserving of
hearty praise. In conclusion,
it only remains to express the hope that best in this treatise may be ascribed to Professor

what

is

Sievers,

and that what

the

is

faulty in execution
its editor.

may
S.

be set

down

to-

unwisdom of

ALBERT
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, CAL., March 19, 1885.

COOK.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

[!N the first paragraph, the author recapitulates the substance of the second, third, and sixth paragraphs of his

Preface to the First Edition, and then proceeds as follows:] Under these circumstances, I have considered it advisable
to incorporate into this was ready to my hand.

new

edition such assured material as

In addition to a number of special investigations, catalogued at the end of this volume, my own collections have again been my chief dependence. Some of

these,

accompanied by references to the texts from which

they were drawn, have been published in Paul and Braune's Beitrage, IX. 197 ff., but the labor of making excerpts has

been carried on uninterruptedly, so as to include the texts which have been published in the interval between that time

and the present. That the search has not brought to light any very considerable number of important facts emboldens me to assume that the more essential linguistic phenomena of Old English have been observed and expounded with To furnish an exhaustive presentasufficient completeness.
tion of details lay as little within the scope of the present as of the former edition. It would have been easy for me to

increase materially the number of examples under each head, had such a procedure been consistent with the general plan of this compend. Notwithstanding this limitation, I trust
that no considerable omissions will be discovered, except in two branches of the subject, which I have been deterred

from revising more thoroughly, in deference to others who have undertaken to investigate them. The Grammar of
Northumbrian, by Albert S. Cook, the admirable redactor of

xiv

AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

the English version of this little treatise, already announced in the preface to the first edition, has been considerably

advanced
while the

in

the meantime,

appearance of Sweet's

but not yet entirely finished ; Grammar of the Oldest

Texts

unfortunately postponed by Sweet himself (Oldest English Texts, v ff.) to a quite indefinite future. The manuscript of the new edition was virtually finished
is

now

by the end of 1884, and the printing began early in 1885. Some of the more recent researches could not, therefore, be utilized. On the other hand, I have to acknowledge a debt of gratitude to those who have assisted me b} the loan of still unpublished texts. The advance sheets of Sweet's Oldest English Texts were entrusted to me by the kindness of their editor, as early as 1882. Professor A.
-

Schroer has likewise courteously permitted me to use the proof-sheets of his edition of the Benedictine Rule. Finally,
I

am indebted to my friend F. Kluge for the loan of his apograph of Byrhtferth's Enchiridion, since published in He has also revised the greater part Anglia, VIII. 298 ff.
me
with a

of the manuscript and furnished comments and addenda.

TUBINOBN, May
15, 1886.

number of valuable
E.

SIEVERS.

EDITOR'S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

is

IN the present work I have endeavored to include all that essential in the second German edition. This has de-

manded the rewriting of large portions, though the less important details have again been omitted, and the paragraph numbers do not in all cases correspond with those of
the

German.

The form

of

my

first

edition

was

in

part
x

determined by the necessity of incorporating much new matter, not found in my original, and its general outlines

have been preserved in this new one, even when previous statements have been modified, and later discoveries introduced.

The Index to the new German edition is a great improvement upon its predecessor, though it is confined to Old English words, and is not free from inaccuracies. These
inaccuracies have been corrected to the best of

my

ability,

and full Indexes of the words quoted from other languages have been added. It is hoped that this latter feature will facilitate the use of the book by students whose chief concern is with some other Germanic tongue or with the more
general problems of Comparative Philology. I am under obligation to Professor J. M. Hart for

some

useful criticisms upon the first edition, to Professor Sievers for permission to use the advance sheets of the revised book,

and to

all

those whose approbation of

my

former

effort

has

encouraged

me

to attempt this revision.

ALBERT
UNIVERSITY or CALIFORNIA,
July
4, 1887.

S.

COOK.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The Numbers refer
to Sections.

INTRODUCTION Alphabet and Pronunciation

PHONOLOGY.
PART
In General
I.

THE VOWELS.
6 8

Quantity

West Saxon Vowels : I. The Vowels of the Stressed Syllables : 1. Simple Vowels
2.

10

II.

34 Diphthongs The Vowels of the Unstressed and slightly Stressed Syllables, 43 1. Stem Vowels in Words which have lost the Primary Stress, 43 2. Vowels of Derivative and Final Syllables 44
to that

The Relation of the Old English Vowel System

of

the

Cognate

Languages
B.

A. The Germanic and West Germanic Vowel System

45
in

The Representatives
Saxon
I.

of the

West Germanic Vowels

West
47

The Vowels
1.

of the

Stem

General Survey of the Correspondences

49

2.

Survey of the Effects produced upon Stressed Vowels by Adjoining Sounds: a) Influence of Nasals, 65;
6) Influence of

w,
e)

71

c) Palatal Influence, 74;

Breakings, 77; Contraction

3.

The Umlauts,

85;

d) The /) Hiatus and

110

II.

The
A. B.
c.

Variations of Quantity Vowels of Medial and Final Syllables

120
126
127

Ablaut

Apocope

of Final

Vowels

130
in

Further Changes of Final Sounds

Consequence of
137 143

Apocope
D.

Syncope of Middle Vowels

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
C.

The Chief

Dialectal Variations, 150

Influence of
;

w, 156

In-

fluence of a

Preceding Palatal, 157

Breakings, 158 ;
168

Umlauts, 159; Contractions, 166; Quantity

PART

II.

THE CONSONANTS.
169

Survey of the Old English Consonants

A. Sonorous Consonants 1. The Semi-vowels
2.
8.
:

w,
r,

171

j,
1,

175
183

The Liquids The Nasals

Labials
p, 188; b, 190;
t,
:

178;

184
192; v, 194
s,

B. Non-Sonorous Consonants:
1.
f,

2. 3.

Dentals
Gutturals and Palatals

195; d, 197;

ff,

>, 199;

203

In General, 206; c (k, q, x), 207; g, 211;

(x), 217

The Old English Consonants in General 1. Changes when Final

2.

3.
4.

Gemination The Combinations ft, ht Grammatical Change

st

ss

224 226 232 233

INFLECTION.
PART
Declension of Nouns
1.
:

I.

DECLENSION.

A. Vocalic or Strong Declension

The o-Declension
a)

235
b)

Simple o-stems, 238;

jo-stems, 246; c) wo-stems, 249

2.

The A-Declension
;

261
6)

a) Simple A-stems, 252 3. The i-Declension

:

jA-stems, 256

c)

wA-stems, 259
.

a) Masculines and Neuters, 262; b) Feminines

4.

268
275 276
281

The u-Dcclcnsion

a) Masculines, 270;

b)

Feminines, 274;

c)

Neuters

B.

Declension (n-stems) C. Minor Declensions

:

Weak
1.

Irregular Consonant Stems

2. 3.

Stems

in -r
in

285 286
.
( .

4.

Stems Stems

-nd
os, -es

in

288

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Declension of Adjectives

XIX
291

A. Strong Adjectives 1. Pure o-stems

2. 3. 4.
5.

292

jo-stems

wo-stems
i-stems

u-stems

B. The

Weak

Declension

293 297 300 302 303 304

C. Declension of Participles D. The Comparison of Adjectives

306
307 315 322

Appendix: Formation of Adverbs Comparison of Adverbs Numerals

:

1.

Cardinals

2. 3.

Ordinals

324 328 329

. .

Other Numerals
:

Pronouns
1.

Personal Pronouns without Distinction of Gender

Reflexive Pronouns

2.
3. 4.
5.

332 333 334 335 337 340 341 343

Pronouns of the Third Person

Possessives

Demonstratives
Relatives
Interrogatives

6.
7.

8. Indefinites

PART
In General
I.

II.

CONJUGATION.
360
352

Personal Endings in General

:

II.

Strong Verbs A. The Conjugation of the Strong Verbs

1.

Paradigms

367

Present
Preterit

368 376 378

384; Class Class VI.
.

2.

3. Past Participle B. Tense-formation of the Strong Verbs: 1. Ablaut Verbs, 379; Class I., 382; Class

II.,
;

III.,

386; Class IV., 390; Class V., 391

392

2.

Reduplicating Verbs
:

393

HI.

Weak Verbs 1. First Weak

Conjugation:

A. Original Short

Stems

400

XX

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
B. Original
c.

Long Stems and

Polysyllables

....

Irregular Verbs

2.
3.

Conjugation Second Weak Conjugation Third Weak Conjugation

:

403 407 409 411 415

417

IV. Minor Groups

1.

Preteritire Presents

2.

Verbs

in -ml,

426

The Substantive Verb, 427 wlllan,

;

428; d6n, 429;

g&n
"

430

APPENDIX BlBLIOGBAPHT INDEX

Page 243
247

"251

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
Beitr

Cod. Dipl Cura Past

Paul und Braune's Beitrage (see Preface). Codex Diplomaticus (see Appendix, p. 243).

Cura Pastoralis

(see Appendix, p. 245).

p. 244).

Ep

EWS
Germ
Goth Kent
K.
Gl.,

Epinal Glossary (see Appendix, Early West Saxon.

Germanic.
Gothic.

Kentish.
Kent. Gl

LOE

Kentish Glosses (see Appendix, p. 244). Late Old English.

LWS
OE

OHG ON
OS
Merc
North Ps
R.,

Late West Saxon. Old English (= Anglo Saxon). Old High German. Old Norse (= Icelandic). Old Saxon.
Mercian.

Northumbrian.
Psalter (Vespasian A. 1, see App., p. 244). Rushworth Gloss (see Appendix, p. 243).

Rusbw
* indicates a

Kit

Durham
is

Ritual (see Appendix, p. 243).

word or form not actually found, but of which the

existence

inferred.

USTTKODUCTIOK
1.

By Old

English

we mean

the language of the

Germanic inhabitants of England, from their earliest settlement in that country till about the middle or end
of the twelfth century. From this time on the language differs from that of the older period by the gradual

decay of inflectional forms, and the introduction of French elements.

NOTE. The OE. writers uniformly call their own language Englisc ; the Latin authors employ, for the most part, the term lingua saxonica. The names Ongulseaxan, Lat. Anglosaxones, etc., were originally employed
only in a political sense cf the proposed nomenclature for the various periods of English and the able defence of the term Old English in Sweet's History of English Sounds, first edition, pp. 157-161.
;
.

Old English forms a branch of the

Germanic,
later times,
i.e.,

so-called

West

of the unitary language from which, in

proceeded Old English, Frisian, Old Saxon,

is

Frankish, and Upper German.

to Frisian, but

It is most nearly related likewise closely akin to Old Saxon. Cf. the editor's Phonological Investigation of Old Eng-

lish,
2.

Boston, 1888.

In the earliest OE. manuscripts the existence of

is plainly discernible. The chief of these are the Northumbrian, in the north ; the Midland, or Mercian, in the interior; the Wefet Saxon, in the west and south; and the Kentish, in the south-east.

various dialects

NOTE. Northumbrian and Mercian together forir the Anglian group. representative of the Saxon dialects is West Saxon, and of the Jutic, Kentish. For an account of the most important monuments

The main
of the

OE. language,

see Appendix, p. 243.

2
3.

INTRODUCTION.

The

chief characteristics of
;

WS.
;

are the represen;

tation of

Germ. 6 by tfe (57 ff. 150. l) the accurate the early loss of discrimination, of ea and eo (150. 3) and the displacement of the ending the sound oe (27)
;

-u, -o, of the pres. ind. 1st sing.,

by

-e (356)
is

In
into

EWS.
i,

the umlaut of ea, eo

y (41; 150.2).

passing later Northumbrian has a tendency

ie,

to drop final n (186), weo into wo (156).

;

and

to convert

we

into woe,

and

The

inflections

were unsettled at

an early period especially noticeable is the frequent formation of the pres. ind. 3d sing, and of the whole The oldest criterion of (358). plur. in -s instead of
<5F

Kentish
recent
is

is

the vocalization of

into

(214. 2)

more

the substitution of e for y (154).

Alphabet and Pronunciation.

4.

fied

The OE. alphabet is the Latin alphabet as modiby English scribes. The letters f, g, r, and s are

most unlike the usual forms. Besides the Latin letters, there were o% }>, and a character for w, the two latter being borrowed from the Runic alphabet. English editions of OE. texts have often been printed
with type made in imitation of the manuscript characAt present, however, the Roman letters are uniters. versally preferred, with the addition of the characters
o"

and
NOTE

b.

Occasionally, too, the

OE.

is

employed

to

represent g.
1.

scripts.

They
fro

Abbreviations are not very common in Old English manu" over vowels are usually denoted by *" or ~. signifies
;

m,
etc.

e.g.

= frQm

over consonants er, as in aeft, fsestn, of = aefter,

the other hand,
j

fiestern, ofer.

On

denotes or, as in

f,

fe,

befan,

= for, fore, beforan

but

ffofi,

hvvon stand

for ffonne,

hwonne.

ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION.

}>

with crossed vertical signifies

:

J^aet.

borrowed from Latin

or.

~|

for Qiid,

The following have been and, and ; and a crossed 1 for

NOTE 2. Before the introduction of the Latin alphabet, the English already possessed Runic letters. The alphabet is an extension of the old German Runic alphabet of twenty-four letters (L. F. A. Wimmer,
Runeskriftens oprindelse og udvikling i Norden, Copenhagen, 1874). The few Runic remains may be found in G. Stephens^ The Old Northern

Runic Monuments, Copenhagen, 1866, I. 361 ff., and in Sweet, Oldest The most important of these are the English Texts, pp. 124-130. inscriptions on the Ruthwell Cross in Northumberland, Bewcastle Cross in Cumberland, and the Clermont casket.
for determining the pronunciation of furnished by the traditional pronunciation of Latin as it obtained in England from about
5.

The data

these letters

is

the seventh century besides, it is not improbable that In Celtic influences must be taken into account.
;

doubtful cases we are obliged to resort to variation in the orthography, and especially to phonetic changes and grammatical phenomena in Old English itself, as a

means of determining the pronunciation. Moreover, the latter cannot have been the same at all times, and
in all localities.

In the following chapters on phonology the more precise pronunciation of the individual letters will be indicated, whenever this can be done with any approach
to certainty.

PHONOLOGY.
PART
6.
I.

-THE VOWELS.
are denoted

In General.

The Old English vowels

simple characters a,

e, i, o, u, y, the ligature oe, ea (ia), eo, io, and ie (seldom au, ai, ei, digraphs oi, ui), and in the oldest WS. texts eu, iu (64; 159. 4), the

by the six se, and the

latter,

ally eo

with the exception of oe, oi, and ui, arid occasion(27. note), having the value of diphthongs.

NOTE 1. The Mss. often write se> as ae, or even as 3 ; so, too, the printed oe is always represented by oe. The distinctions in both cases are merely graphical, and have nothing to do with the pronunciation.
For
ei, which is mostly restricted to foreign words, the later Mss. have scegff, Sweg(e)n, for sceiff, Swein. The occurrence of g(c)> as the diphthong au is very infrequent ; it is found in foreign words like

cawl,

aught, iiaiiht, naught, saul, soul, for

cloister ; and perhaps in an lit, and beside a(w)uht, na(w)uht (344 ff.), sa(\v)ul (174. 3). The diphthongs al, oi, ui may be regarded as Northumbrian graphic variants for ae, oe, and y respectively :
cole,

laurtreow,

laurel,

clauster,

thus, cnaiht,

fralgna (155. 3); Colored for Coenrfed, Oisc for suinnig for synnlg, sinful. NOTE 2. Old English has no diphthongs, except those already mentioned. Every other vowel combination (including in most cases ei) must be analyzed into its two component vowels: aidlian = a-idlian,
(Esc
;

aurnen = a-urnen,

beirnan
etc.;

be-irnan,
is

geunnan = ge-unnan,
7.

geywed = ge-ywed,

iu

generally ju (74; 157).

organs, a, o,

respect to the position of the articulating u are guttural vowels, while se, e, i, oe, y are palatals. The diphthongs uniformly begin with a

With

ital palatal sound.

THE VOWELS.

NOTE. Of the palatal vowels, the following belong to the earliest = West Germ, a (49) te = prehistoric stage of Old English viz., ae West Germ. A (57. 2) e = West Germ, e (53) i, i; and the initial
:

components of the diphthongs ea, eo, io. On the other hand, the following arose in a somewhat later prehistoric period of OE., and are due to the palatalization of an originally guttural vowel by i-umlaut
:

viz., se

as i-umlaut of

a
;

(89. 2), and of o (93. 1) and stable y, $ (32 ff.). These two groups may properly be designated " " " " by the terms primary palatal vowels and secondary palatal vowels The following occupy an intermediate position, in so far respectively. as they are umlauts, not of guttural vowels, but of the primary palatals ie, ie = unstable i, i; y as umlaut of viz., e, as umlaut of ae (89. 1) ea, eo, io; and y as umlaut of ea, eo, io (97 ff.).
;
:

as i-umlaut of a, Q before nasals e, (90) e as i-umlaut of 6 (94) besides oe, oe (27),

;

Quantity.
All these vowels, together with the diphthongs, have both short and long quantity. Length is some8.

times indicated, especially in the more ancient manuscripts, and as a rule in monosyllables, by gemination
of the simple vowel sign (yy probably never being The ligatures aa, breer, mi in, doom, huus. found), and diphthongs, on the other hand, are never geminated.

At a later period, length is indicated by an acute ji, brr, accent over the vowel sign or combination,
d6m, hris, mys, sjfe, deflFel or o^ffel, ac or edc, tr^owe or tredwe, etc., though at best it is only emand is subject to no fixed rule. ployed sporadically,
mfii,

NOTE

1.

as a sign of length

English editors and grammarians retain the acute accent in Germany the circumflex is generally used over
;

Short and a, brer, mm, <lom, bus, mys, etc. simple vowel signs, long ae and oe were formerly discriminated as a and ae, 6 and oe ; these are now written ae and ae, oe and oe, as in the case of the simple vowel

The lack of uniformity is most conspicuous in the diphthongs, signs. English scholars formerly denoting the long diphthongs by an acute accent over the second element, ea, e6, 16, e.g., beam, be6n, hieran, in contradistinction to wearp, weorpan, wierpff. This was likewise

PHONOLOGY.

the practice of Grimm and his successors. Latterly, there lias been an attempt to introduce the circumflex in this place also, and to write

by

either ea, eo, ie, or e&, eO, ie. Neither is to be recommended, since this means there may result confusion between diphthongs and the -a or e-&, etc. In the present work we shall, in dissyllabic groups

conformity with the latest and best English usage, employ the acute accent only, and place it over the first, instead of the second, element
of long diphthongs, retaining the circumflex for the first element of
dissyllabic groups.

NOTE
9.

2.

For the designation of secondary lengthening by ~, see 120.

The

and

final syllables

originally long vowels of certain derivative do not retain their length in OE. ;
final

every vowel of a derivative or therefore, be regarded as short.

of Jacob
long.

syllable

must,

NOTE. Earlier writers on the subject, in deference to the authority Grimm, have wrongly designated the -e of the instr. sing, as

Some grammarians
ft).

-ere, as in

bocere (248), and the

at present attribute length to the ending -i- of the Second Weak Conjugation

(411

WEST SAXON VOWELS.

I.

The Vowels of the Stressed

I.

Syllables.

SIMPLE VOWELS.
a. rare.

'

10.

Short a

is

comparatively

It is

more or

less

regularly wanting before nasals (65 ff.), and it is likewise avoided in all closed syllables. Exceptions are
rare:

habban, nabban (415

ff.);

crabba,mar6; hnappian

(rarely luiaeppian), nap; lappa (more rarely Iseppa), lap; appla, plur. of seppel, apple; ftaccian, stroke;

mattuc, mattock; gaffetung,

flaxe, flask
;

scoffing ; assa,
;

she-ass ; cassuc, liassuc, sedge

ass; asse(n), asce, axe, ashes ; flasce,

masce, niaxe, mesh ;

wascan,

vvaxaii,

THE VOWELS.

wash ; wrastlian, wraxlian, wrestle ; brastlian, crackle ; sali Ilia ii, reconcile; the foreign words abbud, abbot,
arc, ark,
trail

carcern, 'prison,

castel, castle,

sacc,

sack,

Han, treat; and the dialectic margen, morning, etc. Even in open syllables the presence of the a depends in part upon the influence of a following vowel (so).
NOTE. For a before 80; 158.2.
11.
1 in

a closed syllable, as in aid, fall an, see

Short a springs regularly from a Germ. (Goth.) a (49 ff.), margen being an exception.
12. Long is frequently found, and before all consonants whether in open or closed syllables luttan, is
:

called; gdst, ghost; bail, bone, dat. plur, banum, etc.; moreover, in foreign words like ssicerd, caleiid, indgister, from Lat. sdcerdos, cdlendae, mdgister (50. note 5).
13.
ii

regularly corresponds to Germ. (Goth.) ai (62);

less frequently,
<5

when followed by w,
se.

to

Germ. (Goth.)

(57).

sound which is characteristic of Old English its pronunciation seems to have been that It occurs of the modern English short a in man, hat.
14.

Short

ae is
;

a vowel

chiefly in closed syllables Its use in open syllables

to

day ; fset, vat; saet, sat. most part confined such as were closed syllables until the Old English
:

dseg,

is

for the

period, as in secer, acre, Goth, akrs, stem akro-

fseger

(likewise fsfeger), fair, Goth, fagrs, stem, fagro-; or it may occur through the influence of forms with closed syllables, as gen. dseges, dat. daege,
15.

due

to

nom.

ace. dseg.

Short
it is

hence

usually represents a Germ. (Goth.) a (49); (73.1), wanting before nasals (65), before
ae

PHONOLOGY.

before

followed

by a consonant or terminating a

r consonant (79), and in syllable (82), before before 1 4- consonant (80).

1

WS.

NOTE, and 2).

16.

ae is

occasionally found where

we should expect e

(89. notes

the

Long as seems German long a.

The

to

have had the pronunciation of

It occurs quite frequently,

and

is

not subject to any special restrictions.

17.
is

of various origin.

It is either

1)

i-umlaut of an

OE.

d,

laeran, Goth, laisjan, teach,

stony,
;

Germ. (Goth.) ai, as in from OE. lar, lore; staenen,

from stan, stone (90) or 2) developed from Germ. (Goth.) 6, as in bsfcron, bore; maeg, kinsman (Goth. be"run, me'gs), 57. 2; or 3) developed from Latin a, as in street, street (57. l);
or, finally,

lengthened from short saegde (214. 3).

4)
18.

ae,

as in saede, said, for

Short e

is

one of the commonest sounds of Old

English. regards its pronunciation, it that two different sounds are represented
letter; viz.,

As

an open and a close

would seem by the same sound. It is, howthrough

all

ever, impossible to trace this distinction

periods with perfect certainty.

19.

The twofold pronunciation

of the e is

undoubtedly

to be referred to its twofold origin, it being either 1) an older e, i.e. it corresponds to a Germ. (OHG.

OS.) e, Goth, i, as in stelan, steal; Goth, stilan (53) or it is

;

OHG.

OS. stelan,

umlaut-e, and then either i-umlaut of ae, as in se.ttan, set, Goth, satjan (89. 1) ; or i-umlaut of <?, from
2)

THE VOWELS.
a before

nasals, as in ce,nnan, Goth, kannjan (89. 2) ; or i-umlaut of o, as in ^xen, from oxa, ox (93). Which of these e's had the open and which the close

sound cannot be ascertained with certainty; yet it is probable that the umlaut-e was the more open of the The quality of the e which stands for the umlaut two. of <? (= a before a nasal) probably differs from that of the ordinary umlaut-e (89. 2). The umlaut-e is denoted in the present volume by $, while the older e remains unmarked.
20.
it is

The

older e

is
i

converted into
2; 69), and in

a comparatively rare sound, since by nasals and nasal combinations

the umlaut-e
is

(45.

common with

sub-

ject to the influence of

(73. 2),

diphthongization after
ff.),

palatals (74

ff.),

the various breakings (77

ff.).

and the

u- and o-umlauts (103

21.

Long

6,

a tolerably

common

sound, springs from

6,

various originals.
1)

It corresponds,

though but seldom,

;
;

to

Germ. (Goth.)

OHG.

ea,

ia, as in Ii6r, here (58)

it is

2) i-umlaut of 6 (94)
3)

origin in the preterit of certain reverbs (395. A). In addition to these regular duplicating correspondences, 6 also occurs now and then
of
4) as i-umlaut of
5) as

unknown

a (97; 99), and an occasional form of & (57. note 2

i.

150. l ; 151).

22. It is

necessary to distinguish between two i-sounds

a purer i-quality, and i down to a late

in
is

WS.

The one evidently had

therefore consistently expressed by

10

PHONOLOGY.

period and in all dialects ; only in very late documents does y sometimes take its place. The second i-sound,

which originally sprang from a diphthong, ie, io, was assimilated to the pronunciation of the y earlier than
the other, for which reason the character representing it fluctuated much earlier between i and y (and the older
ie, io, cf.

distinction both for the short

We

These statements hold good without and the long vowel. will distinguish the two sounds as stable and
97
if.).
i.

unstable

NOTE. In Manuscript
for stable
i, i.

H of
i

the Cura Pastoralis ie does indeed occur

23.

Stable short

corresponds
i,

1)

usually to a Germ,

as well as

when
it
;

the latter

represents Indo-European

when

is

a Germ, de;

velopment of an Indo-European e (45 54) 2) it is a peculiarly OE. development of a Germ, as in ii iin an (69).
Unstable short
ff.
i,

e,

on the other hand,

ie, less

is

the more

recent modification of an original

(97
;

frequently io

107. 2; 109. 6).

i is

24.

Stable long

either

1) the representative of a Germ, i (59), or 2) has arisen from Germ, i by ecthlipsis, contraction, etc. (185; 214. 3, 4).

Unstable long
of an older fe (97
NOTE. For
often have lg, for fge, as in
for ige, etc.
island.
final

f,

on the contrary,

is

the modification

ff.).

long i the Mss. (though hardly the oldest ones) big, hig, slg, for bi, by, hi, they, si, be; so also igge wlggend, irnrrior, for wfgend ; igge from ig, tslnnd,

Of rare occurrence are such forms as iggaft, iggoS ,

1

THE VOWELS.
O.
25.

11

Short o in stem syllables

is

of twofold origin,
:

and

accordingly represents two different sounds 1) close o, Goth, u, as in god, G-od, boda, messenger, This o does not occur before nasals (29; 70). ,etc. (55).
o, corresponding to a Germ. (Goth.) a before and often interchanging with a, as in monn and nasals, maim, man; liona and liana, cock (65).

2)

open

NOTE. The Mss. do not distinguish between the two o-sounds; Sweet follows the example of the Icelandic Mss. in denoting the open o by Q, thus, iiioiin, liona, as contrasted with god, boda, etc. For grammatical purposes this notation is to be recommended, and we shall
accordingly adopt
26.
it

in the present work.

The sound

of long 6 cannot be ascertained with

entire certainty ; it is not improbable that the long aa well as the short o had originally a double pronunciation, close and open, corresponding to its twofold origin. It is
1) the representative of Germ. (Goth.) d, as in gdd f (60), and in that case was probably always close ; or
2)

good

inoiiaft,

the representative of Germ. 6 before nasals, as in month (68) ; or

oji

3)

lengthened from

Germ. (Goth.) an,

as in

gds, goose (185) ; 4) rarely the representative of ON. au (<?u), as in dra, a certain coin, landcdp, purchase of land, from

ON. aurar, landkaup. The open pronunciation may be assumed

in cases 2

as original

but its continuance into the historic OE. period cannot be demonstrated.
3,

and

oe.

which are of frequent occurrence in the oldest Kentish, and more especially in
27.

The two sounds

oe

and

oe,

12

PHONOLOGY.

the Ps. and North., are no longer to be found in the oldest documents of WS., if we except a few scattered
oe's (94. note).

As

substitutes for the

e".

two sounds, WS.

has the delabialized e,

NOTE, eo
is

occasionally written for oe;

meodren-, feo, beoc,

Cod. Dipl. for moedren-, foe, bcec.

u.
28.

detailed proof of the twofold pronunciation

of

OE. u cannot be
Short
It

given, although probabilities favor

this assumption.
29.

occurs without limitation before

all

con-

sonants.
1) to

corresponds
o,

West Germ, u (56); 2) occasionally to West Germ, nasals, as in guma, man (70)
;

especially before
eo, in the

3) it frequently arises from io binations wio and weo (71; 72).

30.

(i)

and

com-

Long ti has a twofold origin. It is usually the representative of Germ, ti, as in htis, house (61); 1) 2) it is due to the loss of a nasal from the combination un, as in mti<7,

mouth (185;
y.

cf.

also 214.

3,

note 3).

documents, as well as in the other dialects, the letter y originally denoted a sound This y we will resembling the ii, or i-umlaut of u.
31.

In the older

WS.

characterize as stable.
in later

WS.

Besides this stable y, there occurs an unstable y, interchanging with i (22).

the place of stable y,

a comparatively late period does 1 sometimes take first of all in the combination el for ey, as in cl niii-, cinn (or kining, kinn, 207. note 2), srildig, guilty ; before
till

NOTE. Not

palatals, as in bige, purchase, hige, mind,

bicgean, buy, dihtig, doughty.

THE VOWELS.
genihtsum,
plentiful,

18
;

bricsian,

profit,

drige, dry
1

and before n,

1,

palatal, as in

ffincean, seem,
wish, etc.

respring, fount, filigan, follow,

hiugrian, hunger, spiuge, sponge, eebiUgS , anger, hiscan, deride, hris-

can, rush, wiscan, Before palatals, unstable y is also rare; as collateral forms of EWS. hieg, hay, lieg, flame, smiec, smoke, afliegan, banish, biegan, bend, tiegan, tie, there occur almost exclusively hig, lig, siuic, So almost always niht, miht (98. note) afligan, bigan, tigan. but, on the other hand, beside ciegan, iecan, and cigan, ican, there
;

are frequent instances of is an early occurrence of

cygan, yean. Instead of micel, large, there mycel, probably by analogy with lytel.

The etymological correspondences of the short y are: Stable y is i-umlaut of u (95) ; 1) 2) Unstable y stands for (existing or inferrible) ie
32.

(97

ff.)

or io (107; 109).
y"

33.

Long

appears
a)
in

1)
b)

as stable,

y lengthened (185. 2), hydig (214. 3)

2) as unstable

the regular i-umlaut of 11 (96) consequence of ecthlipsis, as in yst

; ;

when

late
ff.).

substitute

for fe, the

i-umlaut of 6a and 60 (97

NOTE.
sy,
be,

Among
they,

the unstable y's

may

be reckoned the
;

LWS. y

in

hy,

ffry, three, for sie, hie, ffrie

on the other hand,

always bi, big, because no bie ever existed.

2.

DIPHTHONGS.
ea, eo, io, ie, etc.,

34.

All the

OE. diphthongs,

whether

short or long, are falling diphthongs, i.e. the stress is to be laid upon the former of the two sounds. The distinction of quantity is made by increasing the length of the whole diphthong in pronunciation ; in other words,

long
there

e"a is

not to be understood as 6

+a

or e

NOTE. In
is

later times, as the history of English

frequently a displacement of the accent, so that ea,

phonology shows, e*o becomes

14

PHONOLOGY.

The probability of such a jea, jeo (214. note 5), and then ja, j6. displacement in the earlier period cannot be demonstrated.

ea and
35.
is

eo.

distinction in the pronunciation of ea and eo presumably less in the second part of the diphthong

The

(the

a and o) than
is

in the initial sound.

In the most

ancient texts ea

often written aeo, sea (the latter

form also in later documents), while eo Jnter changes with io almost indiscriminately in the more ancient
manuscripts.
It

may

therefore be

assumed that ea
ae,

began with an open sound, resembling first element of eo was a close e sound.

but that the

NOTE 1. In the later texts ea and ae arc frequently confounded, probably because ea had begun to be pronounced like the single vowel, ae. On eaw for aew, cf 118. notes 1 and 2.
.

NOTE
ments
:

2.

Only occasionally

is

umlaut

ie

found for ea in late docu-

Ifesre,

biencoddum,

for leasre,

beancoddum.

ea.
36.

Short ea

is

of manifold origin.

It is

the so-called breaking of a before certain consonants, as in earm, call, eahta (79 80 82) ; or 2) u-umlaut of a, as in ealu, heafuc (105) ; or
1)
;
;

3)

has arisen from palatal

+ ae,

as in geaf, ceaf, sceal

(75

ff.).

37.

Long

e"a is

1) usually the representative of a Germanic IxSam, e"ac (63) ; or

2)

aii, as in

o, u, as in

has originated from the contraction of a (a) with si ran, 6a 112) ; or

(m

3)

has been developed from palatal

(75. 2)
;

gear

less

frequently from palatal

+ ae, as in g-^afoii, + a (from

THE VOWELS.
older ai), as in g^asiie, sc^an,
gsesne, scan, scatlaii (76).
eo, io.
38.

15
for aiid beside

scadan,

The two digraphs eo and

documents
;

by more and more infrequent, until it finally disappears. on the e"o and fo are etymologically of equal value other hand, eo is to be referred to an older e, while io grew out of an older i; yet this distinction is no longer At to be '.early traced, even in the oldest texts. most, we can only make the general statement that eo occurs quite frequently for io from i, but that io is less frequently found for the eo which springs from e. In the following pages eo and io will be distinguished
;

side in the older

io frequently occur side io afterwards becomes

according to their etymological values.

NOTE NOTE
39.
1.

On ea and a
On

for eo, io in slightly stressed syllables,

sec 43. 2. a.
2.

eu, lu, in the oldest texts, see 64. note.

respect to their origin, short eo, io are 1) breakings of an older e, i, as in eorflre, liorniau (leornian), 79 ff. ; or
2)

With

u-

and o-umlauts of the same

ff .
;

e,

i,

as in eofor,

frioffu (freoaru), 106

3)

109; or

have originated from palatal

(74; 76).
e"o (fo)

+ o,

u, as in geoc,

geong
40.

Long

usually corresponds to
iu, as in

1)
it

Germ, eu, Goth,

bfodan,

bodan

(64)

or

arises
2) 3)

as in

from palatal + 6 in ge"omor (74) or from the contraction of e, i with guttural vowels, se"on (sfon), see, ffdoii (arfoii), thrive, from sehoii,
;

(cf.

113

ff.).

16

PHONOLOGY.
ie.

41.

The diphthongs

ie

and

fe

teristic peculiarities of older

West Saxon.

belong to the characAt an early

and at period their place is usurped by (unstable) i, f, these latter then remain characteristic length by y, ^ ;
of later
42.

West Saxon
is

(cf.

22; 31).

Short ie
i-

or palatal umlaut of ea and eo, as in eald-ieldu, weorpan - \vierp9 (97 ff. ; 101) ; or 2) a less frequent form of the u- and o-umlauts of i,
1)
1

as in siendun, ffiessum (107. 2

3) it has arisen

109)

or

from palatal + e, as in giefan, gielpan fe, on the other hand, is i-umlaut Long (75. 3). or 4) of 6a, as in h6ah hfehst (99)
;

5) of

e"o,

as in c6osan-cfes<y (100. 6).

ie in gie,
;

giena, see 74. note 1 and for eo, io, as unIn Boetli. we someie, see 100; 159. 4. times meet with eo for the Ie which is umlaut of ea, or the product of diphthongization, and with eo for the corresponding ie : eoldran,

NOTE. For

affected

by umlaut, beside

cormffa, heoran, neotena, hit-ran, nielen, giet.

geot,

instead

of

ieldran,

iermffa,

II.

The Vowels of the Unstressed and Slightly

Stressed Syllables.
STEM VOWELS

1.

IN

WORDS WHICH HAVE LOST THE PRIMARY STRESS.

of
to

head belong the second members compound words, when the composition has ceased
43.

Under

this

be distinctly recognized, together with certain proclitics and enclitics, which lose their primary stress in con-

nected discourse.
stress,

has

This slurring, or loss of primary frequently modified or transformed the

THE VOWELS.
stem vowels of such words.
are as follows
:

17
chief modifications

The

1) Shortening of original length, especially in the large class of compounds which end in -lie, such as
f ullic, full, ryhtlic, righteous,

trasted with gelic,

syllable.

like,

where the

woroldlic, worldly, constress is on the final

NOTE 1. The shortness of this I in the earliest Old English is clearly proved by the inflectional forms, such as nom. sing. fern, and nom. ace. plur. neut. fullicu (294), and by the further weakening to e (43. 3). The inflected forms are, however, usually regarded as long in Old English poetry, with the exception of those which end in u.
2)
is

Change of vowel

quality; thus, in particular, there

to a: sciptearo, ifigtearo,

a conversion
a) of eo, io to ea,

and then

and sciptara,

ifigtara, beside teoru, tar ;

cruel, beside the older

waelhr^aw, waelhr^ow; andwlata, counte-

nance, beside the older Qiidwliota ; b) of ea to a, as in the frequent gnwald, contrasted

with geweald, power ; tdward, future ; inneward, inA further change to o ward, beside ttfweard, etc. occurs in such words as twiefold, hldford, etc. (51).
am
2. Under a) are probably to be classed Ps. earn, North, am, (427. 1), beside WS. com; and Ps. earun, North, aron, for *eorun, which is not found in the texts.

NOTE

3) a)

Weakening Weakening

of full vowels, especially to e of originally short vowels, occurring

:

especially in the
house,

numerous compounds ending in aern, and -weard, -rvard, such as hordeni, treasury,

b^rern (still further shortened to be.ren, b^rn), barn, b^odern, refectory; aiidwerd, present, tdwerd, future,
forffwerd, forward, etc.

18

PHONOLOGY.

6) Weakening of originally long vowels is frequent, even in the older texts, such as the Cura Pastoralis; this is chiefly restricted to the inflected forms of com-

pounds ending in

-lie (43.

l)

which contain a guttural

the inflectional ending: thus, misleca, mislecan, mislecum, mislecor, mislecost. Occasionally the vowel is more closely assimilated to
o, in

vowel, particularly a or

that of the ending, as in ne"odlucor, atelucost.

NOTE 3. Forms like hordern are of early occurrence; those in -werd are later, the older language employing either the full form -weard, or else -ward, -word (43. 2. 6; 51). NOTE 4. Changes of a very radical nature are exhibited by the final syllables of a number of compounds, which ceased to be felt as such
at an early period.
cipitous,

hlaford,

nihol, Ep. Erf.), * * furlong, measures of land, for sulh-laug, furh-lang. Long a, from Germ, ai, formerly stood in the final syllables of 6orod, troop,

lord, succeed to *fri-hals, * hlaf-

Thus, for example, freols, freedom, iieol, pre*ni-hald (iiihold, Corp., weard ; similarly, suiting, swulung, and

from *eoh-rad; b6ot, boasting, from bi-hat, behat; eofot, -ut, debt, from ef-hat (cf. ebhat Ep. Erf. = eobot Corp.); *eofolsian, blaspheme (North, ebalsia, ebolsia), from *ef-halsian (or*ef-wilslan, cf. The Academy for Aug. 7, 1886, p. 92) 6ret, battle (beside 6retta, warrior, 6rettan, fight}, from *or-hat; onettan, incite, from
;

"onhatjan; fullest beside fylst, aid, fullest an (once fulla'-stan, Beow.) and fylst an, assist, from *ful-last (OHG. fol-lelst). Germ. <?, Prim. OE. zfe or a, was found in hiered, family, Anglian hiorod, from "hiw-rsed; awer, nawer, etc., anywhere, nowhere, from (nja-hwsfer; probably JElfred and similar proper names, for JElf-r&(l (57. note 2) and in geatwe, equipment, frsetwe, adornment, beside getawe. OE. e,
;

the umlaut of 6, in arfest, aefst, envy, zeal (Ps. efest, North, aefest,
a>fist),

from

a-f-Ost,

and ofost, ofst,

zeal

(obst Ep. Corp., obust

(,-fstan,
is
.

Erf., North, cefest, oefist), from *of-st (cf. oefest(l)an, North, oefistla). Originally long i
; ;

hasten,

Ps.

lost in the pro-

nouns hwelc, swelc, selc, ilca (339 342 347) cf Goth, hwilelks, swalelks. Long 6 is shortened in oroff, oruS , LWS. orff, breath
;
1

orefflan, orjian, breathe), from *or-68 for * uz-an> (185. note 1); long u in fracoff, infamous, from *fra-cul5 (cf. unforcuS). From
1

(cf.

ea sprang, the u

of fultuin, aid (fulteain

is

historical

OE.

in Erf.,

THE VOWELS.
ami fulteman
Xortli.

19

is frequent in the earlier texts); from eo the u, o of liifuw, liiruw, -ow, Ps. li'ultow = WS. latteovv, lareow (250. note 1), from lad-ffeow, *lar-ffeow, and, according to Kluge, the o of wiobud, weofod, altar, Ps. \vibed, North, wigbed (222.

*wih-beod (others say from *wih-bed). On this point cf. Sweet, in Anglia III. 151 ff., and Kluge, in Zeitschrift fur Vergleichende Sprachforschung, XXVI. 72 ff ., Beitr. VIII.
note 1), from
latter

527

ff.

2.

VOWELS OF DERIVATIVE AND FINAL SYLLABLES.

44.

The number
is

tions

in part limited

of vowels occurring in these posiby the absence of long vowels (9),

is

in part

by the non-occurrence of diphthongs and um:

lauted vowels.

these ae and i are, ; a, following of derivative syllables like -ig, -nis, with the exception confined to the older documents, and are afterwards
of

The number ae, e, i, o, u

thus reduced to the six

uniformly replaced by

e.

Concerning occasional

fluctu-

ations of the vowels, a, o, u, detailed information will be given in the paragraphs which treat of inflection;
it is sufficient to say that u is, for the most part, older than o, while the latter is older than a.

here

NOTE

1.

Under the head of

inflections, it will

be important to note
:

the difference between the e which sprang from ae and that which sprang from 1, as indicated by forms like the following arae, gen.

252; tungae, nom. sing, fern., 276 godnae, ace. sing, masc., 293 saldae, pret. 1st and 3d sing., 354 domae, dat. sing, masc., 238; godae, nom. plur. masc., 293; gibaen,
dat. ace. sing.,
;

and nom.

ace. plur. fern.,

;

past part., 366; restaendl, pres. part., 363; d6maes, gen. sing., 238; suilcae, adv., 315. On the other hand, meri, rigi, nom. ace. sing,
masc., 262; rici, do.,

246

nimis,

-id, ind.

2d and 3d

sing.,

356

ff.

neridae, weak

NOTE
lable
is

2.

402, etc. In later manuscripts the obscure e of an unaccented sylpret.,

401,

-Id, past part.,

not infrequently replaced by

lui-leiul, feeder,

wintrys, bityr, for

y hselynd, ffedyr, belocyn, belocen, wintres, biter, etc.

:

20

PHONOLOGY.

THE RELATION OF THE OLD ENGLISH VOWEL SYSTEM TO THAT OF THE COGNATE
LANGUAGES.
A. The Germanic and West Germanic Vowel System.

general Germanic system.

OE. is a modification of a This general system, while it is not accurately preserved in any one of the Germanic cerlanguages, may yet be reconstructed with tolerable
45.

The vowel system

of

tainty

by the method of comparison. The Primitive Germanic system was composed of the
:

following sounds
Short vowels

...
. .
. . .

a
Z [a] 6

2 e, I
fe

I1
1

[o

o1 u
,

Long vowels
Diphthongs.

./

al

au

eu.

To
1)

this table the following observations

apply
1

The

distinction

between

and

rests

upon

purely etymological grounds, the i which was already current in the Indo-European Parent Speech (original i)
1 being represented by i , while the i which was developed 2 in Germanic from an older e is here designated as i There may also have been a (see paragraph 2 below).

difference in pronunciation. 2 This 2) e and i are equal in etymological value. will be evident when we consider that the e of the

Indo-European Parent Speech was regularly changed to Germanic i a) when it was immediately followed by a nasal + consonant 6) when the next syllable contained an i or j. This distinction has been more or
: ;

THE VOWELS.
less faithfully

21

preserved in all the various Germanic with the exception of the Gothic (which has languages, transformed every e into i). Upon a) repose such distinctions as that

bindan, bind; has levelled the two, hilpan, bindaii)

OHG.

between OE. OS. helpan, help, and helfan, bintan (where Gothic
;

upon
hilfit.

b)

OE. helpan

inf.,

and

hilpff

helpan and hilpid ;

OHG.

3d sing. helfan and

pres. ind.

such as OS. ;

NOTE 1. This rule applies only to the e of stressed syllables; in unstressed syllables the e seems to have passed uniformly into 1.
3)
i.e.

In like manner, o 1 and u are of equal value, the o 1 results from a modification of older u. This took place

modification

when
see

the following syllable

contained an a
the

(= o 2

paragraph 4 below) and

u was not protected a) by a nasal + consonant, or b) by an interposed i, j. Thus, for example, we

have OHG. gibuntan, OS. gibundan, OE. gebunden, bound ; but OHG. giholfaii, OS. giholpan, OE. geholpen, holpen, according to a); whereas, according to &), OS. huggian, OHG. hucken, OE. (with i-umlaut, 95) hycgan, not *hoggian, etc. Here, again, the Gothic

uniformly has u
4)

bundans,

li

u pans,
1

hugjan.

an open o sound, corresponding to an o of the cognate languages

By

[o

we have probably

to understand

existent in
see, this

outside the Germanic system, and, indeed, originally Germanic itself. So far as we are able to

sound must already have been converted into a in all stressed syllables as far back as the Primitive Germanic period cf. such words as Gothic ahtan, OHG. OS. ah to, OE. eahta (82), with Gr. OK, Lat. octo, etc. In unstressed syllables, o was probably found before nasals in Primitive OE., as will appear from a
;

22
consideration of

PHONOLOGY.
its effects

upon the vowel of a preced-

ing syllable (108; 160).

no longer existed in Germanic, since Indo-European A had already become 6 (cf. Lat. frater with Gothic brdpar, OE. brdaror, OS. brdffar, OHG.
5)

Original

d.

Certain secondary d's have, etc.). however, resulted from lengthening when accompanied by the loss of a nasal before h; thus Gothic pdhta, OS. thdhta, OHG. ddhta, thought, for *J?anbta, from

brdder, bruoder,

Goth, pagkjan,

etc.

cf.

the examples in 67.

But

as

this constantly represented in OE. by 6, and the substitution of o for a in OE. is always conditioned by

&

is

the proximity of a nasal, we are obliged to conclude that these &'s must have been nasalized as late as the

Germanic period.
NOTE 2. That the vowels of Germanic ih, Ah (cf. 185), which have sprung in a similar way from inn, unh, must also have possessed nasal quality, may indeed be presumed, but is not susceptible of direct proof.

and deed

might be clearer to substitute & They represent the two sounds which are inlevelled in Gothic (as well as Kentish and Northumbrian) under 6, but are distinguished in ON. OS. as ;i and 6, in OHG. as d, and 6 (ea, ia), in WS. as & and 6 cf. for example, Goth. ml, time, he>, here, with ON. OS. OHG. mal, WS. msfcl, and ON. OS. WS. h<Sr, OHG. hr,
6)

For 6 2 and 6 l
.

it

hear, hiar, etc. (Kent. Angl. mel, h6r, 150. 1.) 7) Parallel with eu there was once a diphthong ei; but the latter, passing through the intermediate stage of
ii (cf. 45. 2. 6)

into i as early as the Germanic period, coincided at length with the pre-Germanic f.
8)

The combinations

+ vowel

and

+ vowel

inter-

changed with each other in such a manner that the

THE VOWELS.

23

former was retained after long radical syllables, while the latter occurred after short radical syllables. In a similar manner the Indo-European ej + vowel has

been

split

into

vowel and

4-

vowel

e.g.,

in

* * * ddmio-, nazjo- (from ddmejo-, present stems like * in Goth, dtfmjan, nasjan, 2d pers. ddmeis, iiazejo-) from * dtimiis ; but nasjis.
;

46.
lies
it is

Midway between the Germanic and the OE. system the vowel scheme of the West Germanic, and hence
the latter which must be taken as the nearest point we are called

of departure in the comparisons which

upon to make. The latter, however, agrees with the Germanic system in every essential particular, except that the Germanic 6 2 or & (45. 6) seems in every case
to have

undergone a change into

d,

(Beitr. VIII. 88).

B. The Representatives of the West Germanic Vowels

in

West Saxon.

47. The transformations which the Germanic vowels have undergone in OE. are essentially of a twofold character. The mutation of the vowel either takes

place independently of its environment, or the latter exercises a determining influence upon it. Of the first

change of Germ, ai to d, as in compared with Goth, kaitan or that of Germ, au to da, as in Idan, wages, compared with Goth, lauii. Of the second kind are phenomena like the various umlauts and breakings, mutations of vowels
kind
is,

for example, the

lisitun, be called,

by

nasals, palatals, etc.

24

PHONOLOGY.

In the following survey we shall include all the changes which each Germanic vowel undergoes in OE., considering in detail only such changes as take place

independently of the environment, and reserving for a separate subdivision our remarks upon the influence of
neighboring sounds.
48.

Besides this distinction,

it

must

also

be observed

that the development of vowels in the stressed or stemsyllables is, in many respects, different from that which
lables.

they undergo in the unstressed medial and final sylOn this account the vowels of these latter

syllables are again treated

under a separate head.

I.

The Vowels of the Stem.

I.

GENERAL SURVEY OF THE CORRESPONDENCES.

a.

In an originally closed syllable, wherever special circumstances do not prevent, short a is regularly converted into fe daeg, clay; brsec, broke; saet, sat; wses,
49.
:

was;

captive; exceptions see 10).

lable,

liaeft,

cf.

The

Goth, dags, brak, sat, etc. (for se> occurs also when the syl-

closed, becomes open, as in raven (with syllabic 1, n), or in consequence of the development of a secondary e in OE. aecer, acre; fa>ger, fair ; maegen, main; cf. Goth, akrs, fagrs, etc., from the stems akro-, fagro-, magno-.

though originally

nsi'tfl,

nail, liraefn,

NOTE

1.

To

the exceptions noted in

10
of

there

must be added the

occurring for the

enclitic ac, ah, but,

and was, nas, was,

ivas not,

regular waes, naes.

also frequently retains a, as in heropa<T. military road, sifffat, journey, etc.

The second member

compounds

THE VOWELS.
NOTE
2.

25

By

a, the imperative of strong verbs of the Sixth

analogy with dissyllabic inflectional forms containing Ablaut Class generally

retains a: far, sac, scaf, etc. (392).

50.

In an originally open syllable the Germ, a some:

times appears as a, sometimes as ae 1) a regularly occurs when the following syllable contains one of the vowels, a, o, u. Thus dseg has the

nom. plur. dagas, gen. daga, dat. dagum and faet, the nom. ace. plur. fatu, gen. fata, dat. fatum; and of hwset the dat. sing. masc. is hwatura, the weak nom. Cf. the inflections of the verb in sing. masc. hwata. cases like faran (392), 2d and 3d sing, fserest, faerear, plur. faraar, etc., and words like atol, terrible, iiacod,
;

naked, sadol, saddle, etc. (but also 105

ff.).

similar effect to that of the a, o, u of final syllables is produced: 1) By the 1 in the Second Class of weak verbs, since it sprang

NOTE

1.

from an original o; hence we have macian, make, laffian, invite 3d sing. pres. niaeaff, lacVaft. the preterits (cf. 414. note 2), like
inacode, laSode, etc. 2) By the e of many medial syllables, in cases where it has been weakened from an originally guttural vowel, and is or has been followed by a guttural vowel. Cf., for example, words
like staffelian, establish

(from staffol)

hacele, cloak; adela,

Jilth

liafela (beside hafola), head;

gadcrian

(poet, gaederian), gather;

rejoice;

gedafenian, beseem; hafenian, grasp; fag(e)nian, nian, warn; adesa, adze (cf. also 129).

war(e)of words,

NOTE
in

2.

On

the other hand,

a passes

into ae in a

number

which the originally guttural vowel of the medial syllable (u, more rarely a) is or has been followed by i: gaedeling, kinsman (OS. * gaduling) aeffeling, noble, from affuling (ON. Qfflingr) laeteniest, last, from latumist (cf. 314) to-gaedere, together, from *gaduri (beside gaderian from gadur6jan, note 1); Saeterndaeg, Saturday, from Saturn! dies sex, ax, for aeces Ps. (but North, acas), from *acusi (cf. Goth, aqizi and OIIG. achus) probably hseleff, hero (originally a plural *halu>iz, cf. ON. holffr, and 133. b; 281. 1) and perhaps haelfter, halter, from * haluftri, and haerfest, harvest, from
; ; ;

harirbist

(cf.

helustr,
noble,

Ep., conceal mrnt, later heolstor)

*

finally,

with a,

aeffele,

from

ajnili (OS. adali)

maegden, maiden,

26

PHONOLOGY.

from *inagadin (OHG. magatin). Exceptions to this rule are the infinitive and present participle of the strong verbs of the Sixth Ablaut * and fareiide, farannjai, -onujai Class, such as farenne, from from *farandi, *farondi. NOTE 3. The conversion of a to ae in the words cited in note 2 took
;

place later than in the other cases (49; 50. 2). It evidently occurred subsequently to the palatalization of initial gutturals (206. 1), for only on this supposition is it possible to account for the absence of
fore, this conversion

diphthongization in gaedeling, -gaedere (75. note 1). Possibly, thereshould be regarded as a kind of umlaut.

2)

that

is,

Before original e (ae of the oldest texts, 44. note 1), one not weakened from a, o, u, there seems to
faet,

be a rule requiring ae: daeg, day,

faetes;

dat. daege, faete, etc. (240).

vat ; gen. daeges, Yet there exists

much

discrepancy;
instr.

adjectives

like

hwaet have gen.

hwates,

hwate, nom.

ace. plur.

hwate

(294)

feminines like sacu have gen. dat. ace. saece and sace There is a similar variation in the past parti(253).
ciples of the strong verbs, such as lilaeden and hladen, graefen and grafen, slaegen and slagen, from hladan, lade, grafan, grave, si ran. strike (392), while the present

optative of these verbs regularly has a

fare, grafe, etc.

before original
1,

NOTE
but this

4.

Primitive OE.

likewise

became

ae

j,

was afterward still further affected by i-umlaut (88 ff.). NOTE 5. In words borrowed from Latin the a of an open syllable is frequently lengthened: sacerd, priest; calend, calends; m&gister, master. This rule may perhaps be extended to include palendse,
ae

palace; talent a. talent

(12).

51. Older a passes into o (not 9) in the proclitic prepositions of, of, on, on, Ps. North, ot, at, contrasting with the stressed adverbs aef-, qn (an), aet. Occasionally, too, this change occurs in the unstressed second

member

of

compounds, especially when the vowel

:

is

pre-

ceded by a labial

nihold, Corp., inclined (contracted

THE VOWELS.

27

subsequently to nfol or niwol, niowol) ; twfefold, twofold; Grfmbold; Oswold; Qndsworu, answer; hhiford, lord (for * hlafword thus in Ps. toword, future,
;

erfeword, heir)
(49.

likewise

h^repoKJ

beside h^repaS

note 1).
In WS., ot has been almost entirely supplanted by aet
;

NOTK.
there
is,

on

besides, an extremely rare form, at. In some texts, unstressed tends toward an ; for this and certain similar phenomena, see 65.
2.

note

52. The changes undergone by original a in cases not included under the foregoing are as follows i-umlaut of the 1) before nasals it becomes <? (65)
:
;

consequence of the loss of the nasal before a surd spirant, <? becomes 6 (66) i-umlaut of the
latter is
(89. 2)
;

in

latter is 6
2)
it

(e) (94). undergoes breaking to ea before

r-,

1-,

and

h-combinations, and before final of this ea is ie, i, y (97 ff.).

3) it
is

(79

ff.)

the i-umlaut

changed to ea through the influence of a preceding palatal (74 ff.) and in this case also the i-umlaut is ie, i, y (97 ff.). 4) it undergoes u-umlaut to ea (105). 5) it becomes ea by contraction with a following
;

o,

u
6)

(ill).
all

i-umlaut changes it to 3 (89) in cluded under heads 1-5.

e.

cases not in-

53.

West Germanic

often

remains

unchanged

helan, conceal; beran, bear; helm, helmet;

helpan,

help; wefan, weave; sprecan, speak; cweffau, say ; cf. OS. OHG. helan, beran, helm, etc. The occurrence of the older e is limited

28
1)

PHONOLOGY.
;

by its passage into i before nasals (69) 2) by the breaking to eo, io before r-, 1-, and h-combinations and before final li (79 ff.) the i-uinlaut of this
;

eo

y (100) 3) by u-umlaut to eo (106) 4) by the change to ie after palatals (75. 3) 5) by lengthening to e", accompanied by ecthlipsis
is

then

ie,

i,

(214. 3)

6)

by contraction with guttural vowels, producing

;

e"o

(113)
7)

by the change of weo

into

wo and wu

(72).

i.

54.

West Germanic

often remains

Indo-European i, as in bite, bite; witan, know, pret. wisse; again, in the 2d sing, and the whole plur. ind., as well as in the pret. opt. of the strong verbs of the First Ablaut Class, like
wlite, face;
stige, plnr. stigum, opt. stige, plur. stigen (382) b) as Germ, i from e,
a)
;

a) standing for

before nasal
;

consonant, as in the verbs bindan,

bind, etc. (386)

blind, blind, etc. ; P) often before the i, j which originally followed in the 2d and 3d sing. pres. ind. of strong verbs of the

Third, Fourth, and Fifth Ablaut Classes, as hilpff, bired*, itetJ likewise in biddan, request, sittan, sit, licgan, lie,
1

Slogan, take (391. 3), and in many other words. The occurrence of the i is limited 1) by the breaking to io (eo, ie, y) before, r-,
h-combinations, and before final h (79 ff.) of these sounds is ie (i, y) (100) 2) by u-umlaut to io (eo, ie, y) (107) ;
;

1-,

and

the i-umlaut

THE VOWELS.
3)
4)

29
;

by the change of wio to wu (71) by lengthening to i, accompanied by

;

ecthlipsis

(185
5)

214. 3)

by contraction with guttural vowels

1 is

(114).

NOTE. Latin

and Latin

converted into e in the borrowed word peru, pear, to the same in segn, from sfgnuin.

O.
55.

As

a rule,

West Germanic o

is

retained

boda,

messenger; god, Crod; gold, gold; oxa, ox; word, word. It is very common in the past part, of strong verbs of
the Second, Third, and Fourth Ablaut Classes (384 ff.). Without any assignable cause, an u is found instead
of o in full, full;
ufor, higher;
f ur9or,

wulle, wool; hulc, hulk; wulf, fugol, fowl ;_ bucca, buck; rust, rust ; ufan, above; wolf;
ufera, the upper; lufu, In Man, love; further ; f uraFum, indeed ; inurnan, mourn ;
(also spornaii),

spuruan

spurn; spura, spur; murcniaii,

is

murmur; cnucian,

knock, etc.

Moreover, the domain of the West Germanic o

regularly contracted
1)

by

its

passage into

before nasals (70)

the i-um-

laut of this
2)

is

(95)

by i-umlaut
6,

to (e), $ (93).

NOTE. For

in

broden

for

brogden,

see 214. 3. note 3.

Latin

is

lengthened in scol, from schola.

U.

often occurs unchanged burg, town, lust, son, huiid, dog, etc. very often in the preterits of strong verbs of the Second and Third Ablaut Classes (384 ff.), etc. It passes into o in
56.
:

West Germ, u

pleasure, sunu,

30
or-,

PHONOLOGY.
Goth,
us-,

OHG.

ur-, as in orsorg, careless,

cleverness.

NOTE 1. The WS. Kent, ffurh, through, is replaced in Mercian (Ps.) by fforh, and in North, by Serb. The negative prefix un- sometimes becomes on- in late Mss., and occasionally un- is substituted for on-, as in unbindan for on bind an. loose. NOTE 2. Latin u becomes o in copor, copper, box, box.

Other restrictions of the u are

1) the i-umlaut to

y (95)

2) the lengthening to u,

accompanied by ecthlipsis
;

note 8) the i-umlaut of the latter is y' (96); the 3) its conversion into eo, io after palatals (74) i-umlaut of the latter is ie (i, y) (100).
(185; 214.
3.
;

A.
57.

1)
strtfet

of threefold origin : Older a, as in the Lat. strata, becomes

si

West Germ,
its

is

sfe

in

WS.

i-umlaut

is

again
the

sfe,

in

Isfeden,

Latinus

(LWS.
NOTE

also lyden).
1.

Of doubtful

origin

is

&

of g&n, go, which unaccountably

remains unchanged before nasals (68).

West Germ, a, from Germ. (Goth.) 6 (45. 6), regubecomes sfe in WS. rsfed, counsel ; r&dan, advise ; larly (but sometimes slapan), sleep; swsfes, own; breath; sfcfen, evening; and very often in the pret. plur. of the strong verbs of the Fourth and Fifth Ablaut Classes (390 ff.).
2)
:

NOTE 2. The vowel of the final syllable is probably short (43. note 4) in hi(e)red, family (Angl. hiorod, OHG. hfr&t), daegred, diiwn (OHG. tagarod), and the adverbs (n)&wer, (n)6wer (from
-red, like ^Clfred, since long se

Ahwsfer, 6hwa?r, 321. note 2), as well as in proper names ending in is distinctly retained in certain proper

nouns ending

in -flsed, like

Kanfhi>d.
in

Some

of opinion that

West Germ, a

slurred

scholars, however, are or unstressed syllables

THE VOWELS.
regularly becomes 6, and hence write hired, daegrexl, awer, For the normal ge in stressed syllables we occasionally find etc.

31

e,

but

not in genuine

WS.

texts; thus,

redan, slepan,
is

etc.

The i-umlaut

of this

&

identical with

it

(91).

On

the other hand, the occurrence of the the following limitations:

&

is

subject to

in sdwe, 2d sing. ind. ; a) d is retained before sd won, plur. ind. ; sdwe, sdwen, pret. subj. of son, see

sdwun, etc.) getdwe, equipment; tdwian, prepare (cf. Goth. twa, order); si wul, awl; cldwu, claw; strdwb^rige, strawberry; (Ti \van, thaw ; and in the foreign word pdwa, peacock. Oil the other hand, d seems to stand for at in the verbs bid wan, sdwan, etc. (62), and perhaps in a few others.
(Goth.
s<''h\\
;

uin. etc.; OS..sdwi,

The i-umlaut
NOTE
3.

of this
;

is

regularly

gfe:

Isfewaii, betray

(Goth. 16wjan)

aeltsewe, complete (Goth.

twa).
:

In the following instances, West Germ. a, in an open sylin the lable followed by a guttural vowel, is retained in WS. as &
preterits

lagon, ffagon,

wagon

(beside laegou, fftegon, wsegon),

;

from licg(e)an, Sicg(e)an, \vegan tlie plur. m&gas (beside mgfegas), and the fern, mage (beside msege), from meeg. k-nsmun; the words hraca, spittle, w&t (beside \vsfet), wet, and wag (beside wjfeg), wave; the verb slapan, sleep, and its derivatives (beside slsepan) and in the words swar (beside s'^vsfer), heavy, trag, lazy, tal (beside tsfel), calumny, lacnian, heal (beside laecnian, which may be more directly related to lece, physician, in which i-umlaut appears), acnmba (rarely To these must be added numerous compounds ffeeumba), oakum. beginning with A, and perhaps certain other words (Kluge, in Anglia,
;

Anzeiger V. 82).
5)

Before nasals West Germ. &

;

is

converted into 6
6 (94).

(68)
c)

the i-umlaut of the latter

is

cfe,

After a preceding palatal

it

becomes

(74; 75. 2;

76. 2).

Goth. ne"hw.

d) Instead of gfe there occurs an a in nah, nigh, In this word the 6& may have been intro-

32

PHONOLOGY.

duced in conformity with nar, iilnn, etc., in which the a is the result of contraction (112). 3) Nasalized Germ, d from an (45. 5) becomes 6 (67) ;
the i-umlaut of the latter
is oe,

6 (94)

The West Germ. 6 maintains itself in WS. unh6r, here ; cn, torch ; m6d, meed ; 16f, feeble ; W^land. Here belong also the 6's of the reduplicated preterits like ht, s!6p (395. A).
58.

altered

NOTE. To the
(OS.
tir,

OHG.

ON.

tirr).

adj. zfcri, ziarl, corresponds OE. tir, glory For Creas, Greeks, there appears also Creacas,

the form of which has not yet been accounted for.

f.

59.

Older

occurs

almost
3Fi n,

invariably unchanged:

hwfl, while ;
rice,

mm,

mine ;

thine ; sin, his ;

wif wife ;
,

kingdom; Ablaut Class (382).

cf.

also the strong verbs of the First

The

i is

only restricted in

its

occurrence by contrac-

tion with a following

vowel

(114), as well as occasional

shortening and breaking

(84.
6.

note 1).

60.

West Germ. 6 remains throughout:

b<5c,

book;

gdd, good; f6r, journeyed ; sldg, struck^ etc. laut is oe, 6 (94).
H.

Its i-um-

regularly represented by WS. ti town ; brucan, use ; lucan, lock ; and ; tun, even where the Gothic has au before a following vowel brian, build; trVkwian, trust (Goth, ha mm, trauan). The i-umlaut of u is stable $ (96).
61.
is
:

West Germ, u

bus, house

THE VOWELS.
ai.

33

62.

West Germ,

ai

becomes d:

d.9 ,

oath;

sttfii,

stone;

hdt, hot; sdr,

1st

uound ;

hiltaii, 6e called;

wat, woiy the

and 3d pret. sing, of the verbs of the First Ablaut The i-umlaut of this ;i is Class, as stag (382), etc.
(SO).
:

gfe

NOTE. Individual exceptions are 6, always, together with its compounds (owiht, owlSfer, etc., 346 ff.), for and beside a (Goth. &iw, OHG. eo) and w6a, harm (OHG. w6wo). With these exceptions,
;

snaw, snow; sldw, slow; sawol, ai(\v) passes regularly into &(w) soul; w&wa, woe; cf. also the verbs blawan, cn;i \van. iiui \\aii.
:

sawan, \vdwan (396.

57. 2. a). blunder.

d~), where the Goth, has sai(j)an, waian (cf. Sorig for sdrig, Cura Past. 227. 8 H, may be a clerical

au.
63.

The regular equivalent

a:
;

of

ac, eke; 6aca, increase; head ; gel^afa, belief, etc. the 1st and 3d pret. sing, of the verbs of the Second Ablaut Class, as cas (384 if.)
;

WS.

West Germ, au is bag, ring; h^afod,

likewise before following w, where the Goth, has g'gw, and the ON. gg(v) glaw, wise ; li^awan, hew ; lmaw,
:

stingy
is

Goth, glaggwus, ON. li^ggva, hiiQggr). The i-nmlaut of a is fe (1, ^) (99) its palatal umlaut
(cf.
;

6 (101; 102).
eu.
64.

bfod, b^od, table

West Germ, eu occurs regularly as fo, ^o ; diop, dop, deep ; dfor, dor, animal ;
:

i^fod, people; Hof, dear; sfoc, sick; in the present forms of verbs of the Second Ablaut Class, like cfosan, cosan, etc. (384)
;

before w, in cases where the Goth, has iggw,

:

ON.

hr^owan, (ON. hryggva, tryggr,

ygg(v)

rue,
etc.)

getr6ow, .true, tre"ow, faith

;

finally, in foreign

words

34

PHONOLOGY.

Eodoxe, for Deusdedit, Leutherius, Eudoxil. The i-umlaut of fo is ie (i, ^), but the umlaut is often lacking, so that the diphthong remains as fo (iu) o (loo).
like Deosdedit, Leowarerius,
NOTE. Original eu
is

occasionally preserved in the oldest texts

etc.

ffeuw, leudgeldum, steupfaedaer, treulesnis,

2.

SURVEY OF THE EFFECTS PRODUCED UPON STRESSED

VOWELS BY ADJOINING SOUNDS.

a)

INFLUENCE OF NASALS.

65. Germanic a before nasals undergoes change to open Q in a prehistoric period of OE. (25. 2). As the alphabet has but two characters, a, o, to represent the three sounds a, ?, o, there is considerable fluctuation in

the sign for

<?.

The very
;

oldest texts, like the Epinal

Gloss., uniformly employ the a:

brand; land, land

:

maim, man; brand, hand, hand; nania, name; cainb,

comb; gangan, go. In the 9th century o has gained the upper hand inoii, brond, loiid, bond, noma, lomb, gongau (so without exception in the Ps. and North. but cf. 386. note 3). From this time on the a increases iu frequency, and finally succeeds in supplanting the o.
;

NOTE 1. This change to Q is older than the metathesis of r (179). This accounts for the preterits Qrn, bgrn, originally *rQnn, *brQim (389). NOTE 2. Peculiar are the accusatives ffone, the, hwone, whom ; the
instrumentals ffon, h won (337. note

hwonne,

when.

1; 341); the adverbs ffonne,<Aen, These have uniformly o, which must probably be

regarded as close o.

So, too, the preposition on (not the stressed adverb, which conforms to the general rule) only now and then appears as an, most frequently in compound words. Only occasionally do the

most ancient

texts

have ftanne, but

in

LWS.

ffaenne and

hwsenne

are

THE VOWELS.

35

very common. At a subsequent period ffane. hwane, and ffaene, hwaene, occur very frequently they are perhaps formed by analogy with the datives 9am, li \viiiii, and tfscm, hwgfcm, and on that account In LWS. ma-nig (m$nig) regularly takes to be written with a, &.
;

the place of the older

monig, manig.
is lost

66.

When

the following nasal

before a surd

spirant, this

goose; lids, other ; sdfte, softly

(cf.

regularly lengthened band; <Ss-, G-od; sdflF, true; these stand for *
;

is

to

6 (185)

gds,

gons,

t6ff, tooth; offer, * etc.

lions,

Goth, liansa, anj'ar.

In like manner,
riasalized
d,

OHG.

gans, saufto,

etc.).

67.

OE. 6 corresponds
(45. 5) in

to the Gerfaliaii. seize;

J?dh<S,

manic
clay;

from an

Goth,

hdhan, hang; bralita, brought;

-wdlis,
;

J'jihta,

thought;

zahi, tough

blameworthy; OHG. alita, persecution; OE. fdn, hdn, brdhte, ffdhte, Stf (Epijial

thohae), \r6h, 6ht, tdh.

68.
is

(45. 6 46), Similarly West Germ, si from Germ. Thus to Goth, im-na. before nasals into 6. changed
;

moon, m^iiops, month, iie'muii, they took, qmiiu, they came, correspond mtfiia, induaar, udiiiuii, cwdmuii. To the same source must be referred the 6 in sdiia, soon ;
spdii, sliver;

geddn, done; brdni, broom; wdin, \v6ina,

(74).

uproar; 6m, rust; g^omor, grief

NOTE
1.
:

Here belong the following, which have undergone I-umlaut according to 94 cvven, woman, Goth. qns wn, ho/ie, Gotli. \v6ns
;

gecw6me, convenient, OHG. biquami

hela,
heel
;

getSine,
;

suitable,

OHG. gixamt

ged6n, done (beside ged6n) brme, famous, etc. (cf. the OE. e is, therefore, dialectic forms cwsen, wsen, gecwafeme, etc.). on no account to be considered identical with Germanic e. NOTE 2. On LWS. namon for ndmon, and ewamon for c(\v)6mon, see 39O. note 2. For older s6m-, half (cf. Gr. rj(tC), there is a regular LWS. sain-. Irregular umlaut is found in beiia-nian, deprive;

nydna.me,

violence.

86
69.

PHONOLOGY.

West Germ,

e before nasals becomes

in

the

of verb iiiman, take, into the language the e in foreign words incorporated at an early date gim, gem, mint, mint, pinsian, consider, from Latin gemma, mentha, pensare; cf. also
:

OHG. neman.

The same holds

pfn, torture, from

poena (pronounced pena), and dfnor,

: ;

from denarius.
NOTE. Exceptions are cwene, woman, OHG, quena denn, valley ; and the e preceding inn from fn, as in einn, stemn, from efn, stefn
(193. 2).

West Germ, o before nasals becomes u cuman, come; genumen, took; -niima, receiver; wunian, dwell;
70.
:

3Fiinor,
\von<)ii,

thunder; OHG. coman, ginoman, -nomo, donar. So the o in the early borrowings from

munuc, munt, pund, cumpaeder, from Latin monachus, montem, poiidus, compater; with subsequent i-umlaut mynet, mynster, from Latin moneta, monasterium. An exception is f<jnt, fant, from Latin
Latin
: :

fontem.
NOTE. As nasal + consonant had already changed preceding e to i and o to u, in the Germanic period (45. 2, 3), the rules of paragraphs
69, 70, apply only to a simple nasal in the case of native words.

b)
71.

INFLUENCE OF w.

by breaking

arising from Germanic wi or through the agency of u- and o-umlaut (107), usually becomes wu; yet older forms with the diphthong io (eo, 38), and even snch as have

The combination wio

(79
if.),

simple i, now and then occur the interjection wuton wudu, wood; wuduwe, widow ; swutol, clear; wucu, week; c(w)ucu, living; wuht, thing (so also ndwuht,
:

ndulit, nothing);

betwuh, foetwux, between; beside

THE VOWELS.
;

37
; ;

wiodu (rare and old) widuwe, weoduwe sweotol wice, weoce cwicu, cwic betwih, betweoh, etc. So
;

swiira for swiora, neck.

NOTE
1.

Occasionally
etc.

wo

is

found

in

LWS.

swotol, wolcread,

for swiotol,

wiolocread.

More usual

in the later

WS.

texts

is

wy:

wyduwe,

NOTE 2. The io of WS. wio experiences 1-umlaut like any other io: wierffe, worth; wiersa, worse; wler(re)sta, worst, etc.
72.

The combination weo from Germ, we (breaking

ff.
;

or u-umlaut, 79

106) generally retains

its

form

yet

frequently find worold, world, worUJlg, street ; and occasionally in LWS. swolotf, heat ; geswosterna,
sisters;

we

turn,

wore, geworc, work; worpan, throw; hworfan, is frequently substituted for this eo in LWS.:

swurd, wurftan, wurflfian, swuster, instead of swcord, sword; weorffan, become; weorarian, estimate, prize;
sweoster,
sister.
:

NOTE. Subsequently the u is replaced by y swyrd, etc. It would appear that the later Mss. employ wur and wyr almost indiscriminately thus u is found for stable y in wurmas, \vurd-, wurt-, and for unstable y in wurste, EWS. wierste weor is even found for wur,
;

wyr

in

weormum, ymbhweorft, geoweorja,

for

wyrmum, ymb-

hwyrft, Lat. Jugurtha.

73.

1)

ated a

The combinations aw and ew originally generu between the vowel and the w the auw and
;

euw
etc.,

thus formed then passed regularly into 6aw, e"ow: fawe, few, Goth, f awai ; cn^owes, tr^owes, ff^owes,
gen. sing, of cne"o, knee,
tre"o,

tree,

2F6o,

servant
is

On the other hand, the e (137), OHG. knewes, etc. preserved in the part, gesewen, seen (391. 2).
NOTE
mawilo)
1.
;

Germ,

awl becomes OE.

eive,

ow

in

mfcowle,

girl

(Goth.

6owu,
cf.

beside

6owde,

herd, feowestre, sheepfold (Prim.

;

Germ, awi,

Goth. aw6J>i, awistr)

and streowian,

pret. strfeow-

38

PHONOLOGY.
This seems to indicate that the

ede (Goth, straujan, strawida).

introduction of the
so that

meowle

place after the appearance of the I-umlaut, stands for * mewilo, etc. Simple e is not infrequently
especially in strewian, strewede.

u took

retained in

ewu, and

in iuw,

manner, the combination iw resulted which in OE. was regularly converted into fow. But since Germ, iw (as representing an older ew) is
2) In a similar

almost invariably followed by i, j, we scarcely encounter this fow, except in those dialects in which umlaut of io is unknown (100; 159. 4). The i-umlaut takes place,

and

however, in WS., the normal form few being ancient rare, while fw is usual nfewe, nfwe, new (Goth. niujis) hfew, hfw, appearance (Goth, hiwi) sfw(i)an, sew (Goth, siu jan. pret. *siwida); spfw(i)an, spew,
: ; ;

etc.,

besides the

unumlauted nfowe, hfow, sfow(i)an,

is

spfow(i)an.

NOTE

2.

Older

Iw

retained only in the past participles of the

sift

verbs spiwan, spew (382), seon,

(383), which occur as sptwen,

glwen (siowen).
late

Whether

older iw, as of ew iw as the umlaut of iow,

there has simply been a preservation of in gesewen (73. 1), or whether we should postuis

a matter of doubt.

c)

PALATAL INFLUENCE.
j

74.

The
:

palatal semi-vowel

(175),
(se)

when beginning
to

a word, unites with the vowels a

grief ;
so likewise in the

and o

form gea,
(338. 4),
be-

geo (gio) g6a, yea ; g6ar, year ; gioc, geoc, yoke ; g^omor, pronoun
geoii, that

and

its

derivatives, like geond, through,

;

begeondan,

yond

(for jan, JQH, 65

cf.

E WS.

giend, gind, Kent.

gend, North, gind, begienda, with i-umlaut). The combination ju sometimes remains unchanged iu, formerly;
:

iucian, yoke; iung, gung, young ; iuguO gugucJ , youth But its place is usually taken (cf. Goth, ju, juggs).
,

THE VOWELS.
by geo, gio:
(For
NOTE
gc'riii,

39
geoguff, gioguflF.

ge"o;

geong, giong;

giocifra, etc., see 100. a.)

1.

determined.

The source of The same is

still.

giena,
2.

the ie (y, 22) in gfet, gieta, yet, is not yet true of gen, gien, and the more common There is no doubt that we have an older j in the
side with occasional gie (332). like ger for gfear, see 102.

pers. pron.

g<j,

NOTE

side by For forms

75. The palatals g, c, and sc (206) have a similar effect. These change the primary palatals se, sfe (= Germ. 6, 57. 2), and e, into ea (i-umlaut ie), 6a (i-umlaut fe), and ie: 1) se to ea geaf gave ; -geat, obtained ; geat, gate , geatwe, trappings; ceaf, chaff; ceaflas, jaws ; ceaster, town ; sceal, shall ; sceaft, shaft ; sceat, treasure ; sceabb, scab; scear, 3d sing, pret., cut; for *gsef, *gaet,
: ,

etc. (cf. Gotli. gaf, gat, Lat. castra, etc.).

Similarly,
ciefes,

with i-umlaut (98)

concubine
create;
*ceafis,
(cf.
;

giest (gyst, gist), guest;

cietel,
kettle ;

ciele,

coolness ;

scieppan,

sciell, shell;

*sceappjan, Goth, gasts, skapjan, etc.). 2) sfe to 6a: g^afon, gave; g^aglas, jaws ; -gaton, obtained; sc^ap, sheep; sc^aron, cut; for *gjfefon, *gaeglas, *gaeton. *scrf'p (cf. Goth, g^bum, gtum, etc.).
Witli umlaut: cfese, c^se, from Lat. caseus.
3) e to ie
(i,

(a)scilian, shell; from *geasti, for *gsesti, *csefis, *scaeppjan

cheese, for

*c6asi from *caesi,

;

y)

giefan, give

giefn, gift

-gietan,

obtain; gield, offering ; gielclau, yield; giellan, yell; gielp, boasting ; gielpan, boast ; gied, song ; scieran, cut;
scield, shield ; besides gifan, gyfan, etc.

NOTE 1. Contrary to the rule, se maintains itself in gaedeling, kinsman, caefian, embroider, aetgPCflere, t6gaedere, together (50. note 3), and in certain Latin words received into LWS., such as ctefcster, halter,

40

PHONOLOGY.

caeppe, cap, from Lat. capistrum, cappa; of course also in gaers,

grass,

Forms like gaest, scaed, caerse, cress, for graes, etc. (179). shade, scaer, scaferon (instead of giest, scead, scear, scearon), are

The imp. scaef (beside to WS. prose, but occur in poetry. scaf), for the normal sceaf (369), is of late formation.

unknown

NOTE
etc., to

2.

The e

holds

its

ground

in

words like geldan, gelp, sceran,

this e,

WS.

substituted for ie in general ; however, cannot be regarded as genuine WS. Nevertheless, always has sce^Fffan (392. 4), and ./Elfric regularly writes gesthiis
it is

about the same extent as

in guest.

(otherwise an exceptional form), just as Mod. Eng. has a guttural g In the case of g^sthus there is probably borrowing from

the Norse.

NOTE .3. When the palatal diphthongization of e is in conflict with breaking (79 ft'.), the latter has the preference; hence, ceorfan, carve, Under ceorl, man, georn, eager, sceorfan, gnaw; not cierfan, etc. similar circumstances the u-, o-umlaut (103 ft".), likewise has the preference over palatal influence
throat,

geolo, yellow, geoloca, yolk, ceole, oeorlan, lament; yet genuine WS. always has giefu, after the
:

model of the gen. dat. ace. giefe, though outside of the WS. one finds a nom. geofu.
76.

limits of strict

Other vowels undergo no change

after

g and

c;

this is true not only of the guttural vowels a, Q, o, u, as in galan, sing, calan, be cold, gongan, go, comp, camp,
battle, gast, spirit,

corn, corn,

guma, man, cuman,

c^sere, emperor, God, Crod, g6d,good, come, giifr, battle, crio*,

$,
e",

known, but also of the secondary palatals &,

(7.

y,

y"

note), as in gtfest (beside gdst), spirit,

gffed, lack,

gffelsa,

luxury,

comb,

cgfeg, key ce.mpa, warrior,

(cf. 90),

c^mes, shirt, cejnban, caiman, beget, Cejnt, Kent,

-g^nga, goer (cf. 89. 2), c^llendre, coriander, ce"ne, bold, c^lan, cool, ce"pan, observe, gs, geese (cf. 93 ff.), cyme\
coming, cynn, kin, cyssaii, kiss, cyst, choice, golden, cy'fran, announce (cf. 95 ff.).

gylden,

NOTE 1. It is an exception that gasne is frequently found for and beside gtesne, g6sne, barren (OHG. geisiui).

THE VOWELS.

41

1) Instead of sea, sco there is a frequent occurrence

of scea, sceo

sceacan, scoc, sceacen, shake (392) and

;

seadau and scadan, separate ; scamu, scomu, and sceamu, sceomu, shame; scop and This variation is sceop, poet; scoli and sce"oh, shoe. an extremely irregular one, not only in regard to the
scacan, scoc, scacen
spelling of single words, but also to the usage in the different texts.

most cases scu remains unaffected: scua, shadow ; scucca, demon ; scrifan, shove ; sculdor, shoulder ; sciir, shower. Not till LWS. do we encounter single instances of sceu, like sceucca, sc^ufan, and somewhat more frequently eo sceocca, sc^ofan, sce"or.
2) In
:

is experienced by scy: scyld, guilt; scyndan, hasten; scyte, shot, etc.

3)

No change
Even
in

the verb sceolan,

is a frequent substitute for scu in beside sculan (423) plur. sceolun, beside sculun. The preterit sceolde for scolde is likewise of surprisingly frequent occurrence.

NOTE

2.

EWS., sceo

shall,

NOTE

3.

The umlaut-^ derived from Q

(89. 2) remains

unchanged

in sce_nc, goblet, sce,ncean, pour out, but is nearly always diphthongized in sciendan (scindan, scyndan), disgrace, as is e, the umlaut of 6

(94), in gescy, shoes (for gescie, Ps. North, gescoe).

NOTE
and
a,

4.

In

LWS., e

is

in a final syllable:
etc.

even occasionally inserted between sc and me,nnescea, human being, Egiptiscea,

Ebreisceo, Wyliscea,

NOTE

5.

On account

phenomena described

in 76. 2,

of the confusion which prevails among the they are not to be classed, without

further question, with those of 75 (and 74), which are consistently carried out in WS. It is not at all impossible that, to some extent,
the e may have been inserted between sc and one of the guttural vowels, to indicate that sc had the pronunciation of sh (German sell). Indeed, some scholars assign the same explanation to the ea, le of 75, or in other words assert that they merely indicate the palatal pronunciation of the g, c, sc (cf 206- 6)
.

and, consequently, that ea

is

merely

42

PHONOLOGY.

But this opinion can hardly be eae. maintained, in view of the fact that the ea and ie of 74 and 75 are treated exactly like the other ea's and ie's, which are indisputably true diphthongs that is, that ea, 6a undergo palatal umlaut to e, e (101 ff.),
an abbreviated mode of writing
;

and that Ie, ie are converted to unstable i, y and i, y. Accordingly, the ea (eo) and ie of 74 and 75 must be regarded as genuine diphthongs (cf Beitr. IX. 204 ff.).
.

d)
77.

THE BREAKINGS.
may be
defined

Breaking, according to Grimm,

as the change of a short e to eo, and that of a short a to ea. propose to frame a more accurate defini-

We

tion

by

restricting the

name

to

such of the changes as

take place solely through the influence of following consonants (for ea, eo, as u- and o-umlauts, see 103 ff. ;
for ea, eo
78.

from palatal

+ a,

o, u,

see 74

ff.).

Breaking is older than palatal diphthongization (75. note 3) and u-umlaut, since it already prevails in the Epinal glosses, which exhibit but few traces of u-umlaut. That it is likewise older than the i-umlaut is rendered probable by the fact that the broken ea, eo undergo regular umlaut to ie, i, y (97 ff.).

The

varieties of breaking in

WS.

are the following

l)
79. i)

Before r
-f-

consonant.

Before r

eo, io;

and Germ,
:

consonant West Germ, e passes into a, under the same circumstances,

heorte, heart ;
eor<JFe,

into ea

a) steorra, star

earth ; weor-

pan, throw

Goth, stairra, hairtd, air>a, wairpan,

OS. sterro, herta, ertha, werpan, etc. b) WS. earm, arm; wearp, threw; wearff, became, = Goth, arms, warp, warp.

THE VOWELS.
NOTE
lost
:

43

remains, even when the second consonant ffweorh, across ; mearh, horse ; gen. feores, For warff, -worff, see 43. 2. ffweores, meares (218) NOTE 2. On the other hand, breaking does not occur in the umlaut forms aernan, run, baernan, burn, nor in berstan burst, fferscan, thresh,
1.

The breaking
life ;
.

is

feorh,

caerse, cress, gaers, grass, baerst, burst, aern, house, ha-rn, wave, because in these cases the r + consonant is the result of metathesis (179). Why there should be an absence of breaking in

fersc, fresh,

word there be i-umlaut of

haerfest, harvest (but cf 50. note 2), and brerd, margin (unless in the latter For arn (ojrn), o, 93), is not evident.
.

barn (bQrn), see 65. note 1; 386. note 2. But, notwithstanding the metathesis, we have beornan (byrnan), burn, and ieruan (yrnan),
run -= Goth, brinnan, riniian (see under 2 below). NOTE 3. Breaking is of rare occurrence in foreign words thus, we have arce- beside aerce-, arch (in such words as arcebiscop, arch'
;

bishop'),

prison,

martrian, martyr ; and, in LWS., usually arc, where EWS. commonly prefers earc, ccarcern.

ark,

carcern,

2)

as

West Germ, i was likewise broken to io, eo but West Germ, i only appears before r + consonant in
;

formerly followed this combination (45.2), io, umlauted, as in hierde (Goth, hairdeis), etc. (see lOO, but also note 2 above).
i,

cases where

WS.

eo

is

2)
80.

Before

consonant.

West Germ, a
to ea, but
:

changed

older documents

1 -+- consonant is usually often retained, especially in the feallan, fall, eald, old, healf, half,

before

is

along with fallan, aid, half (perhaps more precisely fallan, aid, half, according to 124. 3; see also note 3), = Goth, fallan, etc.
NOTE 1. For forms like Wealh - Wfeales, Welshman, see 79. note 242 for their i-umlaut, 98. NOTE 2. Breaking takes place before 11 only when the latter is
;

1;

of

Germanic

origin, as in feallan, fall,

i-umlaut, fiell, fyll, fall, etc. (98). (228), on the other hand, we have always

weallan, boil; with Before the 11 from Germanic Ij

call,
all,
e,,

i.e.

the i-umlaut of the

44
unchanged a: h$ll,
salJan.

PHONOLOGY.

hell, ixjllan, tell; the only exception is siellan, syllan (CP. only sejlan, North, sealla), give (for *sealljan), Goth.

NOTE
NOTE

3.

Breaking

is

not found in foreign words borrowed by

LWS.

pa'll, pallium.
4.

Even

in

LWS.

there

is

no sign of breaking

in certain

As the oldest words, such as balca, beam, dale, brooch, laid, fold. form of this word in OE. is falud, falaed, it is not improbable that
words of
81.
there has been syncopation of a rowel following the 1 in the other this kind (cf. also haelfter, 50. note 2).

West Germ, e undergoes breaking

to eo, io, only

before Ih, Ic: seolh, gen. stoles, seal; eolh, elk; sceolh, * squinting ; f4olan, command (from feolhan, see 218) ;

meolcan, milk (387); heolca (?), hoar-frost; exceptionally in heolfor, gore, and in seolf, self (dialectic, as in Ps.), beside sielf, sylf (with palatal
aseolcan, languish;

umlaut, 101. note 2), and unchanged self (this form In other cases, e before exclusively found in CP.). 1 + consonant is retained swellan, swell; helm, helmet;
:

helpan, help; sweltan,

die, etc.

NOTE 1. Whether the eo's in reduplicated preterits like weoll, In-old, etc. (396), are to be regarded as the results of breaking, or as
originally long, remains uncertain.

yellow, gen.

Breaking might likewise be assumed before Iw in geolo, geolowes, etc. (from the stem gelwo-) but this may be a case of u-umlaut, such as we have in its derivative geol(o)ca, yolk (106.1), and heolstor, concealment (helustr, Ep.); the latter word, however, also occurs in the form heolhstor, which is clearly an

NOTE

2.

instance of breaking.

3) Before h.
82.

Before

the

h which

h + consonant (x = hs, 221. 2), and before terminates a syllable, Germanic a is broken

to ea:

geneahhe, abundant; eahta, eight; meahte,

THE VOWELS.
could; meaht, might; neaht, night; feax, hair;

45

weaxan,

grow;

hlyhhan, laugh (with i-umlaut, 98); cf. Goth, ahtau, mahta, mahts, nahts, fahs, wahsjan, WS. gefeah, seah, pret. sing, of gefon, hlahjan
;

also hliehhan,

rejoice,

s6on, see (391. 2).

inilit
,

NOTE. For

No breaking appears
trahtiaii, consider,

niht, etc., instead of meaht, neaht, see 98. note. in laehte (from laeccean, 407), or in the foreign
its

and

derivatives.

Under the same conditions as in the foregoing paragraph, Germ, e was originally broken to eo, though
83.

but few forms have been preserved with an invariable eo teoh, order ; teohhiaii, arrange ; feohtan, imp. so probably feoh, cattle, gefeoh, seoh (367 391. 2) In other words older eo is quite rare e.g. horse. eoh,
:

seox, six; reoht, right; cneoht, boy.

The

result

is

usually disguised by palatal umlaut (101).

84.

Even Germ,

is

eo,

and then

to palatal umlaut,

subject to this breaking to io, which leads back to i

: ;

miox, meox, ordure (Goth, maikstus) Piohtas, Peohtas, Picts ; Wioht, the Isle of Wight; and in proper

names

like

Wiohthtin, Wiohtgdr,

etc.,

besides occasional

Pihtas, Wiht, etc.

NOTE 1. So also leoht, easy, with previous shortening of i to i. On the contrary, the WS. imperatives teoh, ffeoh, wre"oh, from the contract verbs teon, ff6on, wreon (383), probably owe their eo to the analogy of the contract forms (Ps. North, tih, etc.).
NOTE
2.

Breaking
:

is

sc by metathesis

betweox,

sometimes even caused by the x arising from between, but sometimes betwix.

NOTE 3. There are likewise isolated occurrences of other breakings, com, aw, Goth. 1m (427), and in heoin, dat. plur. of the pronoun he (334). These cases admit, however, of another explanation
as in

(Paul, Beitr. VI. 64

ff.).

46
e)

PHONOLOGY.

THE UMLAUTS.

85. Umlaut, in Germanic grammar, denotes those mutations of a stressed vowel which are caused by a vowel or semi-vowel (j, w) of the following syllable.

There

is,

therefore, a division into a-umlaut, i-umlaut,

etc.,

umlaut

according to the sound by which the produced. Moreover, the palatal consonants exercise a similar influence upon the accented of OE. u-umlaut,
is

vowels which precede them to that which is produced We therefore add to the number of by an i or j. umlauts already mentioned the palatal umlaut, which
is

peculiar to
86.

OE.
of a basic vowel

of

The mutations two kinds in OE.

by umlaut are

They

assimilation of the basic

vowel

consist either in a partial to the following sound,

or in the development of the basic vowel into a diphthong. The former is the case with the i-umlaut, and likewise e.g. he.re, army, older h^ri, from hari,

with the palatal umlaut (101) the latter is the case with the u- and o-umlaut, as in ealu, ale, from *alu, or eofur, boar, from *efur.
;

NOTE. Grimm regarded the second kind of umlaut as a subordinate

" species of breaking ; but it seems better to confine the term breaking to the phenomena comprised under 77, and to speak of u- and o-umlaut

"

as well as of i-umlaut.

it is

the relative age of the various umlauts, probable that the i-umlaut is the oldest of all. It succeeds breaking in order of time, but precedes the
87.

As regards

u-umlaut, since

it already prevails in documents which exhibit but scanty traces of u-nmlaut (78). The palatal umlaut seems to be the most recent 01 the number; its

influence scarcely extends

backward beyond

historic

THE VOWELS.
times.

47

Nevertheless, it is here assigned to a place immediately after the i-umlaut, since by nature it is related
to the latter.
l)
88.

The i-umlaut.
is

The cause

of i-umlaut

an T or

which

origi-

nally followed the stressed syllable, it being a matter of indifference whether the i already existed in Indo-

European, or whether it was transformed in the Germanic period from older e or ei (45. 2, 7). As the underwent further development, the sounds language which produced umlaut either grew unrecognizable, by weakening to e (44), or were entirely lost (177). Hence the causes of this umlaut can, in the majority of cases, only be determined by a comparison with the cognate
languages, which, in the preservation of the sent an older stage than OE.
i, j,

repre-

89. The older short a had, before the appearance of For i-umlaut, been divided into se and Q (49 ff. ; 65). this reason it becomes necessary to treat of its umlaut

under two somewhat different heads.

l)

The i-umlaut
a,
is

of the short
e.
:

ae,

as well as of the older,

unchanged
he,re,

he,rigan, glorify,
se,ttan, set,

ne,rigan, save,

army,

te.llan, count,

w^ccan, awaken,

le.cgan, lay,

Goth, liazjan, nasjan, harjis, satjan,

etc.
ft,
se>

wakjan, lagj an,

NOTE
1.

Before st and
liirt't

is

formly in

an

confine, faestan, fasten,

frequently found for e: thus, unimaestan, fatten, lila-st an,

and quite regularly in sttepe, step, staeppan, walk, (ge)daeftan, make ready, haele, man, gemaecca, comrade, This te also occurs saecc, strife, Itecceuii, seize, smaeccean, taste. sporadically in othpr words saeogan, sat/, beside slogan wraecp(e)a, exile, beside wrce(e)a; and ael-, el-, kindred with Goth, aljis, other,
load, beside gere_stan, rest;
: ;

e.g.

in aelffeodig, e_lffeodig, foreign.

48
2)

PHONOLOGY.

similar

also occurs regularly as the

nasals, which, as

umlaut

of the

a before
<?

we have

seen, inter-

changes with
son*!;; M. send,

(65)

fr^mman, frame,

me,n(n), men,

str^ngra, stronger, dr^ncan, drench, from the stems frQm, forwards, m<jn, man, string, strong,

drone, drank, etc. NOTE 2. Certain texts

<Y;i'ii<-;i

occasionally have SB for this $

sa-ndun,

aengel, ina-ii, friemman, etc. This ae is constant in aernan, Goth, rannjau, brannjan (79. note run, Iwmun, burn (causative)
n
.

2; 179).

90.
is
:

The i-umlaut of OE.

sfeuig,

<1

(from ai and
la>, lore,

hdl, whole, h;Ha n. heal ;

62 and 57) Iseraii, teach ;

&,

dn, one,

also gdn, go,

any ; djfel, deal, hsfel, omen (i-stems). So 2d and 3d sing, gtfest, gjfear (430) lafewan,
;

betray, Goth. le"wjan.

91.
is

Tlie i-umlaut of
:

WS.

likewise

Isfece,
;

s, = Germ. (Goth.) 6 (57. 2), leech, Goth, l^keis ; <l; d. deed,

Goth. d4)?s (i-stem)

msfere,
is

famous

(jo-stem).

NOTE. Goth, m&keis, sword, OS. form is maki. For other

with Goth,
(Goth.) 6
fe,

see 68. note

1.

always mfece in WS., although the 6's which are only apparently identical No instances of the i-umlaut of Germ.

= OE.

e (58) are known to exist.

92.

A true
e,

Germ,

(45. 2).

OE. i-umlaut of e does not exist, as every when followed by i, j, had already become i The interchange of e and i in groups like
(Goth, itan,
itis, iti]?):

etaii, itest, iteft

li
i

helpaii, hilpest,

rain (for rignjan), etc., belongs to a period antecedent to that of OE.

1

!<>

OE. regn,

rain, rignan,

n nan,

93.

1)

The i-umlaut of o is in morgen and m^rgen, morrow ; dohtor,

;
;

dat.

sing, d^liter, daughter

$fes, eaves, beside yfes

(OHG.

obasa, Goth, ubizwa)

^fstan, hasten

oxa, nom. ace.

THE VOWELS.
plur.

49
oil,

$xen (277. note 1) Lat. oleum; c$l(l)eudre,

2)

so likewise in $le,
Lat. coriandrum.

from

usually

y:

gold,
;

gold,

gylden,
timid,

gracious,

hyldo, grace

forht,

golden; hold, fyrhtu, fear ;

grief,
etc.

gnorn

(jt-stem)

and gnyrn

(i-stem),

So

likewise in foreign words like cycene, kitchen, mynet, coin, mynster, minster, from Lat. coqiiina, moneta,

monasterium

(70);

and mynecen(u), nun, from muiiuc,

monk, Lat. moiiachus.

NOTE. This y is not the direct umlaut of OE. o, but of an anteu which (45. 3) existed already in Prim. Germ, in place of o before following i, j hold, cf., for example, OS. gold, guldin huldl, etc. In the examples under 1, where we have the true umlaut of o, the o was transferred, before the occurrence of the i-umlaut, from the cases where the latter is absent to those where it was subsequently
cedent
;
;

found.
^le,

Where this explanation does not hold, the o, as in the case of belongs to a foreign word.

94.

The i-umlaut
:

of 6 is 6

a) older 6 (60)
book, be"c plur.
spe"d,
;

dom, doom, de"man, deem; bdc,

;

solitc, sought, se'can inf.

;

g!6d, gleed,

speed (i-stems) 6 before nasals 5)

;

from West Germ,

:

ti,

Germ. 6

(see

68. note 1)
c)

6 from older on, an (66) gds, goose, plur. ge"s sdfte, softly, adv., sfte, adj.; fdn, catch, fe"hst, f^ho", 2d and 3d sing. <5ht, persecution, ^litaii, persecute.
;

NOTE. In the oldest

place of 6
:

texts de

is

dbffel, feffel,

Cura

Past. 2. 7

found, though but very seldom, in ; doe, ib. 8. 2, for the regular d6.

95.

The i-umlaut

of

is

y:

wulle, wool, wyllen,

byr(i)g (284), etc.;

woollen; gesund, sound, gesynto, soundness; liungor,

hunger, hyngran, hunger; burg,
city,

and

in foreign

words

pytt, pit, ynce, inch,

cymen, cumin, pyle, pillow, from Lat. cunriimm, pulvinum,

like

puteus, uncia.

50
NOTE
1.

PHONOLOGY.
The
instances of

are very numerous, but only a be adduced, since Prim. Germ, u scarcely ever occurred except before nasal + consonant and before 1. j (45. 3), and therefore must of necessity have undergone umlaut in almost every instance. NOTE 2. For EWS. ymb, ymbe, LWS. frequently has emb, embe.

y from u

few pairs of words with

u and y can

96.

The i-umlaut
ti
:

of

ti is

brtican, use, brycflF 3d sing. ; ttin, hedge, <>nt.VMM n. open; br^d, bride (i-stem) ; and in. foreign
a) older

words
b)
ctiar,

like

strata,

ostrich,

plyme, plum,

from Lat.

struthio, prunea.

d from un

(185. 2)

known, c^ffan,

Ms, ready, fysan, hasten ; make known; ^9", wave (j-stem),

:

etc.

Diphthongs.
97.

In the older texts the i-umlaut of ea and

e*a is

usually ie and ie, and afterward the sound designated by unstable i (22) ; the latter is often represented by i
(as well as

by

y.

ie)*, and in a still later period more usually In the tenth and eleventh centuries the y pre-

dominates, except in cases where there seems to have been an actual change to the pure i-sound (31. note).

The sound is occasionally represented by simple which may perhaps be regarded as reductions of to a monophthong.

e, 6,
ie,

ie

NOTE. In general, this e, 6 may be regarded as dialectic [e.g. they do not occur in ^Elfric's Homilies, except in the word gesthus (75.
note 2)], though adopted by certain copyists of the Cura Past.

98.

Examples of ea

a) broken ea (79

ff.)

carm, poor, iermSTu, misery,

old,

terming, wretch;
superl., ieldu, age;

eald,

ieldra comp.,

ieldesta

weallan,

boil,

wielff 3d sing., wielin,

THE VOWELS.
surge (i-stem);

51

weaxan, grow,
SFwiekflF,

Wealh, Welshman, wiex*T 3d sing,

smite,
;

vrielisc, foreign (218);

(so

likewise
;

sliehflF,

from slan,

flFw^an,

wash)

hliehhan,

laugh (Goth, hlahjaii)

b)

slieht, battle (i-stem).

if.)
:

ea after palatals (74

;

scieppan, create (Goth,

ska p jaii)

ciefes,

concubine

(OHG.

kebisa)

giest,

guest (i-stem).

The
3Fwih<y,

later

forms of these words are irmffu, inning-,

\vilm. wilisc,
wixiiJF,

ildra, ildesta, ildu, wiiar,

slihff,
;

hlihhan,

sliht,

scippan,

cifes,

gist

still

later are yrmfru, yldra,

scyppan, cyfes, gyst,

eldra,
NOTE. In iniht,

etc.

wylm, wylisc, hlyhhan, slyht, More rarely occur forms like

welm, wergan,

etc.

might, night (284), the 1 is tolerably In the unstressed -scipe, -ship (263), beside stable (cf. 31. note). rare -sciepe, the 1 is probably West Germ., as may be inferred from the corresponding OS. forms in -skipi.

and niht,

liah, high, hfehra comp., hfehst lie'awan, hew, hew2F 3d sing. n3at, animal, superl. nfeten dimin. b^acen, beacon, bfecnan, beckon; gel^afa, belief, gelfef an, believe ; hieran, hear ; nfed, need ; lieg, flame (i-stems), etc.; afterward hfbra, lifhst, niten,
99.

Examples of e"a
; ;

bfcnan, gelifan,
gel*'' fan.

hiran.

nid, Ifg, and h^hra,

;

h^ bst,

n^ten, gelifan, li^ran, n^d

more

rarely

hhra, n^ten,
For

h<ran,

etc.

NOTE. Before c and g the y

this ig there

is but seldom written (31. note). sometimes occurs the combination Igg (24. note).

100.

The i-umlaut
ea and
e"a,
;

of eo and 60

is

exactly the same

as that of
ie,
f,

of

e"o is

being represented by ie, i, y, and however, to be observed that the umlaut comparatively infrequent in texts which have a
it is,

dialectic coloring (as in Anglian, 159. 4).

52

PHONOLOGY.

a) Examples of eo: feorr, far, afierran, remove; weorpan, throw, wierpcJ 3d sing. weorff, ivortli, subst.,
1

wierare, adj.; weorc, work, wiercan, toil; ierre, anger, angry, hierde, herdsman (jo-stems) fierst, time (i-stem,
;

with metathesis, 179)

afterward afirran, wirpST, wirffe,

\vircan, irre, hirde, first,

wyrcan, fyrst;
giecfra,
gicflFa,

dialectic

pruriyo

and afyrran, wyrpaf, wyrffe, wercan, etc. (cf. also giocffa, OS. jukido, gycenis, do.
;

and

74).
1.

NOTE
leoht,
cf
.

Before

h+

consonant the variant

lighten
;

is

rarely

met with

light,

liehtan, lihtan,

wriexlan, wrixlan, exchange ;

also lixan, illuminate, for * leohsjan, with early shortening of the

60 (Goth. *lluhsjan). But note the exceptions wiht and \vyht, thing (i-stem), rili tan and ryhtan, direct (101), probably on account of and r; and gesiehS gesihff, gesyhft, countenance, because in the this word Ii and S were not originally conjoined (suffix -9, from -i)>a,

255. 3).

From geong, young

gest, not giengra,

g; and

in

(74), is formed the comp. glngra, superl. gingyngra, etc., presumably on account of the initial a similar manner are formed giccan, itch, giccig, putrid
is

(Goth, "jukkjan). Beside EWS. gind, there

a rare gieiid; but geond, without

5).

umlaut,

is

common

(74; 338. note

:
1

o cosan, choose, cfesflT 3d sing. ; 5) Examples of hr^owan, rue, hrfewQ 3d sing.; loht, light, Ifehtan, illuminate; gestr&m, possession, strfenan, obtain; tr^ow,
faith, getriewe, faithful ;

r,

gloomy ; later cfsS lihtan, strfnan, getriwe, arfstre, and cjstf, lihtan, strfnan, getriwe, ST^stre but dialectic
ftlestre,
,

stronan, getr^owe,
NOTE
2.

iff^ostre, etc.

In certain cases the unumlauted forms are doubtless due

to analogy: thus,

with gestreou, possession

storan from analogy with stor, rudder ; streonan ; treowan with treow, faith, etc.

THE VOWELS.
2)

53

The Palatal Umlaut.

101. The palatal umlaut is of only secondary importance in WS., but its sphere is more extended in the other dialects (l6l). Its chief influence in WS. consists in

the conversion into ie of the eo, io which was

caused by the breaking of e before an originally guttural h -f- consonant (83), this ie afterwards passing
into
i

and y

(cf.

22; 100).

Thus the
*

older reoht, right,

cneoht, servant,
rielit,

seox,

six,

wreoxl, change, become

cnieht, siex, wriexl, and finally riht, cniht, six, wrixl, or ryht, syx, but hardly cnyht, wryxl). In a similar manner ea, e"a, are converted into e, e",

before h, x, g, and c, the phenomena being of rare occurrence until LWS. Examples of the latter change
are:
a)

before h, x:

wexan, grow; STweh, wash, imp.;

geareht, thought; ehteofta, eighth; hlehter, laughter; lehtrian, accuse ; genehhe, sufficient ; sell, saw ; sleh,

slew; exl, shoulder; fex, hair; flex, flax; sex, knife;

wex, wax, subst.

teli,

drew

tf6h,

though ;

nh,

nigh ;

nelista (iie'xsta), next; helista, highest. b) before g: e"ge, eye; bg, ring.
c)

before c:

ce"c,

cheek; be"cn, beacon;

gele"c,

locked;

t6 e"can, besides.

Less clear, though probably due to palatal influence, are the forms mihte, could (earlier mealite), and miht, might, mihtig, mighty, nilit. night, to be compared with xneaht, meahtig, neaht (31. note 98. note ; also, 100.
;

note 1).
NOTE NOTE
(81).
1.

2.

For other similar effects of g, c, cf. 106-109. Upon a change from guttural to palatal 1 may perhaps
in
seolf, sielf,

depend the variation of the vowel

sylf,

self,

self

54

PHONOLOGY.

102. LWS. frequently converts ea, e"a into e, 6 after the palatals g, c, sc : celf, calf ; cerf, slice ; gef. gave ; get, got ; get, gate ; ge"t, poured ; ce"s, c^ose ; sct, sA0 ;

ge>,

ymr ; ong^n,

against

; sce"p, sA<?ejo ; gesce"d, discreff.),

tion, etc., for cealf, cearf (79

geaf, geat (75. l), ge"at,

cas, scat
NOTE.

(63), g6ar, onge'an,

scap, gesce"ad
(75. 2).

(75. 2).

This umlaut seldom occurs in an open syllable before a

guttural vowel, as in
this position

gtan
:

for

geaton

remains

thus, although

LWS.

Usually the ea in has ger, seep, the gen.

dat. plur. is still

geara, -um, sceapa, -um.

3)
103.

The u- and o-umlaut.

Before a following
in

a may be changed

u or OE. to

original o a ea, e to eo,

is

West Germ.
i

to io

but

limited, especially in West Saxon. Again, the effect of the u is more extended than that of the o, for which reason we consider

the influence of this umlaut

the two separately. The u and o which have given rise to umlaut have not always retained their original form throughout historic times u has frequently passed into
:

o, particularly in derivative suffixes, while older 6 has uniformly become a, older 6 being represented now by

o and now by

a,

e (more rarely u or

i).

As a rule, u- and

o-umlant penetrate only through a single consonant. Individual exceptions to this rule are noted below.
a) The u-umlaut.

104.

(270

ff.),

Besides being produced by the u of the u-stems the u of the nom. sing. fern, and of the nom.

ace. plur. of short-stemmed neuters (252; 238), and the of the suffixes -wo, -wd,, the u-umlaut may also be

occasioned by the suffixes -oc, -od, -um, standing for older -uc, -ud,

-ot, -o9", -or, -ol, -on,

-ut, etc. (the latter

THE VOWELS.

55

endings, though for the most part prehistoric, being occasionally found in the manuscripts).
105.

to ea.

This umlaut
in

is

very rare in

WS.

prose.

regularly occurs is perhaps ealu (but gen. dat. also aloft beside ealoft, cf. 281. 2) ; the usual forms are such as basu, brown; calu, callow;
it

The only word

which

cam,

care; darocT, arrow; hafuc, -oc, hawk, etc.

Where
there
is

inflectional endings

might seem
;

to require

it,

no evidence of its occurrence without exception we have bladu, gladu, wadu, baffu, paffu, staff u, fatu,

hwatu, scrafu, trafu, salu, walu, dat. plur. bladum, Neither is ea etc., from blsed, blade, glaed, glad, etc. ever found before palatals hence magu, hagu, lagu, nacod, racu, sacu, ftracu, wacu, wracu, and never
;

*meagu,
NOTE
1.

etc.
In forms like fealu, fallow, bealu,

evil, beside fulu, balu, as well as in bearu, grove, neani, distress, seam, armor, the ea is not the result of u-umlaut, but is transferred from the dissyllabic cases,

fealwes, bearwes, which exhibit breaking (79) forms like ceafu, geatu (beside gatu, 240. note 1), follow the sing, ceaf, geat for sceadu, shadow, gesceapu, destiny, see 76. (75. 1)
like gen.
;
;

NOTE

2.

On

the other hand, the poetical texts contain numerous

:

examples of ea as the result of u-umlaut

heaffu-, battle;

cearu, care ; eafoff,

strength ;

beadu, gen. beadwe (259), battle; eafora, posterity ; heafola, head ; heafoc, hawk; dearoff, arrow ; wearoff, shore; eatol, Even the inflectional u terrible, beside afora, hafola, hafoc, etc. occasionally produces ea, as in heafu, treafu, from haef, ocean, trsef,
tent.

It is

not improbable that

(cf.

all these ea's

are simply carried over

from Anglian originals

106.

App./; 160).

assumed

is tolerably frequent, and may be normal change: heoru, sword; weorod, people; weorold, world; heorot, hart; sweoloft, flame ;

i)

e to eo

as a

geoloca, yolk ; eofor, boar; eofot, guilt ; geofon, ocean; beofon, heaven; seofon, seven; meodu, mead; meodume, moderate; meotod, Grod ; yet e is sometimes

56

PHONOLOGY.
medti,

retained, especially before dentals:

medume,

nietod, werod, hefon,

2)
c,

etc.

u-umlaut

g:

regularly wanting before the palatals brego, ruler; regol, rule; recone, quickly (yet
is

occasionally reogol, and once breogo, Andr. 305). 3) eo is likewise avoided in words to which an inflectional u is attached: speru, gebedu, gemetu, gesetu, gebrecu, from spere, spear; gebed, prayer; gemet, measure; geset, dwelling ; gebrec, crash; yet such words have now and then umlaut, as geseotu, gewiofu (from

gewef, web), but chiefly in poetry.

NOTE. Here belongs also the stereotyped form feola, much, frequently feala (with unexplained ea), but also fela, the latter being the most usual form. The variable vowel of the stem must be explained

by the
Goth,

original variation of the vowel in the inflectional syllable, cf.

filu, filaus, etc.

107.

l)

to

io is

common

in older "WS.
;

siolufr,

mioluc, milk (Goth. (Goth, silubr) wioloc, whelk; sioloc, silk; sionoar, synod; iniluks) swiotol, manifest ; siodu, custom ; frioffu, peace ; then
siolfur,
silver
;

in inflected

words

like clif,

blio3>u(m), declivity ;

cliofu, -urn, cliff ; bliKJ , lim, liomu(m), limb ; also before

two consonants,

as in siondun, are; ffiossum, this.

is

Only

before gutturals

the io very rare

siogor, victory ;
;

-tiogofra, -tieth (in arrftiogoSfa, thirtieth, etc.)

swiocol,

deceptive.
2)

eo also occurs as an equivalent of

to

io,

persisting

in

some words down

the

LWS.
etc.

meolc, seolc, freo?Fu, bleoffu,

period: seolfor, In such cases ie also

occurs, particularly before two (Tic-sum, subsequently replaced

consonants, siendun, by the i, y, into which

etc.

the ie develops: siudun, <7issuni, silofr, wiloc, along

with syndun, aryssum, sylofr, wyloc,

Before pala-

THE VOWELS.
tals i occurs

57
is

uniformly whenever io (eo)

not pre-

served: sigor, victory ; -tigoara, -tieth; nicor, sea monster; sticol, prickly; swicol, deceptive.

NOTE

1.

Analogy frequently

tional forms which

effaces the distinctions between inflechave and those which have not umlaut clif, clifu
: ; ;

hliS, hliffu, not *clyfu, *hly8'u

etc., in

thus,

among the

verbs, ridun,

gripun,

accordance with ride, gripe (2d sing. ind. and entire opt.), but

not *rydun, *grypun, notwithstanding the old riodun, griopun,

which are sporadically retained. NOTE 2. Ps. North, have mile, and widwe, \vidua, WS. wuduwe from wioduwe (71).

in place of the

P)

The o-umlaut.

108. The o which produces this umlaut, and which has for the most part become a in OE., usually belongs

and often interchanges with other vowels, particularly e, i, in the inflection of The variation of the stem-vowel thus the same word. caused in the different cases, etc., of the same word, was
to final or derivative syllables,

very frequently obscured in OE. by the operation of analogy, the umlaut vowels being generally levelled under those which had remained unaffected. There is
consequently more difficulty in establishing rules for the o-umlaut than for the u-umlaut.
109.
(cf.

The West Germ, a

;

50

sceaWa, robber,

no o-umlaut in WS. under 76) older e and i, belongs

suffers
;

on the contrary, exhibit frequent traces of it. a) Umlaut of e manifests itself in a few weak nouns
like

weola,

riches, seofa,
;

mind, ceole, throat, alongside

isolated iu geostraii, yesterday (beside giestran, gistran, gystran, according to 75. 3) ; very

of wela, sefa

rarely in forms of the

verb,

like

inf.

beoran, part.

beorende,

etc.

58
b)

PHONOLOGY.

in

Umlaut of i to io, eo is more frequent, especially weak verbs of the <5-class tiolian, aim ; bewiotian,
:

perform
tilian,

cliopian, call ; hlionian, lean, etc.

;

but also

bewitian, clipian, hlinian then in weak nouns like swiora, swira, neck ; gndleofa, bigleofa, food;

and so in wiocu, wucu wiota, wita, counsellor, etc. the gen. plur. heora (334), the adv. teola, tela, (71), quite, from adj. til; even in connection with syncope
;

of o in the ace. sing. masc. ffiosne (9isne, Sfysne, with unstable i), 338.

this,

syffffan), afterward,

NOTE. Here belongs also sioffffan (seoS'S'an, sieffffan, siffffan, from siff ffon (cf. 337. note 1), with shortening of

thei.

An intervening palatal prevents the occurrence of o-umlaut: plega, game; plegian, play; trega, affliction;
sfcrendwreca, messenger, etc.

/) HIATUS AND CONTRACTION.

110. In Primitive OE. hiatus often occurred in consequence of the loss of certain medial consonants, especi-

and j, as well as occasionall}'- by ally h, more rarely the vocalization of a final w. It has, however, usually
been removed by contraction of the two vowels which were thus brought together, though, when the former of the two vowels was unstressed, as was the case with the proclitic be, ne, this vowel was elided, as in baeftan, bufan, hii tan. nabban, nyllan, nytan, from be-seftan,

To this may note 1 428. note 2 420. l) perhaps be added the adj. nistig, nestig, sober, fasting * (from wist, food). The fact must not escape notice, that the second of
etc. (cf. 416.
;

the contracted vowels often belongs to an older stage

THE VOWELS.

59
;

than those in the contract forms of historic OE.

and particularly that o OE. a (45. 4).

still

occupied the place of the

NOTE 1. It is no exception to this rule, that inflectional endings beginning with a vowel are, in some cases, attached to stems ending in a vowel, as in heaurri, dat. sing, of heah, high ; Sweoum, dat. plur. of Swe"on, the Swedes. The shorter forms, like beam, Sweom, which
almost always run parallel with them, show that the fuller endings have been subsequently appended, after the analogy of stems ending in a consonant.

NOTE 2. A contract form is frequently introduced where it cannot be justified by phonetic laws: e.g., a pres. subj. slea (367) does not admit of derivation from the basic form (= Goth, slahai), but arose through the analogy of the indicative ea (inf. slean, from *slahon, 1st sing. ind. slea, from *slahu, etc., 111).

The following
notice
111.
:

contractions in

WS.

require particular

West Germ, a

the contract verbs

*la(h)on, etc.; 1st etc.; besides 4a, water, from *ah(w)u, Goth, ahwa; 6ar, ear of grain, tear, tear, from *a(h)ui% *ta(h)ur.
112.

+ o, u, becomes 6a. Here belong lan, slan, 8Fwan (392. 2), for sing. la, sla, ffw^a, for *la(h)u,

West Germ,
shortening

d,

(= Germ.
of

6)
:

o, u, also

6a

after

the

nar,

nearer,

becomes from

near by, from *nd(h)uri; bra, cla, daw, from *ld(w)u p6a, *brd(w)u; peacock, from pd(w)o; 8Fr6a, threat, from aFrd(w)u (Ep. thrauu) hr^aw, raw, str^aw, straw, OHG. lirtio, strao

*nd(h)or;

nan, from

brow, from

(stem *hrdwo, straAvo).

113.

West Germ,

-4- <?,

o, u,

becomes

(fo), e.g., in

the contract verbs gef4on, pteon,

*-fe(h)on, etc., 1st sing. gref6o

wk. masc. t~w6o,

(391. 2), from from *-fe(h)u, etc.; the * doubt, from twe(h)o the wk. fern.
;

son

60

PHONOLOGY.

s6o, pupil, from *se(h)o; but gefa, joy, has ea, if the word corresponds exactly to OHG. gifeho. e + e yields 6 in tn, t6ne, ten, from *te(h)en (the

form tie"iie, t^ne, is either contracted directly from *tihen-, or is umlauted from *t^oni, itself from *telmni). For similar cases in the Ps. and North, see
parallel
166. 5.
final of a syllable is often transformed, in LWS., * 60, derived from feu, cf 118. notes 1 and 2) : (instead of fleowff, spfeowff, instead of flewff, sp^wS (371. note).

NOTE. The

to

ow

114.
e.g.,

i)

West Germ,

i,

<?,

o, u,

becomes

fo,

o,

in the contract verbs t6on,

(383),

ff6on, wre"on,

le'on,

from *tf(h)oii, etc., 1st sing. pres. te"o, from *tf(h)u, *9"i(h)u, etc.; fe"ond, enemy, etc., fre"ond, friend, from *fi(j)ond, *fri(j)ond; the gl^o, glee, h6o,form of the poetical literature, from *gliujo,
s<Soii
flteo,

*biujo

(247. note 3);

besides the pronouns

lie"o,

s^o

u, by the addition of the u, si (334; 337), from hi feminine ending u; the neut. 9"r6o, three (324), from
*ffri(j)u, etc.

2) Similarly, West Germ, i, i -f a seems to give 4o: * bihat d^of l>ot, boast, from ; ol, devil, from diabolus ;

fro,free, from *fri(j)a (cf. 45. 4). 3) i + e becomes fe, and later f,
*
si(j)e

^, in sfe, be,

from

(Goth, sijai)

probably

also in ffrfe, three,

and

the pronoun hfe (nom. plur. masc. 324; 334).

NOTE.
8<so

and

ace. sing, fern.,

sie (427. 1)

like Goth, sijau, 1st sing., but with bfeo (427. 2).

it is

might also be contracted from a form more probable that there is analogy

115.

OE. 6

a, Q, u, e,

becomes 6

fdn, seize, hdn,

* hang, from f<S(h)an, 1st sing. pres. fd,

h<5,

from *fd(h)u,

THE VOWELS.
*hd(h)u, opt.
f<5,

61
ffd, clay,

bd, from *fd(b)e, bd(b)e;

from *&6(ti)e,
116.

etc.

West Germ,

changed in

briaii, build,

pres. plur. opt. part, gebrin as well as gebrieii, etc.).

vowel generally remains unand its derivatives (but the has brin as well as btien, and the past
ti

(Goth, trauan), a

has made

its

In truwian, trust appearance; in the

oblique cases of rtih, rough, such as rtiwes, etc. (295. note 1), there is perhaps grammatical change (233).
117.

OE. $

+e

(i)

sirg. of dr^, magician,

becomes ^ dr^s, dr$f, gen. dat. from *dr^es, *dr^e; the part.
:

b^n, from b^eii (396. note

2).

-f-

a, o, u, either re-

mains unchanged, as
dat. plur. of dr^, or
etc. (408.

in dr^as, dr^a,
is

dr^um, nom. gen.

$, as in &^n, t^n, note 4), or becomes 60 in r6o, covering, c6o, chough, from r^(b)ae, ch^ae (Beitr. IX. 293 ff.)-

contracted to

118.
td, toe,

West Germ,
sld,,

ai

(= OE.
rd.,

d)

-f

sloe,

dd, doe,

roe,

vowel, becomes .4: from West Germ.

*taiha, OE. *td(b)e, etc. In case of i-umlaut we have

for

s, sea,

gen.

ssfcs,

etc.,

*sjes; &, law, gen.

1.

dat. ace.

for *sfee, etc.

comes

a syllable, derived from aiw, often bereligious, beside sewfaest; hreaw, corpse (likewise inflected, gen. hreawes, etc.), for EWS. icoe, beside wa^va, hrsew, hraw. Earlier is the ea from an in
final gfew of

NOTE

The

LWS. eaw

(113. note): eawfest,

wa,

which probably springs from the form of the oblique cases, like ace. * *\va(w)un from waiwun; so pea (112) likewise has the alternative for

A pawa
2.

(Lat.

pavo).
sfe

NOTE

So, too, the

LWS.
*

into
;

ea before
then in

brieu)

from Germ. 6 (112) occasionally passes in breuw, brow (for * brea from brsew, inflected forms plur. brea was, etc. (cf 113.

note).

62
119.

PHONOLOGY.
l)

OE.

a,

whatever

its

origin, absorbs

the

following vowel into itself: he"ah, high, geu. h6as, nom. plur. h6a, weak nom. sing. masc. se h6a, for
*he"a(h)es, *lie"a(h)e, *hea(h)a, etc.; stea, strike, for *s!6a-e (110. note 2); fr6a, lord, from *frau(j)a,

sme'ang, reflection, <3Frang, threatening, from sm&mng, KJ're'amig; but also Late West Saxon forms
etc.
;

like

he"aum, smaung, SFre'auiig, fe"oung, hatred, etc. (110. note 1). 2) OE. o likewise absorbs the following vowel, e.g., in the contract verbs ton, draw, A6on,fle(> (384), from
*teu(h)on,
etc.,

1st sing. pres. ind. opt.

to,

fle"o,

from

*teu(h)u, *teu(h)e, etc.; so likewise in the case of recent formations like opt. te"o, for *t6o-e, from t6on,
accuse (110. note 2; 367).

3.

VARIATIONS OF QUANTITY.

120.

Thus

far

it

has been tacitly assumed that the

quantity of the West Germ, vowels was retained in OE., except where a change has taken place as the result of contraction, ecthlipsis, or the like. This assumption,

however,

is

not strictly true.

By

a comparison of

the later development of OE. with the indications of length furnished by the manuscripts (gemination and
accent, 8), we are led to the conclusion that a number of changes in the original quantities of vowels, hitherto
in reality, date

usually referred to later periods of the language, do, from OE. This is particularly true of

vowel lengthening.

We

are not in a position to determine with entire

THE VOWELS.
accuracy the extent of these changes in detail
;

63
for,

on

the one hand, the indications of quantity in the manuand, on the other, these indicascripts are but scanty
;

tions have either been inaccurately reproduced by the editors of OE. texts, or else have been entirely ignored.
NOTE. According
in this to Sweet, the following editions are

trustworthy

regard

Sweet's Cura by the editor in the American Journal of Philology, V. 318-24.

Skeat's Gospels, Goodwin's GuSlac, and Pastoralis and Orosius (cf. 2. note 2). Cf. also a paper
:

Kemble and

The formulation
rendered more

precise laws of quantity is difficult by the circumstance that the

of

in question vary, in regard to extent and period of occurrence, with the individual dialect. Such being the case, we are obliged to content ourselves with very general statements and, in order to provide against

phenomena

misunderstandings, we shall

by were

the

macron

(-), to distinguish

designate lengthened vowels them from those that

originally long.
G) Lengthening.

Long final vowels in monosyllables hwa, who, from *hwa(r), Goth, hwas swa, so, Goth, swa; a-,
121.
:
;

inseparable prefix (for ar-, Goth, us-, OHG. ar-, etc.) he, he, we, we, ge, ye, me, me, fre, t hee, se, the, Goth, sa from * he(r), we (r), * me(r), etc. (cf. Goth, i-s, mi-s, etc.) bi (big, 24. note), by, Goth, bi; iiu, ne, not, Goth, iii
; ; ; ;

now,

<3Fu,

thou, Goth, iiu, Jm.

not, however, preclude the assumption that these words, when used as enclitics in the spoken language, were sometimes shortened in pronunciation; cf. especially be (bi), and the inseparable ge-, older gi- (Goth, ga-), which is never lengthened.

NOTE. This does

122. There words ending

fall

is

a tendency to lengthen monosyllabic

in a single

consonant.
particles,

Under
which

this

head

the following adverbs and

are in part

64
enclitic:

PHONOLOGY.
ac, but; sef-,
;

from

(e.g.,

in sefweard, absent,

sefwerdelsa, injury) for-, for-; of, of; on, ow (also in cases like onettan, excite, or as a proclitic form of ond,
0.^7.

in on-drsedan, fear,
e.g.

on-gietan, understand)
e.<7.

or-,

Lat. ex-,

in orsorg, careless ; un-, ww-,

unrilit,

wrong; up, upp, wp; in, m; mid, wzYA; gif, if; git, get, glet(?), yet. Furthermore, in wel, we//, bet, better; the pronouns ic, /, ifrset, ^af, hwset, what; instr. Son, hwon; the copula is, is; besides nouns like faet, vat, weg, wa?/, wer, waw, clif, cliff", 16f, praise, gebod, mandate ; adjectives like hoi, hollow ; verbal forms like the
preterits bsed, requested, brjiec, broke, sset, sat, etc. This tendency even extends to words now ending in a single consonant

which was originally geminated.

plur.

Thus we meet with mon, man, man,

e"al, all,

men, can,

can,

gewit,
;

intellect, cyii, kin,

gewittes, etc.
;

gen. moniies, ealles, besides forms like geset, set, from ge1

seted, gesett sit, sits, oiigit, understands, forglt,forgets, instead of siteff, ougiteD etc.
,

pronounced is the tendency to provowel before a single consonant in dissyllong a short instances of ofer, over, labic and polysyllabic words are frequent, and already in the Cura Past, occur forms like fatu (plur. of fait), race (dat. sing, of racu), stsefe
123.
less
;

Much

(dat. sing,

of stsef),

fare

(3d sing.

opt.

of faraii),

(Tone, the, opeiie, gaderaO", etc.

124.

The vowels which precede consonant combinais

tions are also frequently lengthened.

there

In this respect the widest discrepancy between one text and

another.
1)

Before nasal
:

lengthening

consonant any vowel is subject to hand, homl. hand ; land, l^nd, land ;
-{-

THE VOWELS.

65

wamb, wgmb, womb ; wang, wijng, field ; f nde, end ; s^ndan, send ; bmdan, bind ; sincan, sink ; stiiican,
gesund, sound ; buiidon, they bound ; nn n mountain; stunta, blockhead; druncen, drunken, etc. am, Qrn, ran; bsernan, 2) Before r + consonant burn; iriian, run; cinn, uproar ; word, word; bord, hoard; urnon, (they) ran; wyrd, destiny ; gard, house;
smell
;
i , :

art, thou art ; sc^ort, short.

consonant especially a (for broken ea, Before 1 as in aid, old, salde, gave; but also inilde, mild; 80),
3)
:

gold, gold; geQyld, patience

scyld, guilt, etc.

NOTK 1. Few of the prolongations in 1-3 are to be found either in the Cura Past, or Orosius, If we may judge from the lack of accents (except the isolated finder. Cura Past 33. 7, suingan, 253 2); but
they are abundant

They form

in the later WS. texts, like JElfric's Homilies, etc. the rule in the Lindisfarne and Hushworth Gospels, and likewise in the Psalter (151. note; 158 ft'.).

NOTE 2. The prolongations appear earliest and most constantly before nasal or liquid + sonant yet combinations whose second element is a surd also come under this law, as is evident from the examples
adduced above. Prolongation does not seem to be caused by though it has that effect in the Psalter and North
11

in

WS

NOTE

3.

At

present

it is

regularly caused in those already given.

WS. by any
But
it

impossible to prove that prolongation is other consonant combinations than

is

not improbable that

WS. a

in closed

syllables was also lengthened before s

consonant in words like assa,

wascan (10). So, too, ae as i-umlaut of original ft, as in fsestan, etc. (89. note 1), points to possible lengthening (as in the Ps , 151) the same may be said of the unbroken a before 1 + combinaaxe, asee,
,

tions (80; 158).

ft)

Shortening.

125.
is

of change from long to short quantity attended with peculiar difficulties, since the failure

The proof

of a scribe to accent a particular vowel cannot, considering the relative scarcity of accents in general, be

66

PHONOLOGY.

considered as decisive evidence that the vowel has become short. The vowel seems, however, to be short in

from 8F6hte, brdhte, sdhte (407) from *lfht, *Hht (84. note 1). No other consonant combinations, except h + consonant, appear to have rendered long vowels short cf. such forms as crfst, gast, m.Ost, gftsian, wftiiiaii, flftig,
ardhte, brdhte, sdhte,
cf.
;

also leoht, easy,

lifcdde, etc.
.

II.

The Vowels of Medial and Final

Only such phenomena

Syllables.

126.

will here be considered

necessary to understand before approaching the subject of inflections. The details will be treated at length under the latter head.
as
it is

A) Ablaut.
127.

Original

ablaut.

Even

in

the original Indodefinite

European,

inflection

was often accompanied by a

variation or gradation in the vowels of certain suffixes.

Thus we frequently encounter the ablaut series e o 0. The first two terms appear, e.g., in Lat. generis, genus
: :

1 u) ; Gr. 7^609 for *yeveao<;, <yevo<; (e o), etc. The e of the suffix has, as it would seem, always become i in Primitive Germ. (45. 2, note). Original o,

(e

on the other hand, was preserved without change, did not pass into a as in radical syllables (45. 4).

i.e.,

In

the third or zero stage, a u frequently occurs before a liquid or nasal (so, for example, in the ablaut of the

verb) as a substitute for the lost vowel. These gradations are, for the most part, no longer fully preserved in OE. ; as .a rule, the vowel of one
1

See Prof. Bloomfield's

article,

Am. Journal

of Philology,

I.

281

ff.

THE VOWELS.

67

stage has been introduced into all the forms of the same

word; only now and then do double forms, still preserved by the language, point to the regular interchange In particular, the i-umlaut which formerly existed.
of a stem sometimes enables us to infer the previous existence of an e or i in the following syllable.

The most important ablaut-changes which have left perceptible traces in OE. are the following: 1) Before original s (Germ, z, OE. r, but often lost when final) in the neut. suffix -os, -es (as in 76^09, genus), examples of which are given in 288 if. The i-stage is
128.

found

in forms like sige, be,re, older sigi, b^ri,

from

*sigiz, *bariz (182)

or North. le,mb, Ps. North, caelf,

133. b).

from *lambiz, kalbiz (182,

latter are

WS.

tyrnb, cealf,

Parallel with the without umlaut, and the

longer forms like sigor, hrtfaror, lumber, etc. (182. note). 2) Before n in the suffix -ono, -eno, of the past parti-

The i-stage is preserved in a ciple of strong verbs. umlaut forms like sfcgen, cymen (378).
NOTE
suffix

few

of the

The gradation was at one time especially apparent in the weak declension -en, -on, (u)n, but lias been almost
in

entirely obliterated

OE., the i-stage in particular (as in Goth.

hanlns, hanin) being totally effaced.

stages are recognizable in double forms like dagol and dfegol, * * daugolo- and daugilo-. secret, from the basic forms
3)

Before

in the suffix -olo, -elo.

The two

4)

Before

r,
;

more particularly

in the suffix of
cf. 285.

nouns

of relationship
129.

for these in detail

others of

Secondary ablaut. Besides these older gradations, more recent date have sprung up in OE. itself, depending, as nearly as can be ascertained, upon the variable stress of the secondary ictus, but also in part

68

PHONOLOGY.

upon the vowels of the adjacent syllables, a certain principle of alternation between palatals and gutturals
being apparently observed in the sequence of vowels. In particular, there is a tendency to convert the o, u, of a final syllable into e, whenever the word is increased

by a

syllable taking the secondary stress, ing either of the vowels a, o, or u. Thus

and contain-

we generally
;

have rodor, heaven, heorot, hart,

staffol, pillar

the
;

gen. dat. sing, rodores, heorotes, staSFoles, rodore, etc.

1

while the plur. is usually roderas, heoretas, staftelas, -u, -um and the denominative verb from stafrol is staS
;

cliaii, etc.

Here belongs

preterit of the Second Class of

also the vowel-change in the weak verbs, like sealfode,

plur. sealfedon (412), and no doubt originally in the abstracts ending in -ung, -ing, etc.

B) Apocope of Final Vowels.

130.

Indo-European (and also Germ.)

e.g.,

a, o,

when

final,

disappears entirely: aef-, unstressed of,

ff.), basic forms -oz, -o(m). retained in case of early contraction, as in frfo, fr6o,free, st. frijo- (297. note 2; but cf.

particular, ace. sing, of the o-stems (235

Germ. (Goth.) ana, Gr. ava\ In of, Germ, aba, Gr. airo, etc. be adduced of the nom. many examples might
on,

The o has only been

4; 114. 2).

45.

a, o, is not prevented by a j which formerly preceded it, since the j had no doubt disappeared before apocope took place; hence such nom. ace. as s^cg, cyn (246), whose West

NOTE. The apocope of the

Germ, basic forms were *saggjoz, *kunnjo from Germ. *sagjoz, *kunjo(m), (cf. 45. 8and227). But a preceding 1 becomes final by the loss of the a, o, and subsequently passes into e (44) e.nde, rice (246), older ^ndi, rid, from *andlo, *ricio (45. 8).
:

131.

The

originally final -e also disappears completely,

and without leaving any trace of its influence upon the vowel of the preceding syllable. The chief instances are
:

THE VOWELS.
1) the vocative sing. masc. of the o-stems,
cf Gr. \6ye
.

69

ddm

(238),

2)
cf.

the imperative sing, of strong verbs, like ber (367),

<f>epe;

Gr.
3)

the 3d sing. pret. of strong verbs, like baer (367),

cf.

wsit (420),

Gr.

olSe.

e before any consonant that was retained in Ger-

manic was changed, probably in the Germ, period, to i (45. 2, note 1), and its subsequent history is that of the
latter sound.
132.

Original Primitive OE.

and u were uniformly preserved in To these were added a secondary i and

i

u, arising partly through a change of quality (such as that which led to the development of i from e before

consonants, 131), arid in part produced by a shortening of the final long vowels, f, 6 or, in the case of u,
;

These various f's and ri's by a vocalization of w. of Primitive OE. were all subject to the same rules of syncopation, irrespective of their origin, syncope being
determined partly by the quantity of the radical
lable
syl-

(when the word was originally dissyllabic) and partly by the number of syllables contained in the word.
cases

The

may be

classified as follows

133.

Primitive

OE.

I is

preserved after a short radical

;

syllable, first as i, and afterwards as e (44) appears after a long radical syllable, and as the

it

dis-

final

of

polysyllables.
a)
(cf.

Original Gr. TroXt?,

i,

e.g. in
:

the nom. ace. sing, of the i-stems

-tv}

of short stems, the

;

noun
:

wiiii,

wine

bryce (302) of long stems, the noun wyrm (266) Other cases of apocope are the dat. loc. sing, of consonant stems, like f6t, from *f<Sti (281; cf.
(262), adj. bryci,
.

70
Gr. TroSO
;

PHONOLOGY.

among

heortan, tungan * basic forms Jmimiz, etc. ; comparative adverbs like l^ng (323), basic form *langiz (cf. Lat. magis, and for
the loss of the z see 182). Of the verbs: the 1st sing. hid. of the verbs in -mi (426), corn, am, <lom. do; and
the 2d and 3d sing, and 3d plur. ind. of
for example,
all

polysyllables hrdfror (289), guman, (276) ; datives plur. like 3ifem, twsem,

verbs, as,

sing, hilpis, -es(t), 3d sing. hilp(e)flf, 3d helpaff, their basic forms ending in -izi, -ifri, -<?ii3i plur.

2d

(cf.

Skr. bharasi, -ati, -anti, from \/bher, bear). b) Primitive OE. i from original e, e.g. in the

nom.

plur. of consonant steins, like ft, mys (281), from * *f tftez, etc. (cf. Gr. 7roSe<?) ; so also in the polyfdtiz, syllables guman, tungan (276), as well as in the short

stems hnyte, nut, styde, post (282). Finally, in the nom. ace. sing, of the neuter es-stems: short stems, b^re, sige (Goth, bariz-, sigis) long stems, Ps. North.
;

cself, calf,

c)

North, l^mb, lamb, etc. (288 ff.). Primitive OE. i from original i no doubt existed
;

in the imp. sing, of verbs with thematic jo (372

cf.

398. i

Goth, hafei, nasei,

stfkei, etc.)
;

with short stem,

h^fe, n^re, etc. (367; 409) with long stem, se"c, lifer, etc. (409). The i has regularly disappeared in the nom. sing.
of the long id-stems, like
final

b^nd

(257

ff.).

Every other

preserved in OE., even after a long syllable, in the form of i, e: thus, for example, in the 3d sing. pret. opt. of strong verbs like bulpe (basic form *hulpi, Goth. 1ml pi ); or in the instr. loc. sing, of the
i

Germanic

is

o-stems like dtfme, older ddmi (from *d<Smf, cf. Gr. e'/eet). Yet, in the so-called dative lidm (237. note 2), we per-

haps have the regularly developed local case of a long o-stem, the -i, -e of the other forms being then due to
analogy of the short stems.

THE VOWELS.
NOTE
adverb
1.

71

be^t, better

Exceptions to the rules for syncope are presented by the (Goth, batis), for which we should expect *b$te;

and by the adverb

ymbe

(also yinb), with the e preserved.

i is

NOTE
syllable

2.

Even when

the

lost,

there

is

i-umlaut of the stem-

which immediately preceded. The only exceptions are the verbal forms com, dom, pi. doff (for *don3'i).
134.

Primitive

OE. u

is

after a short stem, as -u,

retained in dissyllabic words -o, but disappears after a long

stem.
a)

Germ,

u, e.g. in the

nom.

ace. sing, of the u-stems:

in the short-stemmed nouns, masc. suiiu, fern, duru, neut. feolu (270; 274 ff.), adj. cucu (303) in the long;

stemmed nouns, masc. feld, fern. h<?nd (272; 274), adj. heard (303. note). Of all these the basic forms end in cf. Goth, sun us, -u, filu, etc. -uz, -u(in) b) Primitive OE. u from Germ. <5, when the latter is
;

e.g. in the nom. sing. fern, of the equivalent to original thus in the short-stemmed giefu, adj. hwatu, in the long-stemmed dr, gdd (252; 293; cf. Gr. %<wpa,
,

d,-stems

or in the nom. ace. plur. neut. of the o-stems, as in the short-stemmed noun fatu, adj. hwatu, the longetc.)
;

syllabled
c)

Primitive

noun word, adj. g6d (238; 293). OE. u from Germ. 6", when the

latter is

equivalent to original d, appeared in the 1st sing. pres. ind. of the verb, and there became permanent, even after

long stems thus beoru, faru, but also helpu, hindu. This u has, however, been almost completely displaced in West Saxon by the optative termination -e (355).
:

apocope
135. 2,

NOTE. The j which originally preceded (45. 8) does not prevent the (cf. 130. note); hence sibb (257), cynn (246), etc., from For the effect of a preceding i (45.8) see *sibb(j)u, *rynn(j;u.
3.

d) Primitive
e.g.

OE. u from
(249),
Itfes

vocalized

(137; 174. 2):

nom. hearu, bealu

msfed,

beadu

(260),

gearu (300);

long-stemmed

(260).

UMtAftY

72
135.

PHONOLOGY.
In trisyllabic and polysyllabic words, the treat-

ment

of the tiual

is

variable.

It is regularly cast off

in trisyllabic

words having the radical and the middle

is

syllable both short, but

retained after a long radical and short middle syllable. After a long syllable it

appears to be regularly the following

:

lost.

The

principal cases are

1)

firen,

Feminines of the a-declension short stems, like from *firinu, Goth, fairiiia, or tigol, from Lat.
: ;

tegula, etc. of the long stems, the abstract nouns with the termination -<?u, Goth. -ija, like str^ngtfu (255. 3).

The

abstract nouns in -img, on the other hand, always

lose the

u without regard
The
:

to their quantity

morning,

warning, lasung,
NOTE.
long stems

leasing, etc. (254. 2).

to the type of the
1).

original iA-stems have conformed hyrnetu, ielfetu, liegetu (258. note

2)

The

noin. ace. plur. of neuters of the o-declension

short stems like reced, werod, long stems like nfetenu, h&ifodu (243. 1; cf. also 144. 6), and especially the stem in -io (45. 8), like rcu, from *rfciu, basic form

*rfki6 (246).
3)

The nom.
:

sing. fern,

tives

short stems like micel,

and nom. plur. neut. of adjecmqnig varying with

1

micelu, m^nigu: long stems like haligu

144. 5), particularly those in -io, like

(296.

note 2;

cf.

gr6nu

(298),

from

grdniu.
136.

of other final syllables than those instanced do not undergo apocope in OE. In already particular, all vowels are retained which are still protected in OE. by a final consonant, e.g., the u, o in the 3d plur. pret. of verbs like hulpun, n^reduu, -on (364).

The vowels

THE VOWELS.

73

C) Further Changes of Final Sounds in Consequence of Apocope.

137

When w becomes
it

final after
;

consonants and short

vowels,

is

vocalized to u, o
it

after long

vowels and
is

diphthongs
altogether.
138.
If a

either

remains unchanged or

lost

For

details see 134.

174.

mute followed by a liquid or nasal becomes final, the liquid or nasal falls under the operation of a universal phonetic law, according to which it assumes
vocalic character
;

that

is,

acquires the power, peculiar

This applies, for to the vowels, of forming a syllable. to the r, 1, n, in in Goth, akrs, fugfcs, taikws, example,

matyms

(Braune, Goth. Gr. 27).

In OE. these vocalic

liquids and nasals often generate before them an auxiliary vowel. Thus the Gothic forms already cited become in

OE.

secer, fugol, tdcen,

in;i<Vum.

the special rules which

139.

apply to these

The following phenomena

:

are

an auxiliary vowel occurs with most The vowel is regularly e when before r. frequency the preceding syllable contains a palatal vowel, but is

Such

generally

the oldest texts and in the dialects u, less frequently, and usually in the later documents, e,
o, in

when

the preceding vowel

is

guttural;

e.g.,

winter,

finger, fseger, aecer, ceaster (from *caester, 75. l), but

dtor, ftfdor, hlutor, cluster

fagrs, etc.

cf .

Goth, wintrus, figgrs,

NOTE. Only in the oldest texts, like the Epinal Ms., does the r often remain unchanged Atr, spaldr, cefr, along with ledlr, inapuldur, etc.
140.

Vocalic
:

after dentals
liusl,

1 often remains unchanged, especially needl, needle ; spdtl, spittle ; setl, settle ;

housel; eaxl, shoulder; naegl, nail, etc.; yet e

u,

is

sometimes found after a palatal vowel, as well as

74

PHONOLOGY.

after a guttural, the law for their occurrence having not 3r et been discovered: seppel, apple; tempel, temple;

fugol,fowl, etc.
141.

Vocalic
:

short syllable
ffegn,

lirsefn,

usually remains unchanged after a raven ; stefn, voice ; regn, rain ;

thane; waegn, wain, though -en is sometimes After a long syllable -en predominates, e.g. in tdcen, token; b^acen, beacon; wsepen, weapon. Still more rare is -in, as in fraegin, 2Fegin. North, has -un,
found.

-on

be"cun, tacon.

usually remains without change : vapor; b<Ssm, bosom; fae^m, embrace; botni, bottom ; waestm, growth ; yet waestem, etc., are found, and mfiffum, jewel, is the usual form.
142.

Vocalic

KTvosin,

143.

By

D) Syncope of Middle Vowels. middle vowels we understand the vowels of

those syllables which lie between the stem and the final syllable of polysyllabic words.

The middle vowels pated in OE. Their

of Germanic are frequently syncoretention or elision depends, how-

ever (like the treatment of original final vowels), in part on the quantity of the preceding radical syllable,
in part

on the number of middle vowels which the word

originally contained.
144.

a)

Every middle vowel

of a trisyllabic word,

when

originally short, and not rendered long tion, is syncopated after a long radical syllable
cf.

by
;

posiafter a

short radical syllable this syncopation does not take

place
:

forms like gen. 6<Hes, engles, deofles,

69"res,

6owres, allies, hafdes, from 69"el, engel, d^ofol, (Safer, 6ower, air<>ii. h^afod, with such as staples, rodores,
eotones, iiacodes, etc.

THE VOWELS.
5)

75

In the oldest texts the trisyllabic forms of the

nom. sing. fern, and nom. ace. plur. neut. are exempt from the operation of syncope: thus adj. Idelu, oweru (296. note 1), subst. wolcenu, nletenu, he"afodu (243.1),
This along with Idle, owre, wolcna, he'afdes, etc. rule does not apply, however, to the feminines ending
in -ffu (255. 3),

which come under the principle laid

down
c)

in a.

Notwithstanding the short radical syllable, the following words regularly exhibit syncope: yfel, evil; lytel, little; micel, mickle, gen. yfles, lytles, micles; but yfelu, lytelu, micelu, in accordance with b.
NOTE
1.

This older principle of syncopation

is

often violated in later

documents through the influence of analogy.

:

Hence middle vowels

after a long radical syllable are frequently restored, in imitation of the thus effeles, deofoles, to agree dissyllabic forms of the same word

with the nominatives eSel, deofol, etc. Especially is this the case in the past part, of strong verbs (gebundne, geholpne, later -ene) and
the adjectives terminating in -ig (haliges, etc., for older halges). More rarely do short stems conform to the example of the long ; the

exceptions are chiefly found

among
;

r-cases (hwaetre, gen. dat. sing. fern.

sing.

the adjectives (293. a) in the hwaetra, gen. plur.), in the ace.

masc. (hwaetne), and usually in the comparative (glaedra,

etc.,

hwaetra,

307).

there

2. Where mute + liquid or nasal precedes the middle vowel, considerable irregularity as regards syncopation e_fiide and fnede, etc. ; see in particular 405. 5.

NOTE
is

vowel long by position is usually protected the operation of syncope. So, for example, against in -isc, like me.imisc, together with their deadjectives
145.

rivatives,

remain unchanged even in their trisyllabic

;

forms

the majority of superlatives, like ieldesta, 309 ff. (but always kfelista, niehsta) substantives like liaerall with liquid or nasal -f- consonant, like fest, eornest
; ;

76
faereld, fsfetels;

PHONOLOGY.
together with all those in which the followed by a geminated consonant, forms like cqndelle, byrSFenne (258), and the deis

middle vowel
e.g.,

rivatives in -ttan, like roccettan, etc. (403. note 2),

even when the

tt is simplified.
(225. 4).

In

LWS.

syncope

is

more frequent
146.

Middle vowels which were originally long are sometimes syncopated in an open syllable, when preceded by a long radical syllable in such cases the vowel had probably become short in Primitive OE. Here the adjectives in -ig from -fg, the adjectives debelong noting material in -en from -fn (296), besides the gen. plur. of weak nouns ending in -na or -ena (276. note 1).
;

147.

When

the
is,

vowels, that
is

same word contained two middle was originally tetrasyllable, the second

always syncopated without regard to the quantity of the radical sjdlable, provided it was originally short, and has not been rendered long by position such are accusa;

tives like fdelne,

uncerne
etc.

dfegolne eatoliie, swicolne 6owerne, faegerne dgenne, hdligne, etc. or gen. dat.
; ; ; ;

sing. fern,

and gen.

plur. like fdelre, -ra

swicolre, -ra,

148. Under this head must also be included the treatment of words which have developed auxiliary vowels

according to 138

ff.

If the radical syllable is long, this

auxiliary vowel is lost when a termination is added; thus we have wintres, fiiigres, temples, tdciies, md<ymes, but winter, finger, tempel, tjicen, m;i<Tn m. After a short radical syllable the vowel occurs more frequently, at least before r; e.g., fseger, weder, waeter, have usually

gen. fsegeres, wederes, waeteres,

forms, such as wsetres, do

etc.,

though the older

now and

then

THE VOWELS.
149.

77

elision of a vowel often takes place in OE. which have become final by the loss of an original vowel termination. Especially important in this connection are the rules for the 2d and 3d sing, pres. ind. of verbs, for which see 359.

The

in syllables

C.
150.

The Chief

Dialectal Yariations.

of

The vowel scheme of the OE. dialects, exclusive West Saxon, exhibits the following general peculi:

arities

In place of the West Saxon Gerrn. d (57 ff.), stands the vowel 6
1)

&=
:

Germ.

6,

West

strt, r6d, slepan;

with i-uinlaut,me>sian,
2)

etc.

The WS.
is

ie,

fe (41) is wanting,
i,

same

true of the unstable

y (22

and hence the what equiva31)

;

lents represent

them

will be

shown

in the course of the

following paragraphs.
3) The sounds ea, eo (io), as well as their corresponding long diphthongs, are not so accurately discriminated as in WS. In Northumbrian especially there is great confusion between ea and eo (but cf. 160. 3) eordiaii,
:

beorn, for eardian, beam, and earKTe, earre, for eorffe, Kentish has a preference for ia and io, the eorre, etc.

former standing as well for

WS.

ea as for eo.

more extensive occurrence. 4) Northumbrian has it throughout (even where it is short, the long sound at least occurs oele, doehter, oexen, 93)
oe is of
;

The sound

in the Psalter: dremaii, boec, speed (27; 94), while Rushworth varies between 6 and 03.

a, se.

151.

i)

For

WS.

brec, set, etc.

se (49) Kent, and Ps. have e deg, In the Kentish glosses the long se-sound
:

PHONOLOGY.
is is

also uniformly represented by e", derived from ai delan, iiig,

:
'.

even when the former

mst = WS. Ps. North.

always denotes the long

m;-st

NOTE.
vowel.
;

It is

probable that the

ae of the Ps.

(9O) lengthened a, as in aeldra, haeldran (159. 2), naeht, naehtig (162) or palatal umlaut of ea, as in gesaeh, daegas, etc.
;

always, as in WS., the i-umlaut of Prim. OE. & from ai or prolongation of ae, as in ffaet, hwset (122) or i-umlaut of
It is
;

2)

For WS. a in an open syllable

(50) the Ps.

and

North, often have the ea resulting from u- and o-umlaut

(160).

no breaking of a to ea before 1 -f- consonant and North., and only traces of it in Rusliw. 1 The same is also true before r + consonant in North, and Mercian. The place of ea is occupied by a (158). lengthened
3)

There

is

in

the

Psalter

e,

e".

152.

The occurrence
;

more frequent u- and o-umlaut by North. (160) the e, which in the other
the
laut of o,
is
;

of the older e (19. l) is limited in the Ps. and

dialects
.

is

um:

In its stead wanting in North. (93 150. 4) occurs an e which, on the whole, is foreign to WS. a) for WS. ie from palatal + e (157. 2) for se as a b) for WS. ie when i-umlaut of ea (159)
;

substitute for this

c)

e,

see 159. 2

as palatal

umlaut of eo (164)

Long 6 corresponds to WS. 6 only in the cases contained under 21. l, 3 (but occasionally in Merc, to the 4 described in 21. 2). It is likewise
153.

a) the representative of
5)

the representative of

WS. from Germ. 6 WS. * from ai (151.

jfe

(150. 1);

l)

THE VOWELS.
i-mlaut of e"a (159. 3) d) palatal umlaut of 6a (163) and 60
c]
;

79

(165) .

y, ^.

154.

A distinctive

characteristic of Kentish

is

the sub-

stitution of e, e\ for y,
oiit^iiaii, br^cfr, for

enibe, desig, eppan, gelden,

dysig, yppan, gulden,

WS. ymbe,

ontyuaii,
NOTE. Contrariwise, Kent, y, y, takes the place of e, 4 cyrran, yce, lyssa, for cerran, inegff, lece, lessa (151. 1), WS.
:

cierran, maegff, Itece,

Isi-ssa.

Diphthongs.
155.

With regard

to the diphthongs of the dialects,

the following facts remain to be noted in addition to the statement made in 150. 3 :
1)
2)

The lack of an i-umlaut of eo, o (159. 4). The regular transformation of eo, e"o by

palatal
ei

umlaut in Ps. and North. (161 ff.). 3) Northumbrian also possesses the diphthong
seista, sixth; neista, next ;
ne"sta,

lista)

ceiga,

call, etc.,

heista, highest (also sesta, and exhibits ai for se:

fraigiia, cuaihtas, for frsegna, cnaehtas.

NOTE. For Kent, diphthongs whose second element

see 214. 2.

is -i

from

-g,

Influence of
156.

(71-73).

l)
e,

In the North, dialect

w often
se,

changes a
;

fol-

lowing

and even at times an

into ce
:

into oe

and

in like

manner an 6
wel;

a) older e:

woegr, swoefn,

woel

= WS.

weg, swefn,

80
b)

PHONOLOGY.
umlaut e (or
ej: cuoellan, tuoelf,
;

woendan = WS.

cweJUan, tulf,
c)

wendan
, ;

(= WS.

150. l):

huoer, woede, woepen

= WS.

hwser, wsede, wsepen lengthened e in woe = WS. we ; d) 8e in cwoear, hwoefrre = WS. cwaed", hwaeffre.
2)

weo
1

worS

weorSF,

worpa, sword = WS. weorSCan, weor9ian, but likewise cwoflfa, wosa weorpaii, sweord
;

usually becomes North,

wo

worffa, wor31a,

= WS. cweffaii, w^esan, from * civeoafaii, * weosaii

3)

(160).

In a similar manner

wea

(160. 3) often
:

becomes

wa

in North., but

waer, maw,

WS.

sometimes wae waras, waeras, pi. of weras, Ps. w^eOras wala, wsela, riches,
;

WS.

Kent. Ps. weola; probably also tud, (beside tuia),

doubt.

and Ps. wio, after becoming wu (71), experiences i-umlaut, and becomes, in contradistinction to the WS., wy in the words wyr<5Fe, worth, wyrsa, worse^ wyrresta, worst, and in such derivatives as wyrsian, worsen. For WS. wuduwe, widow, Ps. has widwe, North, widua. ow are frequently 5) The combinations fow and in North, to iw (iv, iu) and ew (ev, eu) simplified iwih (ivih, iuli), iwer (iver, iur), beside fow, fowih,
4) In North,
:

fowh
trust,

(cf. 332,

note 3; 335); gitriwe, faithful, gitriwia,

beside

gitrewia, gitr^owia,

gitrfowia

(Rush.

gitrfowia, gitr^owia, gitrenwia) ; triwl^as, faithless, beside trewufaest, faithful ; fewer, feuer, four, beside flower; preterits like lieu, speua, blew(u), beside

s^aw (396. note 5) on the other hand, generally hr^owuis, hr^owsia, etc. So, likewise, we frequently have iw, ew for the fow, e"ow from original iw. ew niwe, new ; iiiwian, renew (but iifowe, R. 2 ) liiuia. color;
cne'aw,
; :
;

biu, hiw, form, o"iwa, 8Fiva, STiven, maid-servant (&iowa,

THE VOWELS.
R. 2 ),
etc.
; ;

81

cf.

also the inflection of cne"ow, tre"ow,

(250. 2)
(73.

likewise e"de, from ewde,

WS. owde,

R. 2 6ode

note 1; 174. 3).

1.

doubtful whether these iw, ew are the graphic repreiuw, euw, or whether we are to suppose that there has been an actual change to iw, 6w. NOTE 2. Ps. also has forms like trew, gen. plur. trea (250. 1),

NOTE

Tt is

sentatives of

beside the regular

hiow, niowe (neowe).

6)

The development

of u,

o,

before

w
.

after a short

vowel, does not usually take place in the Ps. and North. ; cf. the inflection of tro, cno, etc. (250)
Influence of a Preceding Palatal (74-76).
157.

l)

is

(g^uguar, not geong, geoguKJ

gigotT

not changed in the Ps. thus (g)itmg, North, giung and ging, ;
:
1

Contrariwise, Kent. (cf. also gind and geond). North, geoc, gioc remains, and in North, g^omrian, as

opposed to the ge"amrian of the Ps. 2) e, e", are not diphthongized gt, geldan, gelp,
:

sceld

= WS. gfet, gieldan, etc. (for North. gona = WS. giefan, gietan,
There
likewise no change of e
:

geofan, geotan,
gfena, see 160)
;

ge>, g^fon, g^ton, sc6p (North, also scip) g^afon, etc., according to 150. 1.
3)
is

= WS.

g^ar,

(= WS.

ae) to

ea

in Kentish

and Ps.
:

gef, get, cester, seel, scet

= WS.

In North, ea appears somewhat irregularly geaf, ceaster, seeal, beside gaet, scael, etc. 4) Unknown to the other dialects is the diphthongigeaf, ceaster, etc.

zation in North. ge<jiiga, go (for g<?ngan).

tural vowels e likewise follows sc

Before gut-

North, than in the other dialects

more frequently in sce"adan, sceqmu, etc.

The Breakings (77-84).

158.

1) Instead of

ea before a consonant, North, and

82

PHONOLOGY.
arm, warp, \var9
1

Merc, frequently have a:

beside
2)

for

and

earm,

etc.

The breaking of a to ea before 1 + consonant is unknown in the Psalter and North, (but not in Kentish), an all, f allan, haldan, salt being replaced by a
: ;

exception

is

North, sealla

= WS.

siellaii (80.

note

2).

Rushworth 1 varies between a and forms e and se see 159.

3)

ea.

For the umlaut

Every breaking before h, as well as before a consonant combination whose second element is a palatal (g, c, h), is transformed in Ps. and North. Merc, by palatal umlaut (161).
The Umlauts (85-109).
159.

I- umlaut.

The i-umlauts

of the

diphthongs

exhibit the widest variations from the

West Saxon

forms
1)

i-umlaut of ea before r

is

without exception e:
(irfe, yrfe), etc.;

erfe, derne, ermtfu, ferd

= WS. ierfe

so also sceppan, gest

= WS.

scieppan, giest (Kent. Gl.

have an exceptional hlihan). 2) As WS. ea before 1 is represented in Ps. and North, by a (158. 2), the umlaut of the latter is not e, but se seldu, ieldra, mailtan similarly before 11
:

wielle beside welle, well (WS. wiella). Here also Kentish has e: eldu, eldra, felo* (from feallan). 3) i-umlaut of ea is 6: heron, getefan, iidd, leg,

cegan, etc. However, Rushworth and Kent. Gl. have sometimes $ c^pan, etc., but Kent. Gl. aflfgan. 4) io, eo is always free from umlaut eorre, heorde
: :

(but afirraii); so also

io,

tre"owe, ar^ostru, str^onan

(but Ps. oiisien, countenance). 5) For the umlauts of ea, eo before palatals see 161.

THE VOWELS.
160.
TJ-

83

and o-umlaut are often preserved, where they

lost in

have been

WS.

(e.g., in

forms like North, ioiina,

within; ionnaff, viscera; bihionda, bihiaiida, behind). In particular,

1)
is

often retained in inflectional forms

;
1

the interchange of umlauted and primary vowels cf. Ps. fet, plur. ;

featum get, gen. plur. geata; or, in the so in North. (370) verb, beoru, bires, bireff, beoraS
featu, dat.
; ;

2) the o-umlaut extends also to the older a in the Ps.

cf. get, gen. plur. geata (but not in Kent. North.) bleaffan (galan is an exception) verbs of the fearan,
; ; ;

2d wk. conjugation, like gleadian, geffeafiau, etc. 3) The North, form of the o-umlaut of e is ea:
beara, bear; eata, eat; weala, riches; wearas, men, etc. (hence forms like wala, waras, 156. 3) more rarely
;

eo: eota,
NOTE
1.

etc.

in North, there has

These umlauts are most faithfully preserved in the Ps. been much levelling under the inflectional forms
;

without umlaut.

NOTE
157.
3.

2.

As

there

is

hlaffa, geffafia, etc.),

no o-umlaut of a either in North, or WS. (fara, geadria and sceaca are to be referred to

Palatal umlaut. The development of this umlaut forms one of the most noticeable characteristics of the
161.

Ps. and North.

162.

Its chief effects are as follows

l)
,

in
h,

Rush. 1 ea becomes
lit,

In the Ps. and North., and for the most part ae (in the Ps. ae, 151. note) before
:

x ( = hs, 221. 2) gesaeh, gefraeht, maehte, saex, waexan = WS. geseah, gefteaht, etc. Usually waex, also in the Ps. before g and c, where the North, has a
:

(together with forms like daguiu, sagas, draca, bracan and isolated
Ps. maegun, daegas, cwaeciaii, draeca

84

PHONOLOGY.

hreacan, Zeuner, p. 34 ff.), for *meagun, *deagas, etc. (160), North, maguii for dagas, cwacian, etc., cf. 160. 2.
;

Rush. 1 has here and there ea, as in geseah. i-umlaut of this ae does not occur mseht, gen. dat. maehte, adj. maebtig, naebt, etc.
:

NOTE 1. The Kentish monuments usually have ea before h, and before g, c ; i-umlaut in hllhan, Kent. Gl.

NOTE 2. Forms like the preterits rehte, w^hte, for and beside raehte, waehte, WS. reahte, weahte, etc., are due to the analogy of $ in the preterits r^ccan, w^ccan, etc. (407. note 3). So also imperatives like North, slab,

ffwah (374), are assimilated

to the contract

forms of the present, sla, Sfwa.

2)

has either e or

Before re, rg the Ps. has e for ea, while North, ae ere, ark ; berg, swine ; berg, grove ;
:

earc, bearg, etc. (North, also sere, etc.). laut is e wergan, curse.
:

WS.

Its

um-

163.

In the Ps. North, and Merc.,

:

e"a

becomes 6 be;

fore h, g, c

he"h, ne"b
b.e"ah, etc.
e"a
.

beacon

= WS.

has retained the

nib.

= WS.

b^con, Kentish, on the other hand, (yet we meet in the Kent. Gl. with
;

pret. te"h, b6g, Idc

n6ab)

164. i)

and

In the Ps. and North., eo becomes e before h re, rg, rh: feh, the imper. geseh, relit, cnebt (83),
;

leht, light (64)

were, bergan, ffwerh, berht = WS. and Hush. 1 feoh, geseoh, etc. (but Rush. 1 rebt, cneht, were, The i-umlaut of this e is (likewise in Merc.) i: etc.).
rib tan, lihtan (illuminate), birbtan, Ps. and Merc, \vir407). WS. io becomes Ps. North, i.
2)

can (North, wyrca,

Before c and g there

is

fluctuation: aereudreca,
;

wegas, along with rare weogas, Ps. on the other hand (after words like beoran), spreocan, breocan, etc., along

THE VOWELS.
with sprecan, which wegas, etc.
165.
is

85

rare.

North, only breca, spreca,

In the Ps. and North.

fleli

o becomes 6 before h,

(c),

th,

imp., ftegan, flege, fly,

lgan = WS. and

Rush. 1 toh, fteoh, etc. served the eo, io intact.

NOTE.

Ep. and Kent. Gl. have prei

We may

perhaps detect traces of

1

as i-umlaut in Ps.

tiff,

draws, Lind. and Kent. Gl. fliS from *tehi3', *flehi3', yet we have also Ps. lligu, ligende, North, liht, easy and light, apparently without
,

umlaut.

Contractions (110-119)
166.

l)

"West Germ, a
shi(n), arwa~(n)

Kent. Merc. sl5an, 8Fw6an but a + u gives 6a as in WS. thus 6a, tar, from *alm, *tahur.
North. &:
; ;

+o = WS.

= (

later a)

results in

2)

West Germ, e
o before

+a
:

the Ps. and North.

(from o) usually becomes a in So likewise e, ges^an, gef^an.

:

6 from eo,

f6as, plur. of feh, Lind., fl6an,

flee, te'an, draw, from *fehas, *fl6han, *t6han (164 ff.); but pres. participle fl^onde, Ps., 1st sing, fleom, from

3)

West Germ.

+a +

(from o) gives
frfo, fr6o.

e"a in

Ps.

fra,

free, beside

fro

North,

On

the other hand,

the pres. part, friond, fr<oiid, uniformly has lo, 60. a (from o) generally remains fa 4) West Germ, f

(perhaps in
:

some cases

still

uncontracted and dissylla-

bic) bian, bees (but bfobread), ffan, hate (pret. ffode, according to the 2d weak conjugation), but also wran,

Ps.

North, bla,
Especially

ffa,

wrfa.

5)

to

be

noticed are

the

contractions

which take place in the Ps. and North, after the loss of a medial h, in cases where WS. and Kent, retain the h

86

PHONOLOGY.

and syncopate the vowel (222). This takes place more particularly in the inflection of contract verbs (374), WS. siehst, e.g., sfst, sfff, from *sihist, *sihi3' cf. also forms like Ps. h6ane, the ace. sing. masc. of

from *h6hona, North, li&uiis, height, from *h6honis, equivalent to WS. h^anne, hannis, from hyaline,
he'almis (222. 2)
;

finally,

(North, also heista, neista),

etc.,

comp. IKTU. sup. host a, nsta from *hhira, *hhista,

WS. hferra

(from hfehra, 222. 2), hfehsta, niehsta.

Quantity (12O-125).
all the cases of prolongation observed occur also in the other dialects. The prolongations before liquid or nasal + consonant are least open

168.

Almost

in

WS.

to question, since the proof of length is derived not only from the use of accents, but also from the influence

exerted upon the quality of the vowel cf. in particular the ai as i-umlaut of a before 1 + consonant (159. 2), or
;

as palatal

umlaut of ea

(162).

THE CONSONANTS.

87

PART

II.

-THE CONSONANTS.

Survey of the Old English Consonants.

169. The consonant-signs of OE. are those of the Latin alphabet, with the addition of the letters 9" and ]?, and of a special character for w. Many of these letters
are,

number

however, employed with a twofold value, as the of characters was not sufficient to express with

accuracy the distinctions current in the spoken language. The inexactness here noted is probably to be
referred to the lack of uniformity in the pronunciation of the Latin letters.
170.

The following

table contains the

OE. consonants,
:

arranged according to their phonetic relations

f

LABIALS. DENTALS. PALATALS. GUTTURALS.

Semi-vowels
, T ulds Ll(l
. .

SONOROUS CONSONANTS

g'

(i)

PHONOLOGY.
of all the letters standing for the so-called gutsuch turals, these having also a palatal pronunciation
5)
;

palatal pronunciation is indicated above ' of to the usual letter.

by the addition

A.

SONOROUS CONSONANTS.
l)

The Semi-vowels.
w.

w, here substituted for the Runic character we"n, the usual symbol employed in the manuscripts, repre171.

sents the sound of English w; or, in other words, a u discharging the function of a consonant.

w is

NOTE 1. In the oldest texts the wen is not yet employed, uu being generally used to denote the sound in question uuer, uueg, uurot, clauue, suualuue, etc. ; sometimes simple u, the latter being especially
:

common in North. uer, uoeg, sualue otherwise the employment of u for w is chiefly limited to the combinations described in 172. 3. At times we even find wu, like North, wuriotto for wrioto, etc.
: ;

of

NOTE 2. German editors and grammarians often follow the example Grimm in representing the Runic sign wen by v. This is objecit

tionable, because

w and the labio-dental spirant v (194)

172.

thus becomes impossible to discriminate between sometimes Lat. v. yet

;

w occurs initially
vowels wdt, wot ; wer, man ; wine, word ; wund, wound ; wyrd, fate ; word, the combinations wr, wl wrftan, write ; wrdt,
all
: :

1) before

friend ;
2) in

elephant's trunk ; wlftan, see ; wl<?nc, proud, etc. ; 3) in the combinations cw, hw, dw, 3Fw, tw,
cweflFan,

sw:

say; liwd,, who; dweorg, dwarf; wash; twd, two; swefan, sleep.
NOTE. The
:

9"\v6an,

verbs

loss of an initial occurs in the negative forms of some ndt, nytan, nysse (420. 1), nyllan (428. note 2), nses, nsferon (427. 3) otherwise only occasionally before u, in utoii, for and beside
;

THE CONSONANTS.
the interjection
iisi \vuht,

89

WHton
tfi,

betwuh, betwux (71)

b.ti,
:

finally, in

how,
oeg,

cucu, nauht, betuh, betux, from cwucu, ealncg, ealnig, from ealne weg two (324. 2), from *hwo, *two. In North,
;

also before oe

coern, for woeg, way, cuoern, quern.

holds its place before all vowels 173. Medially, sdwan, except u and Prim. OE. i without change sdwe, spfwian, spfwode. It disappears before u and i, and thus frequently gives rise to contractions
: :

1) Before u, as in

a,

3Fra, cla, etc. (ill

ff.),

or

ron

from r^owun (396).

However,

is

sometimes

restored before u, following the analogy of other forms,

r^owun, sgowim, etc. words like ife, law, ssfe, sea, hrsfe, corpse, i, for *di, *sdi, * hrai, from the stems aiwi-, saiwi-, hraiwi-; after consonants, especially in certain forms of weak verbs in -rw and -Iw, as in 3d sing. pres. gieretJ * * wieleST, pret. gierede, wielede, from garwis, walwis, *garwida, *walwida (408.1); cf. also pyle, pillow, from
as in cljlwu, sawuii,
2) Before in
1

But in these cases w is often restored Lat. pulvinum. from other inflectional forms, in which i is replaced in the termination by j, or some other vowel sfew, hrjfew,
:

gierweSF,

etc.
Ecthlipsis of
all

NOTE

1.

belong to OE.

in all cases,

before original i (405. 5) appears not to but sometimes to Primitive Germanic.

These cases are not

example, 174. note 2. The North, iuh, beside iuih).

equally clear; for ge, safe, etc., compare, for is retained in cases like 6owic, 332 (but

is sometimes inserted to prevent the hiatus NOTE 2. Conversely, which would otherwise result between u and a following inflectional vowel ruh, gen. ruwes (for rti-es, 295. note 1), though this might of Isevved, from laicus, is be grammatical change (234). The
:

difficult of

explanation.

second
lord,

XOTE 3. is apt to disappear from the initial member of compounds, especially before o, u,

position of the as in hlaford,

*

fulluht, baptism, and proper nouns like Hroffulf, for

hlafword,

90

PHONOLOGY.
cf also fullian, beside
.

-ward, fullwuht (fulwiht,

fullwian,

baptize),

Hroffwulf

cf.

senwintre, and
174.

also such words as enetere, enitre, yearling, from perhaps hwilendllc, temporary, for hwilwendlic.

is

originally not allowed to stand as the final

it is

of a syllable. 1) After a short vowel

tion then supervenes *cne-u, for *8Fewo,
cf.
:

vocalized,
ff^o,

and contrac*
KTe-u,

cf.

nom.

cno, from

also 73)

*cnewo but ateow, cn^ow

(according to 113; 130; also occur, being formed

upon the analogy

medial w.
2)

of the inflected forms

which have
(o).

After consonants

it is

vocalized to

After a

short syllable the latter remains as the final of a word: cf. the nom. ace. sing, of wo- and wd-stems, like beam, seam, foeadu (249; 260), and the adj. gearu (300).

Likewise in the declension and comparison of adjectives: cf. ace. gearoiie, gen. dat. sing. fern, gearore,
gen.
plur.

gearora
etc.

(300),

comp. gearora (307), for

often leads to the restora:

*gearwne,
tion of the

Analogy

in a medial position
nierwflr

cf.

preterits like
;

hierwde,

sierwde, from hierwan, sierwaii (408. 1)

(255.
3),

derivatives like

based upon nearo,

nearwes, etc. After a long stem w disappears (134. d). 3) After long vowels and diphthongs there seems to be a total disappearance of the w ,6, aye (Goth, aiw) hril, corpse (Goth, hraiw) snd,, snow (Goth, snaiws). Not infrequently, however, the w of the other forms is
:

introduced: hrdw, siuixv

this takes place

almost in-

variably after diphthongs, as in gle"aw (63), hre'ow (64), and in the interior of a word when there is syncope of a middle vowel, as in sdwle (likewise sdule), from sdwol, soul; m^owle (Goth, mawild, 73. notel); in derivatives like lir^owsian, rue, from * Iireuwos6n ;

THE CONSONANTS.
1

91

especially in inflected forms, as in

spw3F, cngfewS from

,

leewde from Isewan, etc. Nevertheless there occur, especially in North., forms without w, like WS. gecnsear, getlede, 6orum, North. bilde, de, set^ade, for geciisfewar, knows, aetlewde, North, sete'awde,
;

spdwan, cn^wan

showed,

dowrum,
1.
:

your,

belsfcwde,

betrayed,

owde,

flock, etc.

Under these circumstances the manuscripts often substitute saule, sin'iu more rarely after diphthongs, as in lateau, hriou of the Kent. Gl. = WS. -teow, -hriow.

NOTE

for

NOTE
this rule.

2.

*auwida, NOTE 3 (on 171-174).

sounds see 71-73; 156.

Perhaps, too, se, sse, hrefe (173. 2), may be explained by * Contrariwise, forms like cnsfeff from cnjewiUT, iede from lecle from *lewida, may fall under the rule of 173. 2.

For the

effect of

upon neighboring

NOTE 4. In certain rather doubtful cases contraction seems to have been substituted for disappearance after a long vowel (112; 118). see 192. note 4. NOTE 5. For f instead of final NOTE 6. The loss of the TV seems practically complete in WS. hi(e)red, Angl. \iioro A, family, and in the interjection 6ala; eawla

occurs once in Ps. and once in the poetry (Metra, 9. 15), while of the simple 6aw but one occurrence has been noted (Boeth. 110). In the case of the stem hreow- rue, and its derivatives, there is considerable In the Cura Past, we find hrSosaff, hreosunga, waelfluctuation. hreoliee; in the Lindisfarne Gospels hr^onis is frequent, but is balanced by the occurrence of such fors as liruownis, broawiiis. In the Rushworth Gospels is regular.

j-

175.

the semi-vowel

The manuscripts have no sign appropriated to j (i.e., i when consonantal in function),

it

but denote
l)
i

the vowel sign i and now by g. the initial position in foreign words like occupies

now by

Idhannes, ludeas; in genuine OE. words it occurs rarely, and almost exclusively before u: iti, iung (74).

As

a medial

it is

more common

h^ries, ne.rian, etc.,

92

PHONOLOGY.
in such instances the
i is
ij

though
(cf. 2,

perhaps to be regarded
:

as vocalic, or as standing for

he-ri-es, or he.-ri-jes

below).
i

NOTE. The

of the 2d class of

weak verbs (411

ff.)

must probably,

in the great majority of instances, be considered as vocalic, even where it is preceded by a short syllable, as in wunian, macian, or fr^mian,
8\>iiinn (400. note 2).

g is by far the more usual sign. Initially it appears before i, e, y, since j unites with any other vowel only to form one of the diphthongs ie, ea, eo (74) gif, giet
2)
:

(gy"t),
cf. 1,

ge, g6ar, geong,

etc.

(but also gi in giving, etc.,

above). Medially it occurs also before guttural vowels hergas, h^rgum, n^rgan. Instead of the simple g we often find ig (eg), and before a even ige heriges, h^rigas, herigeas, nrig(e)an; yet this combination is
: :

perhaps intended to denote the sounds

As
24.

final,

is rare,

and

is

ij (cf. l, above). only met with after a long

vowel:

feg, island;

Weg, hay ;

cleg, imp. call (cf. also

note).

176.
initial
;

Germanic

when

j is regularly preserved only when medial, only occasionally between vowels,

nom.

Lord (beside fr6a, Goth, frauja) ; frfge, masc. of fro, free ; fre"ogan, liberate ; cfeplur. gan, call, etc.; and after a short vowel + consonant nerian, (i.e., according to 228, after a short vowel + r) = Goth, nasjan, hazjan, warh^rian, w^rian, h^ries
as in frfgea,
:

jan.

barj is.

177.

On

the contrary, older medial

is

always lost

after a long closed syllable. This rule applies not only to Germ, j, but also to Germ, i before a vowel (inter-

changing with j, according to 45. 8). Whenever this i did not become final (130. note) it was changed in

THE CONSONANTS.

93

Primitive O"E. (apparently rather late) to j, and thus coincided with the older j, and disappeared under the same circumstances as the latter. Examples are
:

a) older

l^cgan

in verbs like siellan, scieppan, s^ttan, (400), for *salljan, *skappjan, etc., OS. s^llian,
j
;

scej>piaii, s^ttian, l^ggian, for Goth, saljan, etc. (228) likewise in nouns like s^cg, cynii (246), sibb (257)
;

b)

older

in forms like liierdes, -das, -da,

rices, -cu, -ca,

-cum

(246), bejide, -a,

-um

(257)

-dum, and in

verbs like

dman (403),
etc.

for *liirdies, *rkies,

*bandia,

*d<5mian,

NOTE. Unequivocal traces of the former presence of

syllable, are the i-umlaut, the palatalization

j,

after a

of preceding gutturals

(206. 6), and the

West Germ, gemination (228).

2)

The Liquids.
r.

r was probably the cerebral or inheard in Kent and the western counties of England, and common in America. It was pronounced with the tip of the tongue strongly recurved and approximated to the hard palate, for on this supposition
178.

l)

The OE.

verted r

still

alone

is it possible to account for the OE. breaking before r (79). 2) r is of frequent occurrence as initial, medial, and
;

final

a)

less frequently is it geminated, as in feorran, far ; aflrran, remove ; steorra, star

cierraii,

turn;

cf.

Goth, fairra, stairnS,

etc.

5) in ierre, angry ; STyrre, withered; mierran, prevent ; durraii, dare ; cf Goth. * airzeis, Jaursus,
.

jaii,

daursaii (181. 2)

94
c)

PHONOLOGY.

resulting from syncope, as in wserra, comp. of The r is not subject to gemination wser, wary, etc.

before
179.

(228).
:

Medial r often undergoes metathesis 1) r preceding a vowel has a tendency to change is followed by nn or positions with it when the latter

by s-combinations

iernan, run; beornan, burn; burna,

fountain; hors, horse; forsc,frog; fersc, fresh; ftersean, thirst; berstan, burst; lierst, time (cf. Goth, riimaii,
hri 1111:111, etc.)

before
third
;

dd

before a single s only in gsers, grass ; in LWS. bird, beside brid(d) North. <rd(d)a,
;
;
1

before 9 in -ferSF for

-friflF

in proper

names

like

Tfdferff, Htinferff, along with Tfdfriff, etc.

To

these

examples may be added corimch, cornuc, crane; and,

conversely, scruf, beside scurf, scurf.
NOTE. Here belong also sera, house (= Goth, razn), haern, wave (ON. hrynn), for *rsezn, *hraezn, with assimilation of the spirant z to ii. For the relation of metathesis to breaking see 79. note 2.
2) The converse of the metathesis already described takes place before ht in the North, frohtian, fear, fryhtu, fright, beside f orhtian, fyrhtu ; breht, bright, and its derivatives, beside berht. In the other dialects,

-breht, -briht seems to occur only as the second element of compound proper nouns, as in Ce"olbreht.
180.

is

generally stable, whatever

the word.

For syllabic r see

139.

its position in Isolated examples of

ecthlipsis are: specan, spsfec (at first probably Kentish), for and beside sprecan, speak, sprsfcc, speech ; psfetigr for
prsfetig, tricky ;

Ps.

North, wixla, exchange, beside wrixla ; ge^ndebyrdan, ^ndebyrdnis, cf. North, ge^ndebred-

nian,

OE.
11

of lr to

in sciia. for

onbryrdiiis, inbryrdan, etc. Assimilation and beside selra comp. (312) ;

THE CONSONANTS.

95

of sr to ss in Ufessa, simplified in wiersa, wyrsa (312), Goth, wairsiza, 9isse pron. (338). In these examples

r always springs from z (181. 2)

(336) ,

but

cf.

also usses, etc.

from * usres.
loss of final

NOTE. For the

181.

Germanic z see 182.

It

OE.

is

of twofold origin.

1)

to

Germ,

r,

as in rfce, rtfedan, bringan,

corresponds beorgan,

wer (Goth, reiki, r^dan, briggaii, bairgan, wair). This r may occur in any part of a word.
2)

to

Germ,
;

z,

partly retained in Goth, as

s:

z,

and

partly represented by
ian, praise

mdra, greater ; are, ear; h$rn^rian, save (Goth, niaiza, ausd, hazjan,

nasjan). Then especially in grammatical interchange with s: cosan, cas, curoii, coreii (233 ff.). Likewise
in the combinations rz, as in ierre, etc. (178. 2, 5), and zd: reord, speech; hord, treasure (Goth, razda, huzd).
182.

This r from z
is

is

restricted to the medial position,

for initial z did not exist in

final

Germanic, and originally OE., whether belonging to Under the head of inflectional or derivational forms.
z

always

lost in

inflectional endings belongs, for example, the Germ, z (Goth, s) of the nom. sing., that of many gen. sing, and

nom. ace. plur., the s of the 2d sing, opt., both pres. and pret., that of various pronominal forms, etc. as
;

examples may
is,

be cited the nominatives he,

hwa

(Goth.

liwas), plur. we, ge, <Ta (Goth, weis, jus, ]?6s) ; the datives me, 9"e (Goth, mis, pus). To the class of deribe.t, le.ng, etc.

vational forms belong especially a) the comparative adverbs md,,

(323),
like

Goth, mais, batis, laggis

I)

the nom. sing, of the

os-,

es-stems (288

ff.),

sige, b^re, l<jmb, cealf,

Goth,

sigis, bariz-, etc.

96

PHONOLOGY.

is in

NOTE. Where an OE. r appears in place of an originally final z, it consequence of a reinsertion from polysyllabic forms so in forms
;

like sigor,

Igmbor,

etc.,

compared with

sige, lo,mb

(289

ff.).

1.

must (disregarding possible palatalization before i, j) have had a twofold pronunciation: and secondly, a pronunciafirst, that of an ordinary 1
183.
1
;

The OE.

tion nearly or quite guttural, wherever it caused breakUpon what this ing of a preceding vowel (80 if.). difference of sound depends has as yet not been

determined yet it would seem that the phonetic environment was not the only factor concerned (note, for example, the difference between siellan and t^llan,
;

note 2; 158. 2). may occur in any part of a word, mated, and often vocalic (140).
80.
1

is

frequently gem-

takes place in seld for setl, bold for botl, spald for spjttl (cf. 196. 2) ; and likewise in the

Metathesis of

proper names ending in -gils from -grfsl, as well as in the suffixes -els from -isl, and -ilfe, -elfe, from -ifli. To
these
cealf- for ceafl,

may be added occasional did from ddl, disease; jaw ; and g^alh- for gagl, palate.
The Nasals.
m.
n.

3)

labial, and n, in conformity with Latin usage, not only the dental, but also the guttural

184.

m denotes the

and palatal

the latter, however, only when it nasal, stands immediately before one of the gutturals, c, g. and dental n are found in all positions, are frequently

geminated, and occasionally vocalic (141

ff.).

THE CONSONANTS.
The occurrence
lowing
185.

97
fol-

of nasals
:

is

subject only to the

restrictions

Before the surd spirants

f,

9 and
1

s,

there

is

loss of in

accompanied by a lengthening of the preceding vowel; older a, OE. 9 (65), is thus converted into 6 (66) Examples are :
n,
.

and

1) of the loss of

m:

fff, five,

Goth, fimf; the adv.

;

sdfte, softly,

(OHG.
2)
dflFer,

comp. amsala)
;

s6ft,

323

(OHG. samfto)
plur. gds
st,
;

dsle, ousel

of the loss of

g<$s, goose,

li6s,

troop ;

other;

169", tooth, plur. t6tF;

ney;

lis, us; htisl, storm; wyscan, wish (Goth, grans, hansa, anj^ar,

favor; slKJ", jourhousel; cuffe, could; mil 9, mouth; ^st,

etc.).
established by occasional gemina-

NOTE
tion

1.

The length

of the vowel
Dipl.,

is

Suutangloruin, Cod.

A.I>.

Cuutfert,

A.D. 707; siith, A.D. 805-831.

730; Cuutferthi, A.D. 755-757; In later documents accents

1

often occur.

Loss of n
virtue,

an unstressed syllable occurs in geoguS youth, duguff, oroSf, breath, for *jugiiiij>-, *dugun}>-, *orQnJ>-.
in
,

Exceptions to the foregoing are a) the 2d sing. c<?iist, in^iist (422

:

ff.)

a few foreign

words
b)

m, n -f spirant have been into juxtaposition by the syncope of a vowel, brought like (Trims, a coin (OHG. drimissa) winster, left
;

like pinsian, weigh ; all words in which

(OHG. (OHG.
NOTK

wiiiistar)
-is<5ii),

and especially derivatives

i;i

-sian

like grimsiau, raye ;

rla-nsian. cleanse;

minsiaii, diminish.
2.

No n

in this position

it

occurs in OE. before h, the guttural surd spirant, for was already lost in Germanic. That under these

circumstances the

first

caused nasalization of the preceding vowel,

:

and that as a result older anh became 6h, has already been stated Examples of ih, 6h, from inh, unh, are the verb ffeon, (45. 5; 67).

98

PHONOLOGY.

from *8fhan (383), part, ffungen (234); the pret. ffuhte, from tfyncan (407. a); 6hta, fiht, dawn (Goth. tin two). NOTE 3. The spelling onswini of the Collingham Cross (Stephens,
1.

390)

may

simply denote a nasal pronunciation of the o.

186.

Final

of an inflectional ending

is

suppressed

in North., particularly in the infinitive (363), the 1st

plur. opt. (361),

and the weak declension

(276).

The

In the retained, however, in the pret. ind. (364). dialects, inflectional n is lost only in the 1st remaining
is

and 2d
lost

plur. before tTie

it

pronouns we, ge (360).

n of the preposition on is frequently compound word or stereotyped phrase, and the prefix then appears as a: abfitan, amang, aweg, ariht, adr^edan, afon, etc.; o is occasionally found, as in omiddan, oniht. In LWS.
NOTE. In
late texts the final

when

occurs in a

medial n disappears from the r cases of iiiin, ffin, and more rarely I'm : mire, infra, inyra, ffyrae, Are. The LWS. forms ollunc, ollunoges,
are developed from original endlong, through an intermediate qnlong. Final mn is frequently simplified to m: thus em- for emn-, from efn, et/ual ; Imcm, hrem for hrcemn, from hr;i*fn, raven, etc. Similarly pn becomes p In weepman for wfepnmaii. The n is lost in elboga for elmboga (elnboga), and wolc for wolcn.
etc.,

Final n after g, c, frequently undergoes metathesis thus seng, freng, reng, Jeng, tane, for segen, standard; frsegn, asked ; regn, rain ; )egn, thane ; t am. token. Medial n undergoes metathesis in clffesnlan for chrnslaii (North.
:

Metathesis of is found in worms for worsm, pus. In one instance nybffe occurs for nyiiiffc, Vesp. Ps. 194. 33; cf. also
cljensia).

Nebrod
187.

for

Nemrod.

tional syllable

and n. Final of an inflecchanged to n in later OE., and indeed now and then in the Cura Past., especially after an unInterchange of
is

accented syllable, as in the dat. plur. dagoii for dagum, or in the dat. sing. masc. and neut. and the dat. plur.
pron.
of the adjective gtf don (gddan) for ffjin for ardm (337).
NOTE. Before
labials in

grfdum

also in the

compound wordi n
etc.

rarely becomes in, as in

Humberht

for

Hnnberht,

THE CONSONANTS.
NON-SONOROUS CONSONANTS.
1)

99

B.

Labials.
P.

It is rare as an initial p in Germanic words: pseff, path, pdd, garment, plega, play ; but more frequent in foreign words like pund,

188.

is

the surd labial stop.

pound,

pfl,

arrow, pytt, pit.

On

the other hand,

:

it

is

common

in the medial
cast,

and

final positions

helpan, help,
is

weorpan,

scearp, sharp,

w&peu, weapon ; and

frequently geminated, as in up(p), up, topp, top, loppe,

Jlea, aeppel, apple,

scieppan, create.

189. p always remains unchanged; only pn sometimes becomes nin in wsfeiim, wsenmiaii from wsfepen,

weapon, \vM-pniaii, arm.

NOTE. For the change of p
to f before t in

Germ, see 232, and for

the metathesis of sp to ps see 205. 3.

b.

In the majority of texts b is the sign for the It occurs in the simple form sonant labial stop.
190.
initially: biiitlan, bind, bringran, bring, bltid, blood ; in the medial and final positions as a geminate : liabban,

have, libban,

live,

w^b(b), web, sib(b), kin; and in the

loiub, lamb, cuinbol, standard,

combination

mb:

sym-

medial or final, simple b is rebel, banquet. f : liabban, 2d and 3d sing, bafast, hafaff; placed by

When

w^bb, web, but wefan, weave ; liabban,

part, haefen.

heave, pret. b6f,

NOTE. In the main, b

final

is

stable

only rarely

is

there a change of

to p, as in

lamp, Kent.
is

Gl.,

and

total

disappearance in

em-, around, when the latter

used as a prefix.

100

PHONOLOGY.

191. In the oldest texts (especially Ep.) b also designates the sound of a sonant spirant, either labial or labio-dental. It was then pronounced like the English v,

a sound which was afterwards represented by f (192. 2 cf. also 194) ; so, for example, in obaer, hebuc, halbae, earbed (Ep.), giaban, hlabard (Cod. Dipl.) ; even as a
;

hualb, salb (Ep.), gib, ob (Cod. Dipl.), etc., for ordinary WS. ofer, heafuc, healfe, earfod-, giefan, hldford, gl<5f, hwealf, sealf, gif, of.
final: gloob,
f.

twofold character, as standing for the surd arid for the sonant labio-dental spirant, English
192.
f has a

and
l)

v.

It is

uniformly a surd spirant

when

initial, as in

fseder, father, findan, find; when geminated in the medial position, as in wofflan, rage, snoffa, nausea (Lye),

the proper names Offa, Yffe, Wuffa, and the foreign word offriau, offer ; in the combinations ft and fs, like
hseft, captive, gesceaft, creature, raefsan, censure;

and no doubt originally whenever it corresponds, as a medial or final, to Germ, f, as in wulf, wolf, fit five.
,

usually a sonant spirant in the medial position, whenever it does not occur in Due of the combinations ff, ft, fs: e.g., ofer, over; gie,

2)

On

the other hand,

it

is

fan, give; hldford, lord ; earfo?F, labor ; sealfian, anoint.

then corresponds to Oerm. b\ Goth, b, OHG. b in the earliest OE. texts b and u are found as its substiIt
;

tutes (191; 194). It also occurs for Lat. b, v, and p. NOTE 1. The use of f for the sonant spirant is still comparatively rare in Ep. but by the ninth century f comes more and more to be
;

used for the v-sound.

NOTE
its

2.

place being taken by

Gemination of the sonant spirant v does not occur in OE. bb see 190.
;

THE CONSONANTS.
NOTE
Cura
3.

101

In nsebre, fibres (febbres),

(cf.

for f occurs as late as the

Past.

191).
:

NOTE 4. Not till a very late period does f occur for final TV hifcuncl, familiar; gehlof, lie/low; gleof, glowed; hlef, cairn; and even once for medial stAnhifet, stonequarry.

193.

Except
:

for the interchange with

(191)

and

(194), f is tolerably stable in

OE.

Exceptions are as

follows
1)

usual ft

In the oldest texts pt sometimes represents the scsept, shaft, edscaept, palingenesis, gidopta, comrade, the Epinal forms of scaeft, edscaeft, griSofta
:

but side by side with these occur

etc. (cf. 221.

siftit, sifts,

iiii't,

niece,

note 1).
f)

2)

fn (with sonant

frequently passes into

mn,
later

especially

when
189)
:

OE.

(cf.

medial, and more particularly in emne, even, steiim, voice, steirm,

stem,

from efne, stefn, stefn; so likewise LOE. wimman, plur. wimmen, from wffmQn, woman (cf. 186. note).
NOTE. This change does not take place in the verb aefnan, and raefnan, perform, presumably because the f is a surd.
V.
ot'nan.

In foreign words like Dduid, Eue, Le"ui, v, or rather u, denotes the sound of the Latin v, identical
194.

with the OE. sonant labio-dental spirant

hence these

words are

also occasionally written Efe, (gen.) L6fes, (but not Ewe). This v is LWS. for EWS. f (192. 2). In OE. words u is employed in the earlier period to

(171) represent the semi-vowel very seldom to denote the sonant labio-dental spirant, as in Auene
;

(proper noun), yuel, selua, for Afene, yfel, selfa. The employment of u for f is not common until the Middle

English period.

102

PHONOLOGY.
2) Dentals.
t.

195. t

always stands for the surd dental stop, and is

com

mon

in all positions: t6tf, tooth; tre"o, tree; ln, ten; etan, eat; heorte, heart; wdt, wot. It is frequently

geminated, as in sceat(t), sceattes, money ; se.ttan, set;

hluttor, clear ; lidtte,
etc.
is

called (367)
ft, st,

gre"tte, greeted,
;

For the combinations

ht, see 232

cf.

also

193. 1; 221. note 1.

196.

t is

almost without exception stable.

:

The only

exceptions are the following

1) In

EWS.

the Cura

(especially in the Hatton manuscript of Pastoralis) st very frequently changes to so",

:

particularly in the termination of the 2d sing. pres. ind. 8Fu giefesff, hilpesflF, etc., but also in words like fses,
fast,
<lus(T, dust, ;

waesarm, growth, afffsffrigan, obscure,

superlatives like
msfesflF,

wdsff, knowest
erst, etc.

most,

sferesiff,

2)

For

WS.

tl in

spittle,

North, has 31

botl, building, setl, seat, when final, as in seffel,

spatl,

and

til

when
(cf.

medial, as in gen. sedles, plur. sedlo, dat. spddle

;

bydla, inhabitant)
:

but besides

nom. seatul, saetil, Ps. Id is the regular substitute for tl in seld (183) ; while seld, bold are common in poetry, beside setl, botl
larly

occur reguIn plur. setla, settlas, etc.

tl,

ttl

(spald, El. 300).

NOTE 1. These auxiliary forms are almost entirely unknown to WS. prose, though there are certain instances of bold and seld, which are
not, however, to be implicitly relied on.

NOTE

2.

Beside

WS. botm,

bottom,

byffme,
is

keel, ship,

occurs once

(Shrine, 103), though in a text which

peculiarities.

strongly colored by Anglian

THE CONSONANTS.

103

3) The combination tj passes into c or cc (= Mod. ch) in orceard, garden, beside ort-geard (also orcgeard,

LWS. orcerd, ordceard); LWS. fe,cc(e)an, fetch, for EWS. f^tian and Mimcgfu, Wulfst. for usual Muntgfof
;

(Montem
NOTE
3.

Jovis)

cf.

206. note

216.

note

3.

Ecthlipsis of t sometimes takes place in consonant combinations, especially after h, s: drohnian, iffrisiies, faesnian, genihsiiin, for drohtnian, ffristnos, faestnian, genihtsum (cf. 198. 4).

NOTE 4. Conversely, and especially at a subsequent period, t is sometimes inserted between s and 1, as in in ist lie for mislic, various ; elmestHc- for selmeslic-, eleemosynary ; ondrystlic for ondrysllc, and probably in maestling for dreadful (ondrysnllc also occurs) maesling, brass. The oldest example noted is in a charter of A.D. 831 ; elmestlicast, Cod. Dipl., 1. 295. NOTE 5. For OE. st for sff see 202. 6 ; for t, tt, from tff, dff see
;
,

202.

4.

d
197.

is

the sign for the sonant dental stop, and correIt

sponds, as a rule, to the Gothic d.

position,

may
:

and

is

subject to

gemination

occur in any daeg day ;

1

drffan, drive; dweorg, dwarf; eald, old; eardian, dwell ; biddan, request, etc. Only in very ancient manuscripts does d stand for
ff,

>

(199. note).

198.

is

generally stable, but the following facts are

:
1

to be noted
1) 2)

d experiences grammatical change with 9

J>

(234).

Id corresponds in part to Goth. Id, as in ceald, cold, healdan, hold, and in part springs from an older 1<T (202. 2, 3), like WS. dl from ffl (202. 3).
3) Idl becomes 11 in siellic, peculiar (Goth, sildaleiks), and likewise occasionally in North, ballice, boldly, mQnigfallice, seofonfallice, manifold, sevenfold, for and

beside -baldlice, -faldlice.

104
4) Before
a)
(359.
e.g.,

PHONOLOGY.
and
after surds

d becomes

in the

2d

sing. pres. ind., as in biiitst, st^ntst

bindan, stQiidaii ; milts, sympathy, miltsian, compassionate (likewise with ecthlipsis of t:

2),

from

mils, milsian), from

milde

bletsian, bless (occasionally

;

WS.

bledsiaii, North.

bloedsia)

gftsian, covet, with

which compare Goth, gaidw, want; and in compound words like m^tsceat, aiitsacodou, gesuutfulnes (Cura Yet the spelling is Past.), for m<kl-, and-, gesimd-. often conformed to the etymology bindst, milds, mildsian, or d is lost. For t from dflF see 202. 4. I) particularly in the weak pret. and past part, of
:

verbs with long stems, like sc^ncte, fecte (405. 2). 5) After consonant + d, t, there is a loss of d, as in oh tan (405. 4). pret. s^iule, lite, from se,ndan,
NOTE
onfon,
1.

Final

has disappeared in proclitic Qn- from <?nd, as in

Qngietan, understand; onsacan, oppose ; cf. ondfenga, This led to occareceiver ; Qndgiet, intellect; Qndsaca, opponent, etc. sional substitution of and- for a quite different QD-, an-, in words like
receive;

andt-lfeow,

andweald, andwealhnys.

is sometimes inserted between n and 1, as in endlnfon and numerous adjectives like hwilendlic, Qndrysendllc, forgyf-

NOTE

2.

endlic.

199. The two letters tf and J? originally denote without distinction the interdental spirant which is now In the course of represented in Eng. by th (cf. 201).

this
(like

work we propose to follow the best older Mss. Cura Past., Ps.), which more or less uniformly
ft.

employ
character
;

NOTE. In the oldest texts there is scarcely any trace of either Ep. has but a very few examples of either, and the same is true of the oldest charters. The earliest dated 8 (paeS ) has been
1 1

THE CONSONANTS.
found
dated
in a charter of Wihtraed of
1

105
;

Kent, A.D. 700-715 the earliest (aelfJryS in a charter of Coenwulf of Mercia, A.D. 811; but throughout the whole of the ninth century J> is but sparingly employed. Instead of ff, J>, the oldest texts generally employ th in the
]
)

initial position

thorn, thegn

modgidauc,
:

Cffidinon's

Hymn;

very rarely d, as in gldopta, Ep. 195, in the medial position, th and d:

lotha, loda, Ep., aethil-, aedil-, Cod. Dipl. (in lieu of ffff is written in the final position for the most thth, tht aeththae, othte, or)
part th

inearth, laath, hriosith, sniuiiith, Ep., but sometimes t siftit, faehit, stridit, Ep., Cuutfert, Cuutferth, Sutangli, Cod. Dipl.
:

200.

J>,

may

occur in any position, and both

:

may
or;

undergo gemination

fting, thing; ffrf, three; arwiiigan,

force; weorfraii, become;

morQ

murder;
]?ri,

offffe,

sc^3><yan, injure ; siSTSFan, since ; or ping,

weorpan,

oppe

(o<yj>e, opffe), etc.

in

NOTE. For 99 the North, has hff

201.

mohffe, mohffa, moth.

represented only a surd this pronunciation must be postulated as spirant, the original one in the case of OE. 3", \>. Yet it is quite possible that the original sound had already been dif-

The

of Germanic

and

ferentiated in

OE.

into surd

and sonant, the sonant

(cf. 192. 2;

occurring only between voiced sounds In favor of this view may be adduced
1)

204).

the spelling of the oldest Mss., which employ the

medial d (199. note);

8Fd (202. 5 ; 405. 3) ; 2) the retention of the group the passage of Iff into Id, and of Sfl into dl (with 3)

sonant stop, 202.

2, 3).
ft

202. With regard to the changes of observations apply

:

the following

undergoes grammatical change with d (234) NOTE 1. Ps. North, have 6ffr, rein, fr^mffe, stranger, for WS. sfedr, for WS. ed-. fre,mde; so effcuide, Corp., effwitscype, Waldere,
1)
ar
;

106

PHONOLOGY.

bold ; wilde, wild; 2) older Ip passes into Id: beald,

gold, gold ; hold, gracious

; wuldor, glory (Goth, balps, wilpeis, gul]?, etc.). Occasionally 19" occurs, but exclusively in the oldest documents ha!0, obae!0i, spi!0,
:

Ep.

Balthliaeardi, Cod. Dipl., A.D. 732

A.D. 740.

The
:

19"

which

is

Balthhardi, due to syncope suffers no

;

further change
3)

fielo",

falls ; gesfe!0u, success, etc.

to dl:

in a long stem, is changed needle; wsdla (*wthla), n6]?la), beggar; mfdl (OHG. mindil, Goth.* min)>l), bit; ddl

Older

01,

when occurring

n&dl (Goth.

(Ps. d01), sickness ; wfdlan, defile.

texts,

The

oldest Anglian

usually dl.

however, frequently have 91, Ps. always ; North, The 01 resulting from syncope is unaffected:

geni01a, enemy.
2. After a short vowel 91 is retained in the poetical maeffl, m&fflan, converse, beside maffelian but the 9 is lost in insM, ma'-laii, and in steelan, found, stzfelwlerffe, stalwart, beside staffol,
;

NOTE

speech,

foundation, staffelian, found.

NOTE 3. In LWS. ffm passes into dm in the inflected forms of maffmn, treasure, gen. inadmes, plur. mddmas, for EW8. iniiffiiies, iiiaffinas. and in 6adm6d, humble, for EWS. ^aBfniod.

NOTE

4.

For

91,

9m,

beside

WS.

tl,

tin, see

135. 2, and note

2.

t0 and d0 become tt, which is simplified when and when following a consonant a) 0aette, that, for 0aet 0e (so looser combinations like 0aettd, 0aettset, from 0set 0d, 0aet 0set) bit, it(t), from *bft0, *it0 (359. 3).
4)
final
:

oferm^tto, arrogance; 6a0m^tto, humility; wam^tto, grief; Idtt^ow, leader; mitt^, while; gesyutu,
6)

health;

br^tofta, spousals ;
bft,

forms like
,

gesc^ntu, shame; verbal bint (359. 3) for * oferm^dffu, etc.,

;

mid 0^,

gesyndffu,

br^dfofta,

gesc$nd0u

THE CONSONANTS.

107

(255. 3), *bfd<y, etc. The spelling is at times conformed to the etymology, as in l$itjow, lddtow, and such forms are the regular ones when the t, d, and <3F belong

to different words.

NOTE

5.

The

assimilation of initials and finals

is

not carried out

with entire consistency until the date of the Ormulum. by F. A. Blackburn in American Journal of Philology,

See an article
III.

46-58.

5)

ftd

(with sonant 3
into

201. 2) is
till

and does not pass

yy

is

retained,
s3F

dd when except
st,

mostly preserved, a late period (4O5. 3) ;

simplified (225).

6)

becomes
its

often holds

though the etymological spelling ground as s9": so in the verbs cfest,

cfesflF,

wiext, side by side with

\viex9" (359. 6); in abstract

in ~ffu, like m^telfestu, lack offood ; r6ceIfestu, recklessness ; also when final s and initial 9" come

nouns ending

together in the 2d sing, of the verb, as in hilpestu, hafastu (from liilpes ffu, hafas <Tu), from which the later and usual forms of the 2d sing, in -st are then

deduced
NOTE
7)
liars,
6.

(357). For

WS.

sff

from older st see 196.

1.

ffs is

often retained: bHffs, bliss; blffisian, rejoice;

;

mildness (perhaps only etymological spelling) but usually passes into ss bliss, blissian, liss (with short vowel?); so also cwist (cwist), from cwiflFest, cwiarst.
:

s.

one of the commonest sounds of OE., may occupy any position in the word, and is also subject to gemination sunu, son ; sittan, sit ; sceal, shall ; sprecan, speak ; stqndan, stand ; sl&pan, sleep ; sinael, small; snottor, wise; sweltan, die; medially and finally: c^osan, choose; wesan, be; flsc, fish; giest,
203.
s is
:

108
guest

PHONOLOGY.

Com; cosp, fetter ; cyssan, kiss ; assa, ass, etc. bined with preceding c, h, it becomes x (209; 221. 2).
204.

The sound
;

of Germ, s

spirant

and

in like

probability, a surd, as r or been entirely lost (181

was that of a surd dental manner OE. s was at first, in all Germ, sonant z had either become
ff.).

However,

it

is

not

impossible that the modern Eng. change to a sonant spirant did already take place between voiced sounds
in OE., as in preterits like Ifesde, rsfesde, from Ifesan, rsfesan, contrasted with such as cyste from cyssan (405. 2

and 201
205.

but also 198. 4).

:

1) (234).
2)

Concerning the s it is especially to be observed There is grammatical change between s and r

see 232
sr,

For the combinations st and ss from dental + t ss from for st from S3 202. 6 s<y from st, 196 from 9"s, 202. 7 for scl, sen, sciii, instead of si, 180,
1

sn. sin. 210. 1.

sc and sp, especially in later medial, often undergo metathesis to cs thus ascitui, ask ; wascan, (hs, but usually x) and ps wash; asce, ashes; fiscas, fishes; ttiscas, tusks; often
3)

The combinations

WS. and when

assume the forms So fixas, ttixas.

mussel,
(cf.

also

csian (ahsian, tixian), waxan, axe, betwux, between (329) muxle,

;

etc.;

cosp and cops, fetter; cirpsian, crisp

of ts
;

179).
1.

NOTE

The sound
:

is

sometimes, but very rarely, denoted by

;

the letter z

bezt,

best

mil/., yrace

draconze, Lat. draeontea

North, baezere (baedzere, bezera), Baptist. In North, it is sometimes represented by c plaice, Lat. platea. Otherwise ts is retained, as in
:

the foreign name Atsur, ^rEtsur (ON. Qzurr) (ge)bryt8ena,y>a<7men palentse, palativm ; dracentse, draeontea ; yntse, nnc.ia ; though Adsur
,

(Adzurus), dragense, yndse (ynse), do occasionally occur.

THE CONSONANTS.
in

109
t

NOTE 2. After n, 1 there is a frequent loss of LWS.: ynse, blnst, etc. (198. 4; 359. 2).
3)
206.

from

ts,

especially

Crutturah and Palatals.

In general. The letters c (k, q), g, h (x) repreOE. both gutturals arid palatals. The latter seem to have been unknown in Germanic, which possessed only a smooth guttural k, a surd spirant h (the German ch in ach), a sonant spirant g, and perhaps in certain cases a sonant stop g. These sounds were transferred to primitive OE. without change medial h was still guttural, since it was capable of causing breaking (82 ff.) and neither c nor g hinders the occurrence of u-umlaut (106. 2 107. l 162. l), as would probably have been the case were they pronounced as palatals. In the course of time the original gutturals became palatals in certain situations, and these again affected the sounds in their vicinity in a particular manner. The more important of these results
sent in
; ;
;
;

may be summed up
1)
Initial c, g,

as follows

became palatal before the primary (= Germ. Lat. ), older e, eo, a, palatal vowels ae, o, i, f, and their i-umlauts, but remained guttural before the guttural vowels (short and long a, Q, o, and u), their i-umlauts (7. note), and consonants hence their effect upon the primary palatal vowels and their um,

but not upon the other vowels (74-76. 1). shows a tendency to palatalization with2) out regard to the following vowel (76).
lauts,
Initial sc

3) Initial h became a mere breathing, and underwent no other marked change. 4) h final, and in the combinations hh, ht, and x (=lis) usually became palatal in the Ps. and North., Palatal influence as the palatal umlaut proves (162).

110

PHONOLOGY.

extends in WS. only to the hh, ht, and x which follow eo (lOl), more rarely to those which follow ea
(thus hliehhan, nieht, mieht, though these words are
also affected 5)

by i-umlaut).

Medial c and g likewise tend to palatal pronunciation. Consequently they prevent in WS. the occurrence of the u-umlaut of a and e (I05*ff.), and cause palatal

umlaut of io to i (101 107) for their influence in the Ps. and North, see 162. This tendency, however, is not to be regarded as coincident with full palatalization, for the simple medial c and g are distinguished from the fully palatalized c, g, due to older i, j, as well in OE.
;

orthography as in the subsequent phonetic development of the language. 6) Medial c and g, inclusive of the geminates cc and

eg (207 216) are changed to real palatals before older i, j (like initial c, g, in l above), and retain this character even after the j has disappeared (177). To indicate the palatal pronunciation there is frequently an insertion of e (rarely i) before a, o mceas, me'cea (246), se'cean,
;

fylgean (416. note 5), licgean s^cgean (415), along with me'cas, m6ca, s<V;m, r^ccan, ff^ncan, fylgan, licgan, s^cgan; me.nigeo, str^ngeo, gefylceo, -cio (246), andf^ngeost, beside me.nigo, str^ngo, gefylco, andf^ngost. In a similar manner, i is sometimes inserted before u cium, dr^ncium, dr^ggium, side by side with 6cum, dr^ncum, drygum, etc. This insertion rarely takes place after sc.
r^ccean, ff^ncean (407)
(372),
; :

tion of

NOTE. The most trustworthy criterion for the complete palatalizac is the subsequent change of c' to ch. For palatal c in the

initial position cf.

Eng. chaff, cheese, cheap, churl, chew, child, ce"owan, cild, ciele (cyle) but key, keel, keen, kin, king, kiss = OE. caeg, celan, ce"ne, cyn,
chill

OE. ceaf,

ceese, ceap, ceorl,

THE CONSONANTS.

Ill

1.

cyning, cyssan, etc.; for the medial position (with palatalization by J). rich, reach, teach, fetch = rfce, rsecean, tsecean, feccean;

ch

after i

is

more
is

Less evident

rare, as in which, such, ME. ich, adv. -lich, etc. the palatalization in the case of g, sc ; yet it must be

observed that Eng. dge regularly corresponds to OE. (216 227) bridge, hedge = OE. brycg, hecg, etc.
;

eg from gj

C (k, q; x).
the character for the surd guttural stop and the surd palatal stop. It stands before all vowels, even
207.
is
i, y casere, emperor, cosp, fetter, cliff, known, as well as cefer, beetle, ceald, cold, ce^osan, choose, cild, child, cynn, kin ; medially, sacan, quarrel, swicol, decep-

e,

tive,

sacu, quarrel,
For

aecer, field,

hdciht, curved; also

gemmated,
NOTE
1.

saec, saecces, sack,

3>e.ccan, cover, etc.

;

cw

see

208

for ct instead of ht, 221. note 1

for

ce, ci, as denoting the palatal c,

206.

6.

NOTE 2. Now and then the Mss. write k for c: kennan, ke*ne, kneo, folkes, aeker, giok and likewise ck for cc fficke. In WS. this k is found somewhat more frequently before y, or the i which has sprung from it (31) kynn, kyning, kyne- in compound words (like; :
:

wise kining, king) for cynn, etc. the guttural sound (206. 1).

Perhaps the

k is

intended to denote

208.

The sound
or, in

of the Latin

by cw,

the older texts,

older cueffan, cuic, examples is the Latin qu employed as a substitute, as in quidu, quiffa, quicae, Ep. ; Quoen8>ry?)F, Cod. Dipl., A.D. 811 ; que"mde, Blickling Glosses, and not in-

cwdmon,

qu is generally denoted by cu: cweflFan, cwic, cudmun. Only in isolated

frequently in the Corpus Glosses.

209. For cs (originally due to the syncope of a vowel, or to metathesis of sc) x is usually found rfxian, reign; aex, axe; sixian, ask; axe, ashes (205.3); betweox, between (329); for rfcsian (OHG. rfcliisdn),
:

112
etc.

PHONOLOGY.

The

latter

forms,

however, sometimes
now and
then write hs:

occur.

NOTE
tihsiiin,

1.

Instead of this

the scribes

betweohs(n) (221. 2). NOTE 2. The sound of x is variously represented, not only by cs and hs, as above, but also by ex, hx, xs, cxs, hxs, gs.
210.
still

The
is

following irregularities in regard to c are

:

to be

noted

occasionally inserted in the combinations si, sn scleacnes, asclacad, Kent. Gl. 694, 696 scm4gsm, ende, Ps. 118. 129; scnlcendan, Cura Past. 155. 17; srla carpebat Corp. 433 scluncon, Ep. Alex. 320, etc.
1) c
: ;

2) In the North, dialect final c often passes into h (written ch, and even g), especially in the conjunction

ah, but, and the pronouns ih (as an enclitic likewise ig, as in saegdig, forgeldig, for saegde ic, forgeldo ic), meh (mech), STeh, tisih (tisich, tisig), iuih (iuh), 332;
of ac is also found in the other dialects. Medial c in North, is often written ch folches, 3) 2 werches, wlgnches, swindle, stanches, Rush. sometimes becomes NOTE. For c in place of g see 215. In LWS. c h before inflectional st and 9.
:

ah instead

S-

211

The

letter
is

g not only denotes

the semi-vowel

(175. 2),

but

also the

symbol of a guttural, corre-

sponding etymologically with the Goth. g. From the fact that this sound alliterates with OE. g = j, and that it occasionally interchanges with j and h, we are justified in inferring that it is to be regarded on the whole as a spirant, and not as a sonant stop.
Initially, g is a guttural spirant in the cases designated under 206. l: galan, sing ; gdst, ghost; gold,

212.

THE CONSONANTS.

113

gold ; guma, man ; gylden, golden ; glaed, glad ; gnorn, sorrow ; grafan, grave; probably also before ae, as in On the other hand, it is a palatal setgaedere, together.
spirant before
e, ea, eo,
i,

ie:

geldan, gieldan, yield; geaf,

gift, gift, etc.

gave;
North,

ge'afoii, (they)

gave ; ge"otan, pour ;

NOTE.
A.D. 732;

Change

to j

is
;

gearwla (408. 1)
Eaniardi,

shown by iarwan, Rush. 1 = WS. glerwan, likewise by Kent. Aethiliaeardl, Cod. Dipl.,

A.D. 778; -."ESVlieard, A.D. 805, for -geard, etc.

213.

Medially and finally after vowels and

r,

1,

the

pronunciation varies between guttural and palatal spirant, according to the principles laid down in 206. 5, 6
:

regn, rain ; rignan, rain ; daeges, of a day ; lagu, sea ; drtfg, drew ; beorgan, conceal; belgan, grow angry. For ge as the representative of palatal g see 206. 6.
NOTE. For g after
when'the combination
r, 1,
is

the digraph ig

is

not infrequently employed

preceded by y, e, ori: byrlg (284), gfebyllgff, anger ; myrigff, mirigff, mirth; fyligan, fylga.n,folloiv, etc. The g is frequently dropped from this combination, according to 214. 5 fyliaff, A u is sometimes introduced, though but fyliende, wyrlaff, etc.
:

seldom,

when u precedes: burug

for

burg

(284).

214.

That g
:

is

will be manifest

a spirant in the positions named above upon a consideration of the following

final passes

changes l) In the later documents g

regularly into after any long

after a long guttural

more or less vowel or r, 1, and

:

vowel when followed by a surd consonant which has been conjoined with it as a result of syncope
g<noli, enough,
stfhff,

bah, ring,
for

st&h, ascended, stibst, climbst,

climbs,

gendg,

bag,

stdg,

stfgst,

stfgQ

beorh, mountain, burh, borough, sorh, care, yrharo, cowardice, for beorg, burg, sorg, iergfru less frequently when it ends a syllable and is followed by a voiced consonant dhlaeca and tiglaeca, dfohla from dfogol, gloomy.
;
:

114
Occasionally, too,

PHONOLOGY.

g passes

into

after short vowels:

after palatal vowels in awseh (aweh), weighed; after short a in the foreign word utlali, outlaw ; after short o

in getoh, spasm, hohful, careful; as in fuhlas, birds, falmodon,

(for
this

and before consonants, rejoiced, oferwrolme

oferwrogenne), clothed, etc. In the North, dialect change occurs most frequently in an unaccentuated

syllable, as in arrftih, sextih, suinnib, for ftrftig, sextig,

synnig. This interchange of g and h is not to be confounded with the grammatical change of these two sounds

Further proofs that OE. g (233 ff.). afforded by the following equivalences.
represented
a)
:

is

a spirant are

It is

sometimes

by gh btfgh, shoulder ; daghian, dye ; ffwtfgh, washed; sltigb, slew; imdernagh (for underlmagh), underwent ; br^gh, eyelid ; ^aghffyrl, window ;
b) by hg: ffwtfbg, ivashed ; gestdbg, ascended; gewehgen, proceeded ; wihga, warrior ; onwrihgnes, revelation ; brbg, eyelid; dfligol, secret; wdhg, crooked; after 1 in onwealhg, whole ; after r in burhg, city ; beorhgan, defend; hearhg, temple ; sorlig, sorrow; sorhgiende, sorrowing; morhgen, morning; fearnbeorhging. An assimilation of h - g to lib, hch, ch, takes place in

n6h(c)bebtir, -byrin, neighbor; in North, the combination is represented by simple h n^hebrir.

:

NOTE

1.

Occasionally, in later documents,

:

medial between vowels

h^retoha,

h stands for g when dahum, mahan, for h^retoga,

dagum, magan. NOTE 2. F.or final g

2)

as a substitute for

see 223. note

1.

When

following a palatal vowel at the end of a

syllable,
is

g sometimes passes into i. This phenomenon peculiar to Kentish, and a chief criterion of this

THE CONSONANTS.
dialect.

115

So already in Ep. gri, bodei; m&banda, Cod. Dipl., A.D. 831 6ihwelc, Deimund, A.D. 832 del, A.D. 837; meiOTidd, Kent. Gl., etc., for bodeg, mV,
;
;

6ghwelc, deg, megffhdd.

3)

LWS.

has -ig for

-g.

often disappears after a palatal vowel, and followed by one of the voiced consonants d,

when
Of,

n,
:

the preceding vowel being simultaneously lengthened

mseden, maiden, ssfede, gessfed (416. note 3), lde, gel^d (40l), br^dan, brandish, str^dan, dissipate (389), -h^dig, minded, for saegde, l^gde, bregdan, stregdan, -hygdig, etc. tfSlan, grant, for tigffian ffnian, serve, SInen, handmaid, frinan, inquire, rfnan, rain, ongan, against,
; ;

for ffegnian, ffignen, frignan, rignan, onge(a)gn.

Syncope of g likewise takes place before originally syllabic n wsfen, wain, r6n, rain, 3ten, thane, for wsegn, regn, ffegn (though these forms are perhaps due to the analogy
:

of polysyllables like wsfcnes,

rnes,

atenes).

Not

till

later period do we now and then before 1, as in siuOl for sn&gl, snail.

encounter syncope

NOTE
frfineii,

3.

is

lost after

a guttural vowel, as in fr&n, frftnnii, ge-

from frinan, and brudon, broden, strodeii, from bredan,

stredau (389), but probably through the influence of the present forms with palatal vowels.

NOTE 4. Ecthlipsis of g between consonants takes place in monies, inoriie (m^rne), gen. dat. sing, from iiiorgen, morn. NOTE 5. In LWS. g is frequently lost before ea and eo, and again
prefixed to an ea, eo, which do not require it. This would indicate a shifting of the stress to the second element of the diphthong.
is

4) ige (from igi) is often contracted to f sflhearwan, Ethiopians; list, liest ; litf,
:

fl,

porcupine ;

gelire, for igel, sigel-, ligest, ligeff, geligere. adultery, 5) The ending -ig often loses its g, most frequently

lies;

when

medial, as in syndrie, b^fle, bungrie, for syndrige,

116
h^fige,
also

PHONOLOGY.
hungrige; m$nio for m^nigo, multitude; but
final:
.

when

sfcni,

manifold, dysi
:
1

(frequent in

ig of a stressed syllable occasionally undergoes a similar loss drfe, dry, af fan, put to flight, for dryge, aflfgan.
later texts)

The

6)

In like manner, ig
the
first

is

when

member

frequently contracted to i (i) of a compound word: stirdp,

stirrup, stlwita, stiward, steward, from stfgrap, stigfor ug: wita, stigweard. LWS. sometimes has

uw

adruwiau, dry ; suwian,

215.

be silent,

The combination ng
it is

retains its

g
;

unaltered,

except that
-ngc
:

often replaced,

when
;

Unihtherinc, Cod. Dipl., Th4odningc, A.D. 779 Casincg, CUlincg, A.D. 814 S^leberhtincg, A.D. 814. This c, etc., even forces itself into the medial position cynincges, A.D. 814 swuluncga, ges<?mnuncgse,Cod. Dipl., A.D. 805-831.
A.D. 822
; ; : ;

by -nc, -ncg, A.D. 811 Cymesinc,

final,

Even egg occurs Geddincggum,

:

A.D. 825; TJuigincgga,

to nc,

A.D. 805-831.

similar change of medial

is

ng

when

the com-

bination

common
syncope
strength
:

immediately followed by a surd, is not unwhen the juxtaposition is the result of vowel
1

sprinc<V springs ; bryncKJ brings ; str^ncff, cf. H^ncstes, beside H^ngestes l^ncten
, ;

l^ngten, spring ; geancsumian, vex ; anxumnysse, anxiety. That the pronunciation was nc
(l^nten)
in such cases,

for

even when ng was written, appears from

substitution

the

occasional

of

ng

for

original

nc

dringar, drinks; 31ngJ>, seems, etc.

Originally medial g is often written as c after the surd t: craeftca for craeftiga (even craefca, crseftica).

Hence we must conclude that the g ng denoted the surd guttural stop.

of the combination

THE CONSONANTS.
216.

117

In place of geminated g occurs eg, which is not before a (o) the simplified at the end of a word (225)
;

latter is often written cge, before

u
:

rarely cgi, since eg

se,cg,

was always developed from

gj (228)

man, hrycg,

back, gen. sing, sieges, hrycges, nom. plur. se.cg(e)as, gen. se.cg(e)a, dat. se.cgum (s^cgium) besides verbs like
;

According to the orthography and subsequent phonetic development, the pronunciation of the group eg must be regarded as that of the geminated surd palatal stop.
se.cg(e)aii, say,

licg(e)an,

lie,

etc.

NOTE
dat. sing.

1.

ones, have
;

gg

Occasionally the manuscripts, especially the more ancient in the medial position, and even gc or gcg hrygge,
:

frequent

is

NOTE

2.

se^ggan (s^gcan, se^gcgan), etc.; more egg, especially in the older WS. Mss. A geminated g, not arising from gj, occurs in dogga, dog,

hyggean,

think;

frogga, frog, clugge, bell, sugga, motacilla, rarely froega, clucge, sucga ; hogcian, impend, flocgian, shine forth, floggettan, fluctuate, sceaoga, shag, {jarvviega, earwig. In these, gg is probably to be pronounced as a guttural, while the ordinary eg is palatal.

NOTE

3.

In the

LWS. mlcgern,

fat, for

"mldgern, OHG. mltti-

garni, the eg sprang from dg.

This spelling indicates the modern

in midge.

English pronunciation of dg, as

h
217.
Initial

(x).

simply a breath. It occurs without limitation before rowels, and likewise in the combinais

tions hi, hr, 1m, hw, which are perhaps only to be lihif, (like Eng. wh) regarded as the surd 1, r, n, loaf; lilielihan, laugh; braefn, raven; bring, ring; hnfgaii, bow ; Imutu, nut; bwset, what; hwft, white. Initial h disappears in nabbau from ne habban (416.

note 1). NOTE 1.

In the older Mss. initial

;

is

ring, for haefde, hwaet, bring and ond syllable of compound proper

it is

sometimes lost sefde, waet, frequently lacking in the sec:

names

like

Ealdelm, Eadelm,

118
/K Ifrim
;

PHONOLOGY.
and, conversely, there
is

now and then

prothesis of

hierre,

hsemeteg, hlareow, for ierre, semeteg, lareow.

its

The pronunciation

actually varies, however, only in the case of the verb hweorfan and derivatives, and more frequently hi that of hraeff, quick, adv. hraffe,
alliterate

which not only

NOTE
:

2.

In certain

LWS.

with h, but also with the or r. texts h before a consonant begins to

dis-

appear laford, ring, reat, for hlaford, bring, hr&at. Sporadic are such spellings as whaet, gewhsfede, rhlgge, for hwaet, gehwasde,

hrycge.

NOTE 3. In an alphabet of the eleventh century the given as ache (Wanley, Catalogue, p. 247).

name

of

is

218. Simple medial h, as well as original hw, disappears when followed by a vowel. If a consonant precedes the h, the preceding vowel is' lengthened upon the disappearance of the h feorh, mearh, gen. f^ores,
:

me"ares, etc. (242)

inf.

snearh, gen.

snare

(256. 4)

-filhflF,

Only seldom is the vowel short, as in feores, perhaps through analogy with feorh, or STyrel, ffyrles, for ffyrhil aperture, beside ffyrel, from fFyrel
f^olan (387).
fryrhles.

NOTE
battle,

1.

with

its

In like manner are treated the original compounds 6ret, derivatives, and onettan, incite (43. note 4), though

there are isolated examples of such forms as orrettan, orretsclpe. NOTE 2. Certain inflectional forms point to the retention of the
short vowel
:

and nom.

ace. plur. neut. of

such are moru, parsnip (279) ffweoru, nom. sing. fern, ffweorh, transverse (295) and the verb
;

ffwyrian, for *ffweorhjan (400).

If

two vowels thus

ff.
;

collide, contraction usually takes

;

place (110

166)

h6a
like

(295. note 1), etc.;

hah, plur. feoh, gen. fe~os (242) and the contract ve/bs (373),
etc.
:

son,
3.

see,

Goth, saihwan,

NOTE

In the Epinal Gloss the

thohae, wlohum, ryhae,

full of comers

h is still frequently retained furhum = WS. 96, wlo(u)m, reo, furum.

:

Certain late formations constitute an exception to this rule haelhiht, North, ge; horhihte, phlegmatic, for older horwehte. nt'lnvia, approach, is probably another exception of the same kind.

THE CONSONANTS.
219.

119

the other hand, medial h, when geminated by a surd consonant, is usually retained, and in these cases it is probably to be pronounced as a
or followed

On

guttural or palatal spirant, like the Germ, ch in ach

and

ich.

220.

Geminated

lih is not

very

common

geneahhe,

sufficiently ; teoh, gen.

(h)reolihe,

fannus ;

teohhe, order; teolihian, arrange; gehhol, Yule month (also geohol,

geoh(h)el,

gola)

crohha, saffron;

cahhetan, croak; cohhetan, cough; pohha, pocket; wuhliimg, rage;

(289), taehher, tear.
:

hliehhan (392); North, aehher

NOTE. The Mas. not infrequently have simple h instead of hh geneahe, eher, hreohe, wuhung, hi ilia n. Even at times ch: hreoche (JElf. Gr., 308. 6); scocha, lenocinium, Ep.; hch Aehcha, Cod. Dipl., A.D. 700-715; teo(h)chian, Cura Past.; and cc (Anglian?): pocca,
:

crocca;
221.

cf.

scucca, tempter.

The
:

older combinations,

lit

(232)

and

hs, usually

remain 1) ht
thought,

is

common

eahta, eight ; rieht, right

preterits (407)
;

flFdhte,

and similar
The
;

foeorht, bright, etc.

NOTE

1.

oldest texts, perhaps on account of Latin influence,

;

maecti, frequently have ct for ht: ambect, glfect, uuyrcta. Ep. htt Cynldryctin, Caed. beside cht ambechtae, sochtae, Ep.
:

berhttae, Cod. Dipl. A.D. 736; Eanberhttae, A.D. 755-7; and chtt: almechttig, Ruthw. Simple ht is, however, to be found in charters of the beginning of the eighth century cht is found now and then in
;

later

OE.

betsfechte, aelmichtig.

in preterits like

For the interchange of ht and ct ffrycte and ffryhte see 407. b.

NOTE

2.

Occasionally

is lost,

particularly after r

fort la n.

wyrta,

for forhtian,

wyrhta.
:

2) In place of older hs the manuscripts have x feax, hair; weaxan, grow; meox, manure; siex, six; wriex-

lan, charge

oxa, ox, for Goth, fahs, wahsjan, maihstus,

120
etc.
;

PHONOLOGY.

also

meohx, etc. x and its substitutes are occasionally employed to represent an hs resulting
rarely
:

hx

from vowel syncope: gesyxt (gesyxst),

Ecthlipsis of
iiiulisjaii)
;

ne"xta.
visit

has taken place in n^osian,

(Goth.

Ep. dfsl); North, sesta, seista, the sixth.

NOTE
222.
its
3.

wagon pole (OHG. dfhsila, Corp. Jrfxl, wsesma, wsestm, growth (from weaxaii);
arfsl,

On x

for hs, as well as cs, see 209.

l)

Moreover,
in

h (=

older

h and hw)
in

maintains

of

WS. and Kent, whenever, consequence ground vowel syncope, it is immediately followed by a surd.
chief instances are superlatives like hfehsta, iifehsta nouns ending in -3fu, like hieharu, height,

The

(310); abstract
fsehffu,

feud
1 1

(255. 3)

and the 2d and 3d

sing. pres. ind.

ftfn

of contract verbs, like f^hst, f6h3f from

iahaii), sir
si.

(Goth,

siehSF

from s6on, Goth, saihwan (374).

lost after r
:

Not
2)

till

late

was h occasionally

f erflF, life,

instead of ferhaf.

On

the contrary,

disappears between a vowel

:

and a sonant consonant, especially 1, r, m, n ffw^al, bath (Goth. Jwahl) ra m, flight (related to fl^on, 384,
;
1 1

Goth. J?liulian)
Goth, liuhaj?)
;

loma,
;

brightness

(connected with

finest, highest (Goth,

auhmists)

Isene,

betw^onuin, between (of. Goth. transitory (OS. llmi) tweihnai). Cf. also the declension of adjectives in h, like w<5h (295. note 1) ace. sing. masc. wdne, gen. dat.
:

sing. fern. w<5re,

gen. plur. w6ra, for wdhiie, etc.

lira
1 1

the

comparative hfera from

NOTE
1.

(307), etc.

in healic, high,

is also observable in compounds, as gemdlic, greedy, ii6alic, near, neal^ecean, approach, plfeoHc, dangerous, tolic, tough, \v6Hc, evil, from heah, geinah, neah, then eorisc, bulrush, feorod, troop ; Eoingfer, from pleoh, t6h, \voh
;

The same phenomenon

THE CONSONANTS.
eoh, horse; h ranis,
height,
;

121

from heah awer, 6wer (321. note 2), from hwger, hwaeffer Pleowald, from pleoh; Heaberht, headeor (header), stag, from heah; similarly, rador, roe, from rahdeor; WS. wiobud, weobud (even weofud),
awfter, 6wffer (346),
;

*wlohbed (Ps. North, wibed for wlhbed with palatal umlaut, 164. 1, but also North, wlgbed). The same ecthlipsis occurs before f in heafre, -u, from heahfore, -u, North, hehfaro, heifer.
for

NOTE

2.

The

final

of

heah

is
:

frequently lost, accompanied by

ace.

gemination of the following n, r plur. hearra, comp. hierra (307).

heanne,

sb.

heamiis, gen.

NOTE
NOTE

3.
:

When
The
;

by analogy
4.

the etymology is apparent, the h h6ahne, hiehra, hf-a h n is. etc.

oldest texts have retained this
;

is

often restored

in several instances

thuachl, Ep.

ffhuehl, Corp.

bituichn, Erf.
differ in

NOTE

5.

For cases where Ps. and North,

some

respects,

see 166. 5.

always preserved at the end of a money ; h^ah, high ; wdh, wicked ; rtih, rough; t6oh,draw; after consonants: sulh, plough ; Wealh, Welshman; feorli, life ; furh, furrow. Likewise h for older hw, as in seah, saw, Goth, sahw, etc.
223.

Finally,

is

word

feoh, cattle,

NOTE

1.

In the oldest texts the spelling

;

is
:

often

ch

e.g.,

t(h)rfich,
;

even gch misthagch, Corp. subt6ch, elch, salch, thorch, Ep. sequently it is now and then g (cf. 214. 1), as in ]>urg for iVurh.

NOTE

2.

Now and

then an inorganic

appears at the end of a word,

is

This h as in freoh,free, e"oh, yew, bleoh, color, for freo, eo, bleo. due to the example of such pairs as feoh-feos, heah-heas (218).

122

PHONOLOGY.

The Old English Consonants

l)
224.

in General.

Changes when Final.

Sonant stops and spirants seem to become surd or when followed by a surd consonant nevertheless, the spelling which predominates is the etymological, which assigns the same consonant to the end of a

when

final,

word as to the middle. Only of sporadical occurrence, and then for the most part in very ancient sources, are forms like lamp for lamb, Kent. Gl. felt, Cod. Dipl.,
;

A.D. 692-3

Wulfhat, Peohthat, A.D. 704,

1

for feld,

-had

(an isolated later example of t for d is sint for si ml; -nc for for the 3d person in -t instead of -9 see 358) -ng is more common (215) h for spirant g may almost
; ;

be regarded as the rule (214. 1). Any difference in the pronunciation of f, s, 9" eludes observation, since the same character represents both surd and sonant.
is simplified at the end of a syllable, intact : only eg remaining 1) As regards the simplification at the end of a word

225.

Gemination

cf.

forms like

eal,

feor, inon,

swim,

sib, sceat,

b^d,

cos, ssec, teoh,

with ealles, feorran, mQnnes, swimman, sibbe, sceattes, be,ddes, cyssan, ssecces, teohhe, Still the rule is often (but secg like sieges, 216).
disregarded in favor of etymological spelling, as, for example, in call, niQnn, upp, sibb, be.dd, bliss, etc. (especially in the case of 11, nn).

Within a word ealre, ealne, midne, nytne, compared with eal(l), ealles nyt(t), mid(d), middes Yet we frequently nyttes; cyste, pret. of cyssan.
2)
:

encounter eallre, eallne,

etc.

THE CONSONANTS.
3)

123

Very frequently
emniht,
gaerstapa,

after a consonant in

compounds

eorlic,

felttin,

geornes, wilddor, wyrtruma,

eorllic,

wyrtiin,

for
etc.

emnniht, *feldttin,

Likewise after li in rtimedlic for riimmddlic, and after 6a in gel^aful for geteafful. 4) After an unaccented syllable thus before the suffix -lie atelic, dfgolic, singalic, swutolic, and even de"oflic, dfglic, etc. , in the longer case forms of derivatives end-

geornnes, wildd^or,

ing in n, 1, t, r, like the neuters sefen, fsesten, w^sten, the feminines byrgen, lungen, etc. (258) swingel the neuters bsernet, liget, etc. ; many verbs in -e.t(t)an,
; ;

and the comparatives

-erra, -era, -ra

in the ace. sing,

masc. of strong past participles, and of adjectives endin gen. plur. like ing in -en, like ofslegene, gyldene
;

fsegera, 6 era, (dSTra),

and

dat. sing, like <SJ?ere (6J?re),

e"owre, etc.
NOTE.
Since the geminated consonants were often written, long had ceased to be pronounced, it is easy to account for

after the second

such false geminates as forenne, agennes, ufenne, aeffelborenne, and even for the forms cwicenne, cucenne, etc. (303).
Inorganic geminations are likewise found in certain accentuated
lables, especially in
syl-

r^ccean, reck, and its derivatives, for the normal r^cean, the oldest example noted being r^ccileas, Corp. 1646 ; so also in liccettan, dissemble, and in LWS. Jrinnes, J>rittig, Jreottyne.

2)
226.

Gemination.

to

Every OE. consonant, except j and w, is subject gemmation (on eg for gg see 216). In respect to

their origin, these geminates belong in part to Germ., in part to West Germ., and in part to OE.

Gemination of 1, r, m, n, and Germanic. Examples are

227.
:

s is frequent in

124
11:

PHONOLOGY.
call, all; feallan, fall ; full, full.

rr:

feorran, far ; steorra, star.

nn: onginnan, begin; inoii, moimes, man. mm: swimman, swim; hwom, hwommes, corner. ss gewis(s), certain; wisse, knew ; cyssan, kiss (232).
:

Less frequent are the following: kk (cc): bucca, buck; loc, locces, lock; stoc, stocces,
stock.

tt: sceat, sceattes, coin.

pp: crop, croppes, crop; top, toppes, top; biuep,

bnaeppes, bowl.

on the one hand there is OE. on the other OS. efcTo, Fris. carafe, or, ieftha; so WS. mo^are, moth, but North, mob are, -a. Rare and somewhat doubtful are Germ, ff, hh, bb, dd, gg.

Germanic pp

is

doubtful
;

Goth, a ij'J'au

228.

consonants in

West Grermanic gemination before j. All simple West Germ., with the exception of r,

undergo gemination after a short vowel, through the

Thus Goth, saljan, skapjan, influence of following j. satjan, rakjan, are represented by OS. s^llian, skej>iiu M. s^ttian, rekkian, and, after the loss of the
j

(177)
as

by OE.

siellan, scieppan, se,ttan, re,cc(e)an.

Original hj
J?j

appears as hhin hliehban, laugh; and original

arar

in ryacara, species of dog, smiarare, smithy, sc^araran, injure (Goth, skapjan), paeararan, p^araran, traverse. The place

of

fj is

and gj

As

taken by OE. bb: h^bban, heave (Goth, hafjan), is represented by eg: l$cg(e)an (Goth, lagjan). stated above, r is not geminated h^re, barges,
:

army

w^rian, defend
The chapters on e.g., among weak verbs of the

n^rian, save

h$rian, glorify
etc.).

(Goth, harjis,
NOTE
among
1.

warjan, nasjan, bazjan,

inflection contain

numerous examples of

this gemination,

the

the jo- and jA-stems (247; 258; 297), first and third classes (400 ff. ; 415), etc.

THE CONSONANTS.
NOTE
in the

125

2. For the interchange of forms with and without gemination, conjugation of verbs with the derivative suffix -jo, see 410.

229.

There
1
:

is

a similar

r and

in certain

gemmation of t, c, p, h, before OE. words, though it does not occur

uniformly bittor, bitter, snottor, wise ; waeccer, watchful; North, aehher, ear of grain, tsehher, tear; aeppel,

wacor ; e"ar, tar ; along with bitor, snotor (from *ahur, *tahur, 111); cf. Goth, baitrs, snutrs, So likewise, though probably not in the ahs, tahrjan.
apple
;

has been conjoined with the thus, preceding consonant as the result of syncope be,ttra beside be,tra, better (Goth, batiza) ; miccles beolder texts,

when

the

r, 1

side micles,

from micel (Goth, mikils).

NOTE. This irregularity presumably depends upon the fact that, before gemination had taken place, the r and 1 were sometimes syllabic, and subsequently passed into -ur, -ul, etc. (138 ff.). The older declensional forms must then, for example, have been nom. bltur (from *bitr), gen. bittres, tear (from *tahur), gen. taehhres, etc.; and these gave rise to the double series bittur - bittres and bltur biteres, etc.

230.

After a long vowel no such gemination before r

takes place in the older texts. Gemination of tt and dd occurs at a later period, accompanied, as is probable,

with the shortening of the vowel gfcdre, vein, blsfedre, bladder, ngfedre, viper, mddrie, aunt, become seddre, In like manner there is blaeddre, naeddre, moddrie.
:

an interchange of &tor, venom, hliitor, clear, tiidor, posterity, fddor, fodder, mddor, mother, with attor, hluttor, tuddor, foddor, moddor, in which the tt, dd owe their origin to the cases which had no middle vowel
(144), like litres, etc.

More recent

is

the gemination of

other consonants, in forms like riccra, deoppra, from

rfce, rich, de"op, deep.

126
231.

PHONOLOGY.
Other OE. gemmates depend upon the conjunctwo consonants which were originally separated.

tion of

Here belong (disregarding the conjunction of similar final and initial consonants in compound words) the tt from tar, dar (202. 3), and the tt and dd of weak preterits (404 ff.).

by

NOTE. In North., moreover, geminates very frequently occur side side with simple consonants, without any assignable cause eatta,
:

eat,

cymma,

come, for eata,

cyma,

etc.

3)
232.

The Combinations
rule

ft,

ht, st, ss.

The following
:

Germ.

Every

labial

guttural + t to ht ; or ss. OE. examples are

a)

was already in force in Prim. changed to ft, and every but a dental -f- 1 becomes either st

t is

Of
(i.e.

ft : scieppan, create,

gesceaft, creature ; giefan,

gieftan, 192. 2), gift, gift; ffurfan, be allowed, give arearft, fforfte (422. 6).

Of ht: hycgan, hope, hyht, hope; agan, own, magan, be able, 2d sing, aht, meaht (420. 2; 424. 10), the noun meaht, might; but especially the weak preb)
terits (407).
c)

Of Of

st:

wat, wot, 2d sing, wdst;

lade, hlaest, load.

liffan, go,

last,

pathway ; hladan,
d)
seat.

ss: witan, know, pret. wisse, gewis(s), certain;

cweSFan,

say,

9ndcwis(s),

answer; sittan,

sit,

sess,

NOTE. The choice between st and ss depends upon the original

accentuation.

The preceding rule does not apply when the t has been conjoined with the preceding labial, guttural, or
dental, as the result of

OE. syncope.

THE CONSONANTS.
4)
233.

127

(Grammatical Change.
"

is to be understood an interchange of the medial surd spirants s, f, 9", h, hw with the corresponding sonant spirants, designated by z, fe, 9 g, w (but sometimes g), the interchange in ques-

By "grammatical change

tion being a feature of Primitive Germanic, and taking The combinations ss, place according to definite laws.
st, sp,

sk,

ft,

ht,

were not subject

to this change.

NOTE. The explanation of this interchange was discovered by K. Verner (Kuhn's Zeitschr. xxiii. 97 ff.). According to the law which
he formulated, the sonant spirant always replaced the surd when the vowel next preceding did not, in the original Indo-European system,
receive the principal accent.

In OE. the original correspondences are more or obscured by the fact that some of the sounds have undergone modifications. Thus hw passed into simple h (cf. 222 ff.), and, like the latter, has frequently dis234.
less

appeared (218).
older
ar

Of the sonants, z passed into r, the (not to be confounded with the OE. 9" = p, 199)
d,

and the sound of fc is not graphically distinfrom f (192). There consequently remain in guished OE. only the four couples s-r, fr-d, h-g (h-ng, according to 185), and h-w. Examples are: a) s-r: glaes, glass, glaeren, vitreous ; c^osan, choose, cas, curon, coren (384) durran (422.7), dare, dearst,

became

dorste, adj. gedyrstig, bold.

6)
8f

d:

cweflfan,

say,

cwseff,

cwjfedon,

cweden

(391), cwide, discourse;

c)

Ifaraii,

journey,

-lida, -farer.

h-g:

sloan. strike,

sliehst, sliehar, sldg, sltfgon,

slsegen (392), sl^ge, stroke, -slaga, slayer; h6ah, high, dat. h^agum (295. note 1) ; 9"6on, thrive, SFJlh, 3Tungeu
(383.

note 3).

128
d)

PHONOLOGY.

h w: son,

see

(Goth, saihwan), siehst, siehS ,

(391).

seah, sdwon,

gesewen

NOTE. The regularity of this interchange has been somewhat obscured in OE. as the result of analogy. Special instances will be noticed under the head of Inflections.

INFLECTION.
PART
I.

-DECLENSION.

Declension of Nouns.
A.

VOCALIC OR STRONG DECLENSION.

1)

THE

0-DECLENSION.

235.

The OE.
It

neuters.

o-declension comprises masculines and corresponds to the second or o-declension of

-o<?,

Greek and Latin (Gr. masc.

neut.

-oi/,

Lat. -us, -um).

The corresponding feminines form

sion, since older

the d-declension.

NOTE. The Germ, o-declension is usually designated as the a-decleno has generally become Germ. a. In OE., however, we may still presuppose the existence of o in final syllables (45. 4).

The o-stems may be subdivided

as follows:

simple

o-stems, jo-stems, and wo-stems, the two latter groups differing, as respects certain cases, from the pure o-stems.
236.

The terminations
and may

of the
all

masculines and the

neuters are the same in

ace. plur.,

cases except the nom. and therefore be included in the same

scheme.
NOTE. In North, the gender often varies between masc. and neut
cf also 251. note.
. 1

237.

The terminations of
SINGULAR.

the o-stems are

MASC.

PLURAL.

NKUT.
-u,

N. A. V. G.

(-e; -u, -o)

-as

-es

D.

e
-e

I-

130

INFLECTION.

The parenthetical -e;-u, -o of the nom. ace. sing, are the terminations of the jo- and wo-stems (246; 249).
NOTE 1. In the oldest texts, and frequently in the North, dialect, the gen. sing, is formed in -aes d6maes, etc. For -aes the North, sometimes has -as. For later -ys see 44. note 2.
:

2. The dat. and instr. sing, are, in the majority of texts, idenform, but in the oldest documents the dat. ends in -ae, while the instr. (at first probably a local) ends in -i? d6mae, doml; sub-

NOTE

tical in

y is now and then found for i- folcy, etc. The instr. seems originally to have had i-umlaut ; cf the isolated form Inveiie, from hw6n, trifle, and the instr. a-ne, from an, one. A dat. loc. sing, without inflectional ending exists in ham (very rarely name), from
sequently,

ham, home, as well as in to daeg (morgen, tefen). In North, the nom. plur. of many masculines belonging NOTE
tS.

to

this declension also

etc.

Very late NOTE 4. The gen. plur. in North, is often formed in -ana, -ona, after the manner of the n-stems dagana, -ona, liomana, from daeg, lim. Such forms (dagena, godena) occur but rarely in EWS., but are more common in LWS. Mss A few gen. plur. in -o occur.
:

have the weak ending WS. texts have -es.

-o (-a, -e),

gastas and gasto,

NOTE
part

5.

In the nom. ace. plur. of neut. nouns -u

is

the older, -o the

more recent form.

Ps. has almost exclusively -u, North, for the most o, but occasionally -a; all three terminations occur in North.,

even in such neuters as are without endings in the other dialects (238). In LWS. the -u, -o is generally replaced by -a.

NOTE

6.

The

dat. sing. muse,

and

neut.,

and the whole

dat. plur,

frequently substitute -on, -an for

-um

in

LWS.

(293. note 2).

a)
238.

Simple o-stems.

Paradigms
MA&CTTLINE.

of the masculine

and neuter
NEUTER.

Sing.

N.V.A.
6.
1
'.

d6m
d6mes

I.

d6me dome
domu

geoc geoces geoce geoce

geocu, -o

word
wordes worde

Plur.

N.V.A. domas
G.

geoca

worde word worda

D. doiiiiini

geocum

wordum

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.
Like

131

ddm
;

are inflected primarily the monosyllabic

like

masculines

short radical syllable long radical syllable.

239.

geoc the monosyllabic neuters with a and like word those having a
;

To

this declension

belong a great number of OE.

nouns, and among them not a few which have been transferred to it from other declensions (especially long i- and u-stems; cf. 264 if. 273). l) Only those words are inflected with entire regularity which have an invariable final consonant and a radical vowel incapable of change (except for i-umlaut, which need not here be considered) Such words are
;
.

a) Masculines: do", oath; hseft, captive; helm, helmet; bring, ring ; wulf, wolf ; earm, arm ; eorl, man; muff,

mouth; dre*am, joy,

etc.

1) Neuters: a) short monosyllables: col, coal; dor, door; hof, dwelling; loc,lock; hop, recess; lot, cunning;
sol, slough ; spor, trail.
/9)

long monosyllables

bain,

bone;
Ifc,

beam,

child;

dor, animal;

body; wff,

wife, etc.
is

f$r,jire; g6d,yood; In LWS. the ending -u of

:

the short stems

>;r<lu. etc.

assumed by the long stems

banu,

Nouns, whose radical syllable ends in a geminate, simplify the latter in the cases without inflectional ending (225): masc. weal (1), wall, hwom(m), corner; neut.
2)
ful(l), cup,

gen. wealles,

hwQmmes,
:

fulles, etc.

The remaining nouns

240.

of this declension

come under

one of the following rules

Words with
claeg,

ae

before a simple consonant, like

paeff,

the masculines
staff,

day, bwael, whale,

path, staef,

the neuters

bseflF,

bath, craet, crate, dsel, dale, baef,

ocean, sael, hall, staeff, shore, swaeo", track, scraef, cavern^

132
traef, tent,
ae

INFLECTION.

weed, sea, wsel, those slain in battle, change a throughout the plural dseg - dagas, daga, dagum fset - fatu, fata, fatum only seldom does ae remain staeffu, scrsefu, etc. In like manner, s before a single consonant becomes a in the plural: msfeg mdgas,
the
into
;
:

iu:i.u:i.

magum
1.

(57. 2).

Generally in the Ps., and occasionally in North., the short a is represented by ea: featu, creatum, etc. (160). In the Ps. the plur. of deg is daegas (162). For WS. ea see 105. The plur. of geat, gate, is frequently gatu, but in poetry usually geatu other examples are
;

NOTE

heafo and treafu

(cf.

1O5).

NOTE 2. gaers forms the plur. grasu (cf. 179). In LWS. the a of the plur. intrudes even into the gen. dat. sing. baje, paffe, staj>e, fate, gate, scrafe.
:

241.

The neuters with

e, i

before a single consonant,

like

gebed, prayer, gebrec, clamor, geset, habitation, gesprec, conversation, brim, surf, clif, cliff, hli<y, lid,

scip, ship, geflit, dispute, genip, darkness, gewrit, writing, etc., originally have eo, io in the plur. instead of e, i (1O6 ff.). This is frequent even in later
US', limb,

texts:

gebeodu, cliofu,

lioiTu,

liomu,

etc.,

although

generally represented by gebedu,

to

clifu, limit, etc.

NOTE. The gen. plur. is the first to lose the eo, lo. In the Ps., and some extent in North., its occurrence is extended to the masculines, to 164), e.g., weoras, weora, weogas (usually wegas, according North, wearas, waras, -a, etc. (156. 3).
242.

Words

in

lose this

sound before a vocalic end-

- ales, ing: masc. ealh temple ; eolh-^oles, elk; fearb - flares, swine ; feorli - f^ores, life ; mearb - m^ares,
horse; sealh - scales, willow; seolh- soles, seal;

Wealh:

Whales, Welshman (218)

the loss of the

h leads to

preceded by a vowel, contraction, according to 110 ff.

If the
is

masc. hdh, hough (plur. hds, boas, dat.

sc6b, shoe (plur. sc^os,
sc<is,

hdum)

sc^oh,
;

LWS.

gen. plur. sc^ona)

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.

133
neut.

flah
feoh
sltfh,

(usually wk. fla), flea; eoh-4os, horse;

- fe"os,

money

(275)

flali,

fraud

slough; ffgoh, thigh;

STroli (?),

danger ; malice; w<5h, evil.

; pleoli,

NOTE 1. Not infrequently a nom. ace. sing, is formed without h, according to the analogy of the dissyllabic cases; forms like fear, feor, HUM r, feo, wo, are therefore to be met with, besides those cited
Neut. holh, forms the plur. holu.
above.
hole,

has an alternative form hoi (h6l?), and

NOTE 2. The masc. neut. horh, filth, exhibits grammatical change nom. horh (horg), gen. horwes, instr. horn, nom. ace. plur. horns.

NOTE

3.

end in vowel

Occasionally the gen. plur. is formed in -na in words which + h feona, scfeona, ffeona.
:

polysyllabic words of this declension are subject to the following rules:

243.

The

1) Neuters

long stems;
in the

originally trisyllabic, 130 ff. (but only short stems cast off this termination),

like nieten, cattle,

hdafod, head, wolcen, cloud, have u

nom.

ace. plur., like the short monosyllables:

nletenu,
as

hafodu, wolcenu.
originally
star,

On
(for

the other hand, such

wsfcpen, weapon,

were

dissyllabic,

like

tungol,

tdcen, token

wsfepn,

tungl,

tflcii,

according to 138 ff., stem wpno-, tunglo-, taikno-), sometimes take no ending in the nom. ace. plur., and sometimes take u after the manner of the trisyllables
:

\\a-p
2)

<

mi. tunglu, tdcnu.

.

(143

The laws concerning the treatment of middle vowels Under these are included the following ff.)
:

244. Dissyllabic words having a long stem syncopate the vowel of the last syllable before a vocalic ending

not rendered long by position ^ngel Angles, angel ; tungol tungles, star ; iltor dtres, venom; td,cen tdcnes, token; md<yum - mdSTmes, jewel; he"afod - hafdes, head; sfeled - seldes, morgen(144)
it is
:

when

fire;

184

INFLECTION.

morgnes and mornes, morn; but longest he^igestes, stallion ; faereld - faereldes, journey ; fsfetels - f sfetelses,
purse, etc. The older documents do not exhibit syncope of the
originally trisyllabic

he'afodu (144.

6)

nom. ace. plur. neut., like nfetenu, while, on the other hand, they have
:

wsepnu, tunglu (along with wsfepen, etc., 243). In later texts these words are likewise syncopated he"afdu, etc.
NOTE. For morgen - mornes cf 214. note
.

3.

Nouns ending

in

-els

are usually masculine, but occasionally neuter.

similar circumstances, dissyllabic words having a short stem retain the original vowel of the second syllable, but reject it whenever it arose from
245.

Under

nom. ace. ; only -er, -or, remains (148). Hence stapol stapoles, pillar; hamor liamores, hammer; heofon heofones, daroo" daroflFes, arrow; meotod - meotodes, heaven; Grod; heorot - heorotes, hart; but fugol -fugles, fowl;
syllabic nasal or liquid in the

from syllabic

r,

and likewise leger - legeres, lair ; Sfunor - SFunores, thunder ; waeter - wseteres (and wsetres), water, etc.
5)

jo-stems.

246.

Paradigms

for the masculine

nouns are: h^re,

:

army;
rfce,

se,cg, man; $nde, end. realm; wsten, desert.

For the neuter

cyn, kin;

MASCULINE.
Sing. N.V. A. he,re
se,cg

G. he,r(i)ges

se-cges
se.cge se-cge

endes
e,nde
rnrlc

D. he-r(i)ge
I.

he,r(l)ge

Plur. N.V. A. he,r(l)g(e)as

se,cg(e)as

G. h^r(l)g(e)a D. h

se,cg(e)a

DECLENSION OP NOUNS.
NEUTER.
Sing.

135

N.V.A. cyn(n) G. cynnes D. cynne

I.

rice
rices

we"sten

rice rice
ric(i)u

westen(n)es westen(n)e
we"sten(n)e

cynne

Plur.

N.V.A. cyn(n)
G. cynna D. cynnum

ric(e)a

westen(n)u \vesten (n) a

we'sten(n)um
have
i:

ric(i)um

NOTE NOTE

1.

For the e of the nom.

For the insertion of

ace. sing, the oldest texts

he,rl, e,ndi, rici. 2.

e, i, to

denote the palatal pronuncia-

tion of g, c, see 206. 6.

247.

here and sqcg exhibit the

inflections of the mas-

culines, cyn(n) those of the neuters with a short radical syllable before the jo (stem barjo-, sagjo-, kunjo-), and w4sten that of the derivative neuters ending in -en and
-et.

Of

these,

h^re

is

the only one which has retained

its

short syllable, as the others doubled the final con-

sonant in West Germ. (228).

declension are
a)
:

Further examples of this

Masculines

hrycg back ; we,cg, wedge ; dyn(n),

1

din; byl(l) (later b) Neuters with a short radical syllable: net, net; fle.t, floor ; b^d, led ; w$d, pledge ; fried, saying ; neb, beak; wicg, horse, etc.
fern.), hill.
c)

Derivative neuters in -en and -et: sefen, evening;

Ifeget,

fsesten, fastness ; tiiiet, solitude; baernet, conflagration;

emnet, plain; grafet, trench; hfewet, quarry ;

lightning;

nierwet, strait; ongelet, lightning; re"wet, slaeget, blow; and perhaps diminutives in -incel. rowing; NOTE 1. For the simplification of West Germ, geminates at the end
of a word cf 225.
.

NOTE

2.

The

instr. sing, as

h$re, and the nom. ace. plur. as heras. spore see 262.

gen. sing, of he.re sometimes occurs as he,res, the dat For the neut

136
NOTE
all its
3.

INFLECTION.
The
neut. hi(e)g, hay, stem liaujo-, has retained the j in likewise masc. brig, pottaye, along with briw; stem ;

forms as

(OS. bli, neut.), occurs as blfco, neut. (and with inorganic h as hlf'oh, 223. note 2), gen. bleos, etc., dat. sing, bleoge, dat. plur. bleom, blcoum, bleowum, gen. bleo, also bleo(n)a (242. note 3).
blijo-, color

248. Like ende are declined the masculines, like rfce the neuters with an originally long syllable before the jo e.g., the masc. $sne, servant, (or io, according to 45. 8)
:

hierde, herdsman, Isece, physician, m6ce, sword, and the

numerous agent-nouns
to

in -ere (North. -are, -re,

LWS.-re),

like bdcere, scribe, fiscere, fisherman, 3fr<5were, martyr,

which has been added the foreign word casere, em-

peror; then the neuters wsege, cup, wfte, punishment, stycce, piece, eerende, errand; formations with ge-, like
gewufcde, clothing,

gemierce, boundary, getimbre, cargescle (gesc^), shoes, and many others. pentry,
wo-stems.

c)

249.

for the neuter,

The paradigm for the masculine is beam, grove ; seam, armor (stems barwo-, sarwo-).
MASCULINES.

Sing. N. V. A.

beam,

-o

NEUTEES. searu, -o

G. bear\ves D. bearwe
I.

searwes searwe
sear\ve
searu, -o

Plur. N. V. A.

G.

bearwe bearwas bearwa

searwa
sear\vuin

D.

bearwum

So likewise are inflected the neuters bealu,

evil;

meolu, meal; smeoru, lard ; teoru, tar; cwudu, cud. The only long stem is gdd, lack (Goth, gaidw), with loss of w, as in 259.
NOTE
an
a,
1.

u, o, or e often occurs before the

in the oblique

cases, the latter being generally

found when the termination contains

bealowes, -we, but bealewa, bealewum.

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.
NOTE
and the
the
2.

137

In

plur. in
ace.

weak

there occur the nom. sing, meluw, smeoruw, -wu, -wa, e.g. searwa. Of teoru there likewise occur taran and tyrwan (umlaut form), beside gen. t euros.

LWS.

250.

Words with a vowel

:

before the

w exhibit various

discrepancies
1)
174. 3), snow,

The long-stemmed masculines sndw (likewise sna\ hlaw, hlsw (LWS. neui,."), funeral-mound,

2F6aw, custom, d6aw, dew (masc. neut.), baw, gadfly, in all cases (cf. 174. 3) ; be"ow, grain (neut.), retain the

to these
ankle,

must be added the neut. gncteow (andcteow), s6aw (se"a), sap, and the words formed by the
geh^aw, quarry, gehr^ow,
tr6o, tree,

prefix ge-, such as

penitence,

gehltfw, bellow.
2)
ateo,

The neuters
servant
:

cno,

knee,

and the masc.

(st.

trewo-, knewo-, frewo-), are declined

as follows

ws.
Singular :

Ps.

N.A.
G. D.
I.

treo(w)

treowes treowe, treo treowe

138
NOTE
3.

INFLECTION.
The stems
:

in

-iwo receive the same treatment

in

WS.

as

masc. briw, pottage, giw (glow), griffin, sliw, For iw (iow), yew, moth, Tiw, gen. briwes; Mercian has g for w. the Rune Song has eon. The neut. stem gllujo-,glee, has WS. gli(e)g,
the other long stems
gen. gliges; but poet. gleo (Ep. gliu), gen. gliwes.

Neuter stem

hlujo- has

WS. hi(e)w,

appearance, poet, heo, North, hiu, and

in

oblique cases.

2)
251.

THE

d-DECLENSION.

The

^-declension contains the feminines corre-

sponding to the masculines and neuters in -o. NOTE. In North, many of these fern, are also employed

as neut.

and

masc., and then conform to the inflections of these genders (236. note).

a)
252.

Simple A-stems.

Paradigms

a) of short stems, giefu, gift; r, honor. b) of long stems,

SHORT STEMS.
Sing. N.V.

LONO STEMS.

glefu, -o

G. giefe D. giefe

ir dre
Are Are dre
a i-a. -e a rji -ena
.

A. glefe
I.

glefe
giefa, -e

Plur. N.

G. giefa, -ena

D. giefum A. giefa, -e

drum
ara,
-e

NOTE

1.

The oblique
;

in ae in the oldest texts

only sporadically does the dat.

cases of the sing, and the nom. ace. plur. end instr. exhibit -1,

as in r6di, csestri, in sion (237. note 2).

which it is probably borrowed from the o-declenFor the declension of abstract nouns in -ung
sing., like
is

see 255. 1.

NOTE
true in

2.

In Lind. and Rit. these fern, have -es in the gen.

:

the masc. and neut.

r6des, sanies, SQiununges,

etc.

The same

sorges, helpes, etc. NOTE 3. In WS. and Kent, the nom. ace. plur. regularly ends in -a; In North, there is, besides, a weak form not, however, in the Ps.
:

LWS.

in -o (253. note 2).

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.
NOTE

139

4. In the gen. plur. -a is the proper and usual termination Goth, gibo), while -ena has been foisted in from the weak declensions, occurring in WS. and Kent, only in certain short stems (such as (cf.

carena, fr^mena, gifena, lufena) ; very rarely in long stems (arena, larena, sorgena). In Cura Past, -ena is entirely wanting. A shorter form, -na, with syncope of the -e, is occasionally found, as in Idrna,

sorgna

(cf. 2.

276. note

1);

for alternative forms of -ena in North,

cf.

276. note 253.

cearu,

As examples of short stems may be adduced cam, care; sceomu, sceamu, shame; cwalu,
la DM, invitation;

death;

swaSFu, track; sacu, persecu-

tion; STracu, combat;

wracu, persecution; Qndswaru,

answer ; d$nu
lufu, love, etc.

(?),

valley; SFegu, reception; scolu, shoal ;

NOTE
Ps.

1.

cially in the Ps.

Besides glefu(m), gifu(m), gyfu(m), there occurs, espeand North., geofu(in) with u-umlaut (106). In the
in the

and North, the words with original a have ea

nom.

sing,

and

dat. plur., according to

which terminate with -e, ticularly in the words which contain c

laeffe,

160 (gndswearu, -urn, etc.). In the cases the a of the root is often replaced by ae>, par:

saece, ffraece, wraece, but also

swseffe, as well as sace, laffe, swaffe, etc. NOTE 2. In LWS. the u of the nom. is frequently extended to the

In North., too,

other cases of the sing., so that the latter is apparently indeclinable. all cases except the gen. and dat. plur. assume -o, -u (even -a, -e). On the other hand, Lind. and Kit. sometimes form the
gen. sing, in -es
:

gefes, lufes, etc. (252. note 2).

254.

l)

The number

of feminines with a long stem

is

Examples of monosyllabic words very considerable. f<5r, journey ; glSf, glove ; lieall, hall ; are: feolit,fiyht; Itir, lore ; mearc, boundary ; sorg, care ; stund, time ;
frrdg, while; wund, wound; with a derivative consonant, adl (later neut.), disease ; ntfedl, needle; frdfor (later

masc.), consolation; wtfcor, growth; ceaster, toivn. 2) Like the long stems, the trisyllabic stems with a short radical syllable discard the u of the nom. sing.:

byden, butt;

ciefes, concubine; fireu, iniquity ; tigol, tile

140

INFLECTION.

(but exceptionally with the

there occurs ^genu, chaff,

1

equivalent to OHG. agaiia). To these must be added the original i-stems ides, woman, duguSF, virtue, geoguKJ ,

youth (269. note 4), and the long stem sawol, soul (Goth. saiwala), together with all abstract nouns in -ling, -ing,
like

nujnimg, warning,

leormmg, leorning,

learning

(cf. 255. 1).

lea,

NOTE. *snearh (sner), sometimes has the gen.

leali, harpstring, has the gen. siiearo. dat. ace. sing, lea, but more frequently
:

leage; subsequently it is often masculine gen. 16as, 16ges, dat. lea, So neut. masc. sloh. gen. dat. sing, someliege, nom. ace. plur. 16as.
times sl6, fern. (242).

255.
still

The following

peculiarities of this declension

remain to be noted:

1)

The WS. and Kent,

and even
-unga
1.

abstracts in -ung have in the

dat. sing.,

tion

in the gen. and ace. sing., the terminainstead of -unge leornunga, costunga, etc.
:

a gradation of the vowel, so that the dat. plur. ends in -ingum, while the other cases have -ung.
is still

NOTE

In the Ps. there

2) Dissyllabic

simple final

words with a long stem syllable and consonant syncopate the vowel of the final

syllable in the oblique cases, according to 144, while those with a short stem retain it : sawol - sdwle

(saule) ,
wife, etc.

soul ;

fr6for

frSfre,

consolation ;
sin ;

wdcor
idese,

wdcre, usury ;
3)

but firen

firene,

ides

The

abstracts in Goth.

-i]?a,

originally trisyllabic,

have
:

ending -u, -o, like the short but subsequently assume a shortened form in stems, -f! cy^SFu and cy^o"), OHG. cundida, race, kinship ;
in the
sing, the

nom.

str^ngflfu

and

str^iigar, strength;

gesyntu,

OHG.

ga-

suiitida, power, health; *

ubarmuotida

oferm^ttu, arrogance, OHG. and weorarmynt, original -muudipa,

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.
honor.

141

Loth forms intrude gradually

into the oblique

cases of the sing., especially into the ace., which origi-

nally had only -e. NOTE 2. This usurpation on

by the abstracts
in -u (279).

the part of the -u

is

presumably caused
dat.

NOTE

3.

brfi, brow,

has nom. ace. plur.

gen.

brua and br6wa,

brfiuzn and

bruwum,

bruna.

b)

256. The originally short stems have all become long by the gemination of the consonant which preceded the j (228), and their declension no longer differs from that

laid

of the stems originally long. The terminations are those down in paragraph 252, so far as no express state-

ments
257.

to the contrary are

made below.
sib(b),

peace

; for

Paradigms: for stems originally short, stems originally long, wylf she wolf.
,

Sing. N.V. stb(b)

wylf
\vylfe

Plur. N.V. sibba, -e

wylfa,

-e

G. sibbe

G. sibba

wylfa

D. sibbe A. sibbe

wylfe wylfe
simplification of the

D. sibbum A. sibba, -e

wylfum
wylfa,
-e

NOTE
final cf.

1.

For the

West Germ, geminates when

225.
2.

NOTE
NOTE NOTE
the

In later documents there

is

sometimes to be found an ace.

sing, without inflectional ending, like sib,

3.

wyn, etc. The ja-stems never take a gen. plur. in -ena (252. note 4). 4. The declension of the simple a-stems differs from that of simple ja-stems only in the possession of the weak gen. plur., and
They
are disff.)

in the absence of the i-umlaut of the radical syllable.

tinguished from the long i-stems (268

by the

ace. sing, in

-e.

258.

l)

Among

the monosyllables which are declined

like sibb are the following: b^n,

wound; brycg bridge;

1

cribb, crib;

cg, edge;

fit,

song ; h$ll, hell; h^u, hen;

sill.

nyt, advantage; saecc, contest; s^cgr, sword; syll,

142

INFLECTION.
these

To

must be added,

so far as regards the gemina-

tion of a final consonant before a vocalic ending, certain derivatives in -1 and -n, like c<?ndel, candle, gyden, goddess, wiergen, she wolf, byrffen, burden, rtfeden, arrangement (gen. CQiidelle, wiergenne, byrflreiine, etc.) the abstract nouns in -nes, gen. iiesse (like hflligiies, holiness); and a few feminines in-es (-is), like bsegtes, witch,
;

besides WS. cn^oris, gen. cn^orisse, Lincolnshire. generation, Lindis, 2) With wylf are to be classed cyll, leathern bottle, sex, axe, gierd, yard, h Id. battle, bind, hind, b^8F, booty,
forle,gis, adulteress;
i

^i0r,

wave ; and the derivatives in

,

-s,

like blf 3Fs, bliss, bliss,

liss,
1.

favor, niilds, milts, compassion.

Certain
derivatives
in
t,

NOTE

especially

hyrnetu,

hornet

(hirnitu, Erf., hurnitu, Corp.), lelfetu, swan (aelbitu, Ep. Corp.), *liegetu, lightning (legitu, Ps.), have in EWS. u in the iiom. sing.
after a single
t,

Ps. legite).
etc.

In

while the oblique cases double the t ligette, etc. (but LWS. there are also abbreviated nominatives like
:

hyrnet, and regular weak inflections like hyrnette, ylfette, gen. -an, as a neut., see 247. c. Here belongs, likewise, the foreign ; on liegit, word lempedii, lamprey. In LWS. there is sometimes a nom. sing, in

-nisse, -nysse, corresponding to

NOTE

2.

Other nouns having

(Goth. *awi), beside

EWS. -nes, -nis, -nys. u in the nom. sing, are eowu, ewe ewe, eowe, gen. eowo and ewes, eowes, and

ffeowu, handmaiden (Goth. ]>iwi), beside Ueowe, from which latter form we have also weak forms, gen. ffeowan, etc. The feminine nouns derived from masculines by i-umlaut and the addition of -en also take the nominative ending -u occasionally in LWS. gydenu, goddess, ffinenu, me,nnenu, handmaiden, mynecenu, nun ; now and
:

then there are weak forms, like nom. nefene, grand-daughter, gen.

gydenan,

etc.

NOTE
in

3.
:

The double consonants

-rsfedene, etc. (225. 4).

of derivatives are often simplified

LWS.
NOTE

4.

retained as g.

In leg, ig (eg), island (ON. ey, eyjar), the derivative j For bend, see 266, note 2.

ia

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.

143

259.

Nouns with a long vowel

regularly declined like the simple d-stems.

:

or diphthong are In OE. the

stdw, place ; following words belong to this class Their hr<5ow, repentance; and tr^ow^ faithfulness.
inflection is

nom. stdw

(sttfu),

gen. st<5we, etc.

NOTE. In consequence of contraction, the following words exhibit slight variations: ea, water (from *ahu, *au, Goth, ahwa) ffrea, * threat, throe (from ffrdwu, * Urdu, cf Ep. thrduu, OHG. drdwa) and clea, cleo, claw (from *kldwu, * klau, OHG. kld\va). The gen. sing, of ea (originally consonant stem) occurs as eas, and the dat. sing. as ie; and we have the dat. plur. 6am (eauin), ffream (ffreaum), and even the weak nom. ace. plur. can. Of cleo there is only the ace. but, besides, cldwu is plur. cleo, clea, dat. cleam, aud poet, cldm
;
. :

regularly declined like glefu.

260.

When

a consonant precedes the w, the paradigms

:

are as follows
Sing. N. G.

beadu,
meed meed

battle ;

msed, mead.
beadwa,
-e

beadu

Plur. N.

msed(w)a,

-e

beadwe

G.

beadwe

mted(w)a

Like beadu are inflected the short stems with a con-

w: nearu, distress; sceadu, shadoiv declined like grief u, 255) simi, sinew; (more frequently and the pi. tant. geatwa, arms, fraetwa, ornaments. Like meed (EWS. dat. mod a, 274) are declined lets, pasture,
sonant before the
;

bl<Sd(es)lses, phlebotomy, rses, suggestion (?). These words exhibit irregularities in the oblique cases, the thematic being sometimes retained and sometimes lost.

NOTE.

Occasionally a

parasitic

vowel

bcadowe, nearowe, geatewe, fraetewum. there occurs a dat. plur. geatum without w.
3)
261.

appears before the w: In the Leyden Riddle

THE

i-DECLENSION.

The

i-declension of

OE.

is

chiefly confined to

masculines and feminines.

few words which were

144

INFLECTION.

originally neuter, like mere, m^ne, eje (and be.re, ue,te, sige, see 263. note 4), have passed over to the

masculine gender.

With the exception

meaht

of masc. Seaxe, lode (264), fein. miht, Ps. North, maeht), and gesceaft, (beside

gefteaht, thought (both also neut.), and the neut. spere (no doubt originally a u-stem), the nouns of this declension have in all cases i-umlaut, if the radical
creature,

syllable will admit; this often furnishes the only test by which to distinguish these words from those of the

o-declension, with which the masculines have

common.

much in The masculine and neuter nouns with a short

nom.
ace. sing., while

radical syllable end in e in the the corresponding feminities have

all

the long i-stems,

on the other hand, terminate in a consonant without

distinction of gender.
a) Masculines
1)

and Neuters.

Short Stems.
;

262.

Paradigms
MASC.

masc. wine, friend (Germ, wini-z)

neut. sife, sieve (Prim.

NEUT.
sife

Germ,
Plur.

sifei-z).

MASC.

NEUT.
sifu

Sing. N.V. A. -wine

N.V. A. wine, -as

D.

G.

wines

sifes

D.
I.

wine wine

sife
sife

G. wina, winig(e)a sifa winum sifuni

263.

Like wine are declined the masculines bere,

ele, oil,
he.fe, weight,

barley, de.ne, valley,

h$ge, hedge,

m^ne,

necklace, mqte,food, s^le, hall, ste,de, place, haele,

man, hype, hip, hyse, youth, ryge, rye, byre, son, ciele, coolness, hyge, myne, mind, pyle, pillow, Style, orator,
dile, dill,

wlite, countenance;

(sing, in the

compound Healfdene)

the plural Dejie, Danes and a great num;

;

ber of verbal abstracts: like drej>e, stroke, stacpe, step

DECLENSION OF NOtTNS.
ece, ache;

145

$ge, terror, sl^ge, slaege, blow;

hte, hate;
cwide,

aethrine, touch; gripe, (/rip ; Mice, exposure, stice, stitch,

pain;

sige, victory, oftige, subtraction; bite, bite;

speech, scride, step, slide, fall, snide, incision, stride, stride ; (ge)byre, event, eyre, choice, dryre, fall, gryre,
horror,

hryre, fall, lyre, loss;

swile,

swyle, tumor;

cyme, coming; bryne, burning, dyne,

din, ryne, course;

scyfe, shove; drype, blow; bryce, breach ; byge, bend, flyge,

flight, lyge, lie; gyte, inundation, scyte, shot, etc.
;

and

the abstracts in -scipe, -ship, like fr^ondscipe, friendship. Like sife are declined gedyne, din, gedyre, door post,

gemyne,
NOTE
ends
in
I

care,

gewile,

will,

ofd^le, ofdsele, declivity,

ofersl^ge, lintel, wlsece, tepidity, orlege,/te, spere, spear.

1.

(cf.

In the oldest texts the sing., with the exception of the gen., 246. note 1).

2. The proper termination of the nom. ace. plur. is -e, older -i Goth, gastcis, and 44. note 1); the termination -as is borrowed from the o-declension, although it is more common than -e. In the The ending gen. plur. the form in -a is by far the more common.

NOTE

(cf.

-ig(e)a, -la, is only

found in D$nig(e)a, winlg(e)a. few words go over more or less completely to the jodeclension, by doubling the simple consonant at the end of the radical syllable (cf. 228 and 247), and dropping the -e in the nom. ace. sing. Thus WS. m^te regularly forms the plur. met fas (more rarely a sing. me^tt, mattes), hysc has hysas and liyssas (likewise in the sing, hysses, etc.). Parallel with dyne occurs dynn, dynnes; and parallel

NOTE

3.

with gewile, gewill.

NOTE 4. bere, $ge, he,te, sige were, without doubt, originally neuters in -iz (cf. Goth. *bariz- in barizelns, agis, hatis, sigis), but passed over to the masculine gender, as stated above.

NOTE

5.

In North, there are no essential variations from the declenif

sional forms of the other dialects,

we except
,

the shortening of the

few words like wlit, countenance, m$t(t),food ; the nom. ace. plur. of the latter word is found as met as. R.'2 and weak m^t(t)o, L. NOTE 6. The short 1-stems differ from the short jo-stems like h^re (246) by the uniform absence of -i(g)- in certain cases of the sing, and plur., and in part by the different terminations of the nom. ace. plur. They differ from words like se_ g (246), whose stem has become long,

146

INFLECTION.
plur., as well as the single

by possessing the -e in the nom. ace. sing, and consonant at the end of the radical syllable.

NOTE

7.

In the declension of the short i-stems

is

to be included the

-ware, -people, like Romware, Cantware, etc. (besides -waras and weak -waran). This is to be regarded as originally a plur. of the sing, -waru, people (252).
plur. tant.

2)

Long Stems.
to a scanty rem;

264.

The masculines have dwindled

nant, and these are found only in the plural

cf.

the

paradigm Jungle, plur.

Angles (Prim. Germ. Angli-).

N.V.A. Jungle
G.

Plur.

D.

Thus
irians,

are declined a

few proper nouns

like De"re, De-

Beornice, Bernicians, Se(a)xe, Saxons, Mierce,

Mercians, Nor<5f(an)-, Stiff-hymbre, Northumbrians, etc., besides the foreign words Cre"ce, Perse, Iilgipte; also,
the plurals ielde, ylde, men, ielfe, elves, le"ode, people. Finally, there are a number of words, originally belong-

ing to other declensions, which take in the nom. ace.

plur. either -as or -e, -a
:

such are waestmas, waestme,

;

; clQinmas, clQmme, -a b^ndas, bolide, -a, bonds ; gl^ngas, gl^nge, -a, ornaments ; gimmas, gimme, gems; heargas, hearge, -a, temples (273); besides Ifgetas,

fruits

Ifgete, -a, lightnings;

weleras, welere, lips; sepplas,

aeppla, apples (273).

NOTE. few of the gentile nouns, particularly Seaxe and Mierce, are occasionally inflected according to the weak declension. Only one form is at all common, that of the gen. plur. in -na (276. note 1):

Seaxna, Miercna.
this head have assumed the endings of the o-declension, and hence differ from the o-stems only in respect to etymology,
265.

The other masculines belonging under

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.
the i-umlaut of the radical syllable,
tion of final gutturals (206. 6).

147
palataliza-

and the

Paradigm: wyrm, worm

(Prim. Germ, wurmi-z).

Sing. N.V.

wyrm
wyrmes

Plur. N.V.

wyrmas

G.
I),

G.

wyrma

wyrme

A.
I.

wyrm
wyrme
bielg-,

D. A.

wyrmum
wyrmas

266.

Here belong
band,

bag, dsel, part, fierst, time,

bnd,

f yrs, furze, giest, guest, liyll, hill, lyft, air,

nt, giant, gltfem, gleam, lies, flame,

8l,time, msfew,

sea-

mew, st^ng, pole, string, string, <5Fyrs, giant, wjg, wave, wiell, well, and a series of verbal nouns like sw6g, clamor,

rc,

reek, sinfec, smfc, odor,

fng,

grasp, stone, stench,

cierr, turn, cierm,

swng,
clamor,

blow,

wr^nc,
cast,

ivrench, trick, drync, driuc, drink,

dynt, dint,

stiell,

wyrp,

jump, swylt, death, hwyrft, turn,

slieht,

slaughter,

flyht, flight,
ity,

hyht, hope,

tylit, instruction, byrst,

calam-

ffyrst, thirst,

srist, resurrection, brygd, brandish-

ing, etc.

NOTE
NOTE

1.

For forms

like

sw^ngeas

instead of
is

sw^ngas, see 206.

6.

not only Ix.-inlas, but also (especially Anglian?) b^nda, be,nde, of which the singular is probably a fern, b^nd, belonging to 257 (Goth, bandi). Other words fol2.

The nom.

ace. plur. of

b^nd

low the declension of the fcminines (268),

like serlst, sfespryng, lyft

etc.

(LWS. neut., with NOTE 3. There

dat.
safe,

plur. lyftu), hlyst,

is

ssfel,

fluctuation in
safes,

nom.

ace. plur.

gen. dat. sing, safe, safes, (from Celtic drfii), has gen.
ace. plur. dryas, gen.

ssfe, sea (Goth, salws), gen. safes, gen. ssfewa, dat. safewum, seem, and feni. and safe we, etc. The foreign word dry, wizard

drys (LWS.
(?), dat.

also dryes), dat. dry,

nom.

dryra

dryum.

This class contains no original neuters. Notwithstanding, there are certain words, originally belonging
267.

148
to other declensions,

INFLECTION.

which have assumed an

inflectional

type that can be assigned to this place, in virtue of their uniform i-umlaut and the consonant termination
of their

nom. ace. sing., particulars in which they agree the long-stemmed masculines and feminines of the with

i-declension.

Here belong:
like
flsfesc,

a)

Original neuters,

flesh,

flfes,

fleece

(Angl. flos), hsl, welfare, bilt, hilt, Isfen, loan, hr3F, fame (masc.?); nouns with the prefix ge-, such as gefg,
joining, gehield (Ps. North, gehseld), protection, gehtyd,

clamor,
rage,

geresp,

blame,

geswinc,

tribulation,

gewd,

gegrynd, plot of ground, and probably sfccyrf, These are fragment, felcyrf, prceputium (masc.?). declined like cynn, 246 (dat. plural geswincium,
(?),

geswyrf

filings,

gedwild,

error, gelmsfcst, conflict;

206. 6).

NOTE 1. Beside these forms are occasionally found others without 1-umlaut, like gefog, geheald, gehndst, or alternative forms with r, like h&lor, hroftor; this renders it probable that these words were
originally os-, es-stems

(288

ff.).

b) Original feminines, especially

nouns with the prefix

ge-

gehygd, thought, gemyiid, mind, oferhygd, arrogewyrlit, deed,

gance,

wiht, wulit, creature, geffyld, gecynd, gebyrd, nature, sferist, resurrection, fulluht, baptism, grfn, snare, forwyrd, destruction, These also occur as feminines genyht, abundance.
patience,

the

and are frequently so declined. They follow of cynn (246) or word (238), but have in the nom. ace. plur. gehygdu, gemyndu,
(269),

declension

etc.

NOTE
dryhtu,

2.

To

the foregoing singulars

must be added the plurals genuptials,

elements,

gehyrstu, trappings, giftu,

LWS.

wlstu,

DECLENSION OP NOUNS.
samwistu,
originally
(cf.

149

261;

dainties, lyftu, airs. So, too, the unumlauted gesceaft, a feminine, according to the cognate Germanic tongues 269), but likewise a neuter in OE., forms a plur.
-a,

gesceaftu, beside gesceafte, 261; 269.

according to 252.
"

For geffeaht, see

NOTE 3. Wiht, in the sense of being, creature," is always fern., and does not form the plur. wihtu till LWS. ; but in the generalized sense of "thing, something," it assumes the neuter gender, side by side with
the feminine, at an early period.
see 348.

For the compound nawiht,

etc.,

NOTE

4.

Beside gecynd,
-o,

fern, neut., there exist

two other singulars,

probably deduced from the plur.

(246), and gecyndu, form gebyrdu, -o.

gecyndu
(279)

weak

fern.

namely, gecynde, neut. so gebyrd has a weak

b) Feminines.
1)

Sbort Stems.

268.

But few remains

:

are preserved,
(?), valley,

and not

all of

these are certain

de.im

perhaps hylu, hollow, -Iqgu, deliverance, in ealdorl^gu, feorhl^gru (or -n^ru), of The dewhose nominatives we have no examples.
clension of these words has entirely conformed to that of the short a-stems like giefti (252) only sporadically do we find a nom. sing. d$ne, which may have re;

and and -n^ru, laying down,

fre.mu, benefit,

tained the

old ending of the i-stems

(Prim. Germ,

nom. dani-z).
2)

Long Stems.
petition (Prim.
G.

269.

Paradigm: b^n,
Sing. N.V. G.

Germ,

IxSni-z).

ben bene D. bene A. ben

I.

Plur. N.V. bene, -a

bena

D. benum A. bene, -a

be"ne

150

INFLECTION.
are declined b$nc, bench,
skin,
lyft,
air,

Thus
strength,

cwn,

woman, dryht,
tide,

host, hy"d,

nied, need, tfd,

ffry^,

wn,

hope, wilit,

wuht,

thing,

wynn,
the

pleas-

ure, wyrd,fate, wyrt, herb, root, b^sen, example, sfe(w),

law,

and many
:

verbal-abstracts
dsfed,

(with

original

army, gld, gleed, spd, success, gehygd, thought, gecynd, gebyrd, nature, genyht, abundance, gemynd, mind, gewyrht, deed,
suffix -ti)
e.g.,

deed,

fierd,

geftyld, patience,

sfeht,

property, in

lit,

might, gesceaft,

creature, ge&ealit, thought, 6st, grace, wist, sustenance,

y"st,

storm,
1.

sferist,

resurrection, etc.
of this declension are the

NOTE

The endings

same as those of the

In ^-declension, except in the ace. sing., which in the former has -e. North, this termination is introduced into the i-declension at an early
period,

and

to a considerable extent
later,

in

WS. and

Kent,

appearance
tide,

and

is

at first comparatively rare.

it makes its Examples are

cwene, etc. NOTE 2. The genuine

oldest termination of the

cf.

nom.

ace. plur. is

-i

(maecti, Caedmon's

became -e (44). from the d-declension (uuyrdae,

Goth, mahteis), which subsequently Notwithstanding, there is an early intrusion of -SB

Hymn,

Ep.).

Beda

has, sporadically, o.

NOTE

3.

gfe

is

found a gen. gfes, which there is formed a nom.

indeclinable in the nom. ace. plur.; in the sing, is besides the gen. dat. sing, sfewe, in agreement with
ace. sew.

For

sae, see

266. note
;

3.

NOTE 4. lyft and a-rist are also masc. (266. note 2) gehygd, gemynd, gewyrht, wilit, wuht, geffyld, gecynd, gebyrd, gerlst,
genyht, gesceaft, geffeaht, are also neuter (267). geoguSP, youth, and Ides, woman, which would regularly belong to the i-declension, in OE. follow the A-declension (252) si'on, syn, face, onseon, view, frequently have in WS. the ace. sing, seon,
I

fnl

ii

lit.
1

lyft,

dugud

virtue,

but in Ps. and North, always take

(onsiene, Ps.).

-e,

according to the ^-declension

5. In North, many of these feminines appear also as neuters 251. note). Among deviations from the regular inflectional types are to be noted the gen. sing, in -es of Lind. and Kit., tides, dedes, etc.; and the weak plur., as in nom. ace. tido, de"do, gen. tidana, de'dana, etc. (cf.

NOTE

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.
4)

151

THE

U-DECLENSION.

a) Masculines. Short Steins. 1)

270.

Paradigm: sunn, son (Prim. Germ.sunu-z, Goth.

LWS.
-a
Plur. N.V. suna, -u, -o 6. suna

s u mis).
Sing. N.V. sunu, -o,

G.

suna
-u, -o
-o,

D. suna, A. sunu,
I.

D.
-a

sunum
-u, -o

LWS.

A. suna,

suna
follow this declension

271.
is

The number of words which

:

quite limited fully inflected are only simu and wudu, wood. Beside nom. ace. sing, meodu, mead, magu, boy,

there are only dat.

meodu,

-o,

nom.

ace. plur.

magas;

of

bre(o)go, prince, heoru, sword, lagu, lake, siodu, custom, The words spitu, spit, there are only nom. ace. sing.

and lioffu, limb (Goth, frijms, lijms), no occur as u-stems, except when the first member longer of compound words otherwise there occur fern, frioaru
frioaru, peace,
;

liar (239. 2); and for Goth. So also for Goth, skadus, shadow, qijnis, venter, only OE. has the fern, sceadu and the neut. scead (cf. 253 240).

(279), neut. friar (239. 2), neut.

cwiar.

gen. sing, subsequently has the termination -es, as in the o-declension, e.g., wiides, and similarly the nom. ace. plur. -as
:

NOTE.

The

\\udas. sunas, even

LWS. sunan; magas

2)

already in

EWS.

Long Stems.

272.

Words with

nom.

ace. sing., according

a long stem dropped the u in the to 134, and thus became

assimilated to the o-stems, whose inflection they then Their inflection is as follows : to some extent assumed.
Sing. N.V.A. feld
Plur.

G. felda, -es

N.V.A. felda, -as G. felda

D. feldum

D. felda,
I.

-e

felda, -e

152
273.

INFLECTION.
Traces of this declension are
still

to be

per-

ceived in

the words card, country, feld, field, ford,

ford, -gar, javelin, hdd, rank, hearg, idol, temple, weald, forest, sa<5F, fountain ; the dissyllabic sumor, summer,

winter, winter,

seppel(?),

which formerly belonged

de"a<y,

The other words apple. to the u-declension have com:

pletely passed over to the o-declension

death, feorli,
life,

ar, messenger,

fl6d, flood, scield, shield,

etc.

thorn,

wdg,

wall,

hungor, hunger,

from, Goth, aims,

\\

laiij'iis,

fairhwus, flodus, skildus,

Goth. -6dus.

]>aiirniis,

udd.jus.
-(n)oSF,

hu hrus, and the numerous verbal nouns

-(n)aff =

in

NOTE 1. In North, there are still found the datives deoffa, wQnga, and even a few examples of original o-stems, like binna, bin. NOTE 2. Examples of the gen. sing, in -a are hada, Liccitfelda, Wihtgara, wintra. The dat. instr. in -a is still common in the older texts, hut is suhscquently replaced hy the -e of the o-declension. NOTE 3. winter, which is always of the inasc. gender in the sing.,
:

so far as can be determined, takes in the

nom.

ace. plur. the neuter

is

forms,

wintru and winter.

The regular

plur. of aeppel

aepplas,

seldom ap(p)Ia,

LWS.
is

-u.

NOTE

4.

The u

retained in the form aetga'eru of the Ep. Gloss.

(Erf. aetgaru), as in the

Runic Hodu and olwfwoljm.

b)

Feminines.

these there are but few remaining, the most Their important being duru, door, and h<jnd, hand. declension is as follows:
274.
Sing. N.V.A.

Of

G.
I.D.

duru dura
dura, -u
Other

hoiid

Plur. N.V.A. dura, -u

hQnda hQnda

G.

dura

hQnda hQnda

D.

durum

hQndum

NOTE
quern
dat.
;

1.

relics of this declension are:

fl6r, floor ;

and worold, world.

nosu, nose; cweorn, Case-forms of these words are

nosa, ace. nosu; dat. cweorna; dat. flora; dat. worulda. worold has almost entirely passed over to the i-declension, and the
others fluctuate:
gen. dat. instr. sing, dure, nose;
dat.

cweorne,

DECLENSION OP NOUNS.
cweornan; dyre, dyru
Kentish).

153

gen. dat. flore, ace. fl6r (also masc. 273), etc.; even dat. gen. dat. hond. Beside nosu, etc., is found iiasn (early
iiosn are perhaps relics of an earlier dual.

NOTE

2.

durn and

may

likewise be mentioned the form

Here scnldru (sculdro), dual of the

masc. sculdor, and the neut. breost, perhaps originally a dual.

c)

Neuters.

275.

There

is

no longer an independent u-declension

of neuters in
feolo,

OE.

The

sole relics are Ps. North, feolu,

and WS. feola, fela, much (the former a stereonom. ace., the latter perhaps a stereotyped form typed
of the other cases). o-declension (242).

Goth, failm, cattle, is WS. Kent. North, feh, which belongs wholly to the feoh, fo,

B.

WEAK DECLENSION

(n-stems).

276.

The

except in the
is

three genders are scarcely distinguishable, nom. voc. sing, (with which the neut. ace.
;

identical)

the masc. ending

-e.

is -a,

the fern, -e or -u

(279),

and the neut.

fern,

Paradigms
FEMININE.

are: masc.

guma,

man;

tunge, tongue; neut.

MASCULINE.

age, eye.
NECTEB.

Sing. N.V.

G.

D. I. A.
Plur. N.V. A.

G.

guma guman guman guman guman gumena

tunge

cage

tungan tungan tungan

tungan tungena

eagan eagan
cage

eagan eagena

D.

gumum
is

tungum
found for -an.
2,

eagum
The gen. plur. more other occasional endin

NOTK

1.

In certain texts -on

rarely ends in -ana,

-ona

(cf.

note

end)

still

ings are -a (strong), -enan,

and -an.

Long stems
:

r and g, seldom
e"agna.

any others, arc apt

has a rare gen.

to

syncopate the e in

WS. earna,

LWS.

-es, dat. -e.

154
NOTE
in R. 1 ),
2.

INFLECTION.
The
final -n is

and the vowels of the

discarded in North, (in part preserved final syllable are subject to considerable

variation.

The masc. nom.

sing,

usually has

-a,

more
2

rarely

-e, -ae;

and nom.

ace. plur. in certain

words uniformly

-a, in

gen. dat. ace. others -a, -o,

or -u (the latter particularly in R. ), less frequently -e, -se>; besides, Lind. and Rit. often form a strong gen. sing, in -es, -aes, more rarely a

nom.

ace. plur. in -as.

The feminines
times -a
-a, -e;
;

are

still

gen.

-a, -e,

but also

more irregular: nom. sing, generally -e, somedat. ace. sing. -es, -aes, Lind. and Rit.
;

nom.

ace. plur. -a, -o,

rest,

-e, or,

In distinction from the

following the strong masculines, -as. eorffu, earth, has, for the most part, -u, -o

instead of the other final vowels enumerated above, this being always the case in the nom. sing., except in R. 1 , which still possesses a few

forms

in -an,

even in the

fern.

Moreover, the feminines are prone to

:

pass over to the neut. gender. The following forms of the neut. occur in North, and Mercian
dat. sing, eare, ear;

nom.

nom.
;

ace. plur.

earo

dat. -urn

ego, eye

The

though and then

nom. ace. plur. ego ; dat. ; ace. ego (-e) gen. plur. termination of all these genders is regularly -ena, -ana, -ona, are frequently found, rarely -una, and, indeed, now
-a,

nom. -um.

gen. dat. sing,

as in the strong declension.

l) Masculines.
277. Like guma is declined a great number of words, such as gdma, palate, Iwjna, cock, m<Sna, moon, nefa,

nepheiv,

sefa, mind,

especially

many

t^ona, injury, cr^da, creed ; but agent-nouns, like Ixjna, murderer,

etc.

hunta, hunter, wiga, warrior,

NOTE 1. oxa, ox, has in nom. ace. plur. oexen, $xen, as well as oxan gen. oxna, dat. ox um, and rarely ox num. The plural hfwan,
;

higan, members of a family, forms a gen.

liina, as well as

higna, hiwna.

flea,y?ea (perhaps fern.), frfea, lord, gefa, enemy, gefea, joy, leo, lion (North, lea, gen. leas), *sceo, shin, tweo, doubt (North.

NOTE

2.

tua, and tuia,

cf. 156. 3), ffrea, threat, Sweon, Swedes, and ra, roe, systematically contract the vowel of the radical syllable with that of the derivative syllable into the vowel a or the diphthongs ea, eo
:

gen., etc.,

frean; gen. plur. Sweona,

dat.

Sweom. To

the

somewhat

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.
doubtful flea and *sceo,

155

*ceon,
ffrea
is

gills

(clan, Ep.)
st. fern.,

may be added mfco, sole (plur. meon), plur. the uncontracted frigea occurs beside fra;
;

usually

252

leo, beside regular forms, has

dat. sing,

LWS.

dat.

plur. leonuin,

and occasional

leone or leonan.

2) Feminines.
278.

The number

of feminines which are declined like

tuiige is smaller than that of the masculines. Examples are eor3"e, folde, liriise, earth, hcorte, heart, sunne,
:

sun, me*owle, maiden, nsfcdre, viper,

swealwe, swallow;

bune, cup, ceole, throat, clife, burdock, cliare, poultice, cwene, woman, cwice, quitch-grass, miere, mare, pi(o)se,
pease. NOTE.
Contractions (as in 277. note 2) are exhibited by b6o, bee (North, bia, Ps. plur. bian), c6o, chough, reo, covering, s4o, pupil, da( ? ),
slei/,

doe, fla, arrow, sla, slea,

ta,

toe, 9ft,

clay

gen., etc., In-on, seon,

following, which seem to fluctuate between masc. and fern., are declined as masc. gemsecca, gebejdda, spouse, gere,sta, widow.
flan, etc.
:

The

279.

As

respects their origin, the abstracts in -u,

hjfclu, salvation,

-o,

such as brsfedu, breadth,

m^ngu, m^nigo,

multitude, str^ngu, strength, ieldu, age, belong to the weak declension, since they correspond to Goth, weak

nouns in
ever,

manage!, multitude. They have, howtaken the nom.sing. ending -u from the d-declension,
-ei,

like

and thus
forms.

rid themselves entirely of the old inflectional Their declension is as follows

:

Sing. N. stre,ngu, -o

Plur. N. A. strange, -a ; -u, -o,

G.
-j

D.

>-

strange ;

-u, -o

G. stre,nga D. str^ngum

A.)

Other feminines which, though not adopted the same nominative ending,
fissure, f<jnu, standard, faflfu,

abstracts,
-u, are
:

have
cinu,

paternal aunt, bosu, hose,

bracu, throat, moru, parsnip, peru, pear, spadu, spade,

150

INFLECTION.

sporu (Be*ow. 986), spur, swi(o)pu, whip, tSrotu, throat, wucu, week, and perhaps l^nu, lane. These all have a short radical syllable, and take -n regularly in the
oblique cases. NOTE 1. The abstracts
they end in
are mostly indeclinable in the sing., that is, Plurals are hardly ever found. The

-u, -o in all cases.

nom.
(cf.

ace. sing, has occasionally a shortened form,

is

yld

255. 3). lufu (253) cinu, etc., above.

frequently weak, and

is

for yldo, aye then classed with

NOTE

2.

aeldes, snytres

Here again Lind. and Rit. have likewise a gen. in = WS. ieldu, snytru.
older final
-i

-es, like

NOTE

3.

The

of the abstracts

still

shows

itself in

the

constant umlaut of the radical syllable, as well as in the palatalization

of preceding gutturals
:

me,nigeo, str^ngeo.
the nominative ending such as the Epinal and Corpus

NOTE

4.

The short-stemmed feminines with

found
in the earliest texts,

in -u are not

glossaries

Ep. inorae, throtae ; Corp. more, ffrote.

3) Neuters.
280. The only word which is certainly declined like 6age is are, ear ; heorte has become feminine (Prim. Germ, hertdn, nent.).

NOTE

1.

wo,nge (and w$nge),

orig. strong neuters, are

sometimes

declined weak.

From

the phrase

on uhlan may be deduced uhta

2.

masc. or uhte neut., dawn. NOTE 2. For the North, declension of core and ego see 276. note
C.

MINOR DECLENSIONS.

i)

IRREGULAR CONSONANT STEMS.

a) Masculines

and Neuters.

281.

Paradigm:

fdt, foot.
Plur.

Sing. N.V. A. f6t

N.V.A.

ft

G. fotes

G. fota

D. fet
I.

D. lotuiu

f6te, f^t

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.
/

157
t<$8F;

Thus
6sa ; and

are

declined t6&,
;

tooth,

plur.

111^11(11),

man(n), plur. m$ii(n)

mdnaflf, month.

gen. plur. (with umlaut!) likewise in part the dissyllabic baelear, hero,
6s-,

NOTE

1.

Besides

mon n.

there

is

also a

weak masc. mQnna, manna,

:

declined according to 276, but occurring, for the most part, only in the ace. sing. Proper names in -m<jn take the dat. -mgnne ColemQnne,

GearomQnne.
rarely mon plur. of toff
in
tceffa.
is

(In North, the ace. is always mon no in L. ; monmi From fot there is formed a plur. lot as ; so the n, in R.)
,

sometimes toffas in LWS., and even once in the Ps.

North, occurs the dat. sing, toffe and the gen. plur. toiVana,

NOTE

2.

haeleff and

monad

have a nom. ace. plur. without termi-

In the sing, nation, along with hseleffas (haeleSe) and in6n(e)9as. they are regularly inflected according to the o-declension.

2)

The neuters which belong here

are the monosyl-

labic scriid, garment, and the dissyllabic ealu, ale. The former has dat. sing, scr^d (LWS. scriid and scriide), nom. ace. plur. scrtid, gen. scnida; the second, for-

merly a t-stem, like

dat. sing.

liaelear

(e)aloy, -a3F

and m<5na<T, forms the gen. (North, gen. alpes Hit.), gen.
ace.
sing.
ealacT,

plur.

ealeffa,

and sporadically an

modelled upon the gen. dat.

'

6)

Feminines.

282.

The

short stems which belong here are hnutu,

nut,

studu, stuffu, column,

Sing. N.

hnitu,
Plur. N.

nit.

Paradigm

hnutu.
hnutu hnute D. hnyte
G.
sing,

hnyte

G. limit a

A. [hnutu]

D. limit um A. hnyte

NOTE.

The
;

ace.

studu, stuffu

the gen. plur.

hnutu is supplied according to the ace. is alsohnutenainLWS. studu, stuffu,

158

INFLECTION.

has the dative forms stude and studa, beside styde, no others being found except the nom. ace. of hnitu there are only the nom. sing,
;

and nom. ace.

283.

plur.

in the dat. sing, and nom. no inflectional terminations, but exhibit plur. i-umlaut wherever phonetic laws admit of its occurrence. The gen. sing, is either identical with the dat., or is formed without umlaut and with the termination

The long stems have

ace.

-e,

as in the d-declension.
Sing. N.V.A.

Paradigm

b<5c, book.

boc
boce

Plur. N.V.A.

G. bee,

G.

bee boca

D. bee

D.

bocum
tic,

284.

Thus

are declined gdt, goat, grut, grout,

oak,

br6c, trousers, gds, goose, wl<5h, fringe,

sulh, plough,

turf, turf, Imrg, borough, f urh, furrow, lus, louse, miis, * mouse, (Trull, trough, cii, cow, niht, night, dung, prison,

and the dissyllabic msegeS maid, besides the proper names C^iit, Cert, I, T^net, Wiht, the latter adding
1

-e in the gen. sing.

NOTE 1. boc very rarely occurs as neut. wloh is assigned to this declension, on account of the North, plur. wloeh. sulh has the nom.

burg (more anciently, sing, sul, gen. plur. sula, dat. suliini (218). and in North., also burug) has in the gen., etc., usually byrig in place

common byrg; subsequently the word is also ben (268), only without umlaut; gen. dat. sing, burge, nom. ace. plur. burge, -a. As the second element of a compound proper name, it invariably follows the latter declension: dat. Werburge; ace. ^KJ>elburge, Eadburge, Seaxburge, Wserburge.
of the older and less

declined like

cfi

has gen. sing. cu(e), cy, cus, nom. ace. plur. cy, eye, gen. plur.
1 1

cu(n)a, cyna. niht (nseht, neaht), and msegeS maegS are invariable in the whole sing, and the nom. ace. plur., on account of the failure
,

niht has, however, a gen. nihtes, used for the most part only adverbially, and almost certainly to be regarded as masculine; subsequently there occurs the gen. dat. sing, nihte.
of umlaut,

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.
NOTE common NOTE
(218)
(sfil),
:

159

A gen. sing, ending in -e, like burge, note 1, is not unboce, cue, gAte, Ace, gose, muse. Datives without umlaut now and then occur Ac, burli, ffr6h, furh, grut.
2.
:

3.

Words ending

in
;

lose

it

before a vowel termination

there
is

furh, gen. fure, etc. in dat. syl (syl), without h.

LWS.

even a nom. ace. sul

Ac as the name of a rune has nom. ace. plur. Acas. The dat. plur. * is bcecuin in a Charter of A.D. 837. dung only occurs as dat. ding, Andr. 1272. Beside grut there is a form grytt, declined regularly according to 258. 1, and for ffruh there occasionally occurs a nom. ace. sing, ffryh. ea usually follows the A-declension (259,
of

boc

note), though less frequently in the singular than the plural; the gen. sing, is very rarely ie, the dat. sing, somewhat more frequently.

mloluc,
dative,

milk, also belongs to this declension; it

seems

to

have a plural

miolcum,
4.

beside the regular inioluc.

indeclinable
:

NOTE
Melrose;

Foreign names of places are usually Gcud, Ghent; Bin, Rhine; Paris.

Mailros,

2)
285.

STEMS IN

-r.

The names
brother,

of relationship in

-r,

faeder, father,

dohtor, daughter, sweostor, swuster, sister (together with the pluralia tantum gel>r<53or, brethren, and gesweostor, sisters), are thus inflected in WS. and Kent. :
bnSffor,

mtfdor,

mother,

Singular

N.V.A. fseder

broffor

G. fseder, -(e)res broSor breffer D. fseder

m6dor modor
me'der

dohtor dohtor dehter

-a (

sweostor sweostor sweostor

'

PluralN.V.A. f8e d(e)ras

G. faed(e)ra D. faed(e)rum

Cbr6Sor,
\
_

dohtor

(m6dru),

sweostor

ffru

I -tru, -tra

broffra

modra

bro!9Frum iiiodriiiu
is

dohtra sweostra dohtrutnsw eostrum

r

NOTE
Kent,

1.

Instead of -or

not infrequently found -er (but -or

is

is

never found fpr -er where -er

given above)

rarely -ar, especially

160
NOTE
etc., is
2.

INFLECTION.
In

LWS.
dat.

a gen. sing, mfeder, dehtcr, sometimes occurs,

and conversely a
peculiar to
3.

broker, dohtor.

Syncope of e

in faedras,

EWS.

NOTE
ddehter.

In Ps. and North, the umlaut forms are brcfeffer, mteder,

3)
286.

STEMS IN

-nd.

group belong present participles used as the inflection of the participles themselves (for see 305 ff.). Paradigms of the masculines: fr^ond,
this

To

nouns

friend ; h^ttend, enemy.

Sing. N.V.A. G.

freond freondes D. friend, freonde I. freonde

freond

he^tend h^ttendes h^ttende h^ttende

he,ttend, -de, -das

Plur. N.V.A. friend,

G. freonda

he,ttendra

D.

freoudum

he,ttendum

Like fr4ond are declined fond, enemy (plur. ffend,

fond,
ddnd,

gen.

fonda)

El. 359);

gddddnd, benefactor (plur. g<Sdand the plur. tantum geffend, gefrfend.

;

The dissyllables, like dgend, otvner, d^niend, judge, h&lend, n^rgend, saviour, wealdend, ruler, wfgend,
warrior, are all declined like h^ttend, that adj. ending in the gen. plur.
is,

take the

NOTE

1.

The terminations

of the o-declension have

become predom-

inant in the sing.; of rare occurrence are such forms as dat. instr. In the nom. ace. plur. there often occurs h^tsing, friend, fiend.

and tende, beside hot tend, according to the adjective declension In North, and in sometimes, even in EWS., the termination -das.
;

poetry the forms feondas, freondas (fiondas, friondas), are to be

met

with.
2.

NOTE

In
:

LWS.

a plur. in -dras occurs, evidently modelled upon

etc.

the gen. plur.

wircendras, wealdendras,

DECLENSION OF NOUNS.

161

287. Feminines are rare, and probably, with the exception of swelgend, whirlpool, confined to the strictly scholastic literature iQiidbuend, female settler, 8teos
:

wealdend, female
(translating
builder, etc.

ruler,

ffe'os

fe~ond,

female enemy

haec praesul, hostis), tiiubrend, female Nothing certain has been made out conace. sing,

cerning their declension. NOTE, swelgend has a dat.

swelgende, and therefore

;

has gone completely over to the a-declension neuter in LWS.

besides,

it

occurs as a

4)
288.

STEMS IN

-os, -es.
-09,

These correspond to the Gr. neuters in

Lat.

In OE. they are quite limited in number, in part from the fact that a few have entirely arising lost the s (cf. 182; 290. note 3), and have therefore passed over to other declensions, and in some cases to
-us, -eris.

other genders.
NOTE
1.

Here probably belong

all

the older neuters of the

OE.
2),

i-declension, botli the short stems, like spere, sife,

gedyre (263.
;

(267. a) cf. also then, with change of gender, the masculines lejiib, caelf (290. note 1) bere, ^ge, hete, sige (263. note 4), and the long stems hl;e\v, mound, hrsew, corpse, North, doeg, day. In these words the sufflxal s has been lost according to 182 the vowel was retained after short stems
like (la'-sc, hsel,
;

and the long stems,

gehield,

etc.

as

1,

e,

while

it

of the suffix, words, which coexist with those that exhibit umlaut, as, for example, gefog, geheald (267. note 1), hl&w, hr&w (230. note 1). Other

disappeared after long stems (133). The second form containing o, a, has left traces in certain unumlauted

words which no doubt belong here are

splc, baron,
hrlf,
uterus,

felt, felt, stel, hall, belt, hilt,

sclp, ship

(as against

OHG.

spec, href,

scef).

NOTE
289.

2.

For alternative forms

first class
all

in r, cf. 289. note 2.

The
under

tain,

comprises those words which recircumstances, the r from original s:

162
salor, hall;

INFLECTION.

hocor

(?),

derision; stulor, theft; e"agor,

sea;
luilor,

grander,

crime;

wilder,

beast;

ddgor,

day;

salvation; hr^ffer,

hrtifter), cattle; e"ar,

(subsequently also ear of corn (from *almr, North.

briber

eher, sehher).

These words have, in the main, passed over into the o-declension, and hence are declined according to 238, 244 ff. yet there sometimes occurs a dat. instr. sing, without inflectional termination ddgor, hrdffor, sigor,
;
:

North, eher, sehher, along with frequent ddgore, hrd3re, Plural forms are ddgor, hr^o"eru, wildru, ar, etc. North, eliera and ehras.
NOTE 1. The gender of salor, hocor, agor, grand or, Ml or, is not to be determined from OE. alone yet etymology and analogy
;

them as neuters; sigor, victory, that likewise belonged here, has, like sige, become masculine. eagor and grandor are only found as the first element of compounds.
justify us in considering

NOTE
salor;
;

2.

Auxiliary forms without r are

hriff-

common (288)
;

sael -

eag-- eagor; hsfel-halor;

- hriffer

North,

dcegin to
;

d6gor sige - slgor masc.

NOTE
the word
3. The older suffixal s may possibly be retained in hensH6nsbroc, the name of a place, if the form corresponds
;

then with metathesis in ffrtistfel, leprosy, Goth. Jrutsiill * hues J may likewise be associated perhaps li use, lu'ix derision (for with hocor.
,

ON. brans

formed by the words lomb, lamb; cealf, calf; gfeg, egg; besides a few which are more doubtful. These have cast off the r in the singular, but retain it in the plural with certain exceptions. The
290.

The second

class is

declension

is

therefore

Sing. N.A. G.

iQmb
lombes

cealf
cealfes
cealfe

seg
eeges
sfege

D.I. loiube

DECLENSION OF ADJECTIVES.
Plur. N.A. loinhril

163

G.

iQmbra

D. loinln-iini

NOTE

1.

The
;

Ps. caelf, North, caelf

(288. note 1) Beside lymb

afeger- in

words frequently has i-umlaut; so always and cejf, and more rarely lejnb as well as iQitib whether the umlaut of aeg belongs here is doubtful. there is a sing. lombor, and beside afeg a longer form
sing, of these

tegerfelma,
is

ace. plur.
-ero,

In Ps. North, the nom. egg-skin, gfegergelu, yolk. also written calfur, iQinbur, -or, as well as calferu,

iQmberu, -(o)ru. An umlaut form cylf occurs in WS. in the compound cylfhQiigra. In LWS. the whole plural is frequently formed without r; lamb, gen. lamba, dat. lambum, etc.; in LWS.
there
is

even a masc. plur. cealfas.

2. cild, child, is in general declined like -word (238) and hence has plur. cild, etc. (North, also cildo) yet sometimes there occurs a plur. clldru, gen. cildra. Moreover, cild is now and then masc. in North., and then forms the plur. clldas. JElfric has nom. ace.
;

NOTE

plur.

did, gen. clldra,

dat.

clldum.

Isolated forms belonging under this head are nom. ace. 3. breadru, crumbs, from br6ad, bread; hiemedru, from haemed, coitus ; gen. plur. speldra from speld, torch (dat. plur. ineedrtim from of short stems the plur. scerero, -oro, -uru Ep. *ingfed, measure^))
plur.
;

NOTE

Erf. Corp. shears, belonging witli scear, ploughshare, which is regularly declined according to 238, besides the plur. tantum haeteru, garment.

Declension of Adjectives.

The Germanic adjective has a twofold declenthe strong and the weak. The latter is peculiar to Germanic, while the former originally corresponded to the
291.
:

sion

adjective and substantive declension in the cognate languages. Most adjectives may be declined in either way; the

employment of the one or the other depends chiefly upon syntactical considerations. The weak form is generally employed after the article, and whenever an adjective is

164

INFLECTION.
as a substantive
;

employed

the strong form

is

assigned

to the predicate adjective, and to the attributive adjective when used without the article.
NOTE. Of the strong declension are all the pronouns except seolf(a) and se llca, 339 the cardinal numbers, from " two " upwards, so far as
;

they are declined like adjectives (324 ff. ) ; 68Fer, the second (328) and a number of adjectives like call, all, gen6g, enough, mQnig, many. Of
;

weak declension are the comparatives, the superlatives in -ma, and the ordinals from "three" upward. The adjectives wjn(a), wanting, and gewuna, wont, are for the most part indeclinable, and restricted
the
to predicative use.

A.

STRONG ADJECTIVES.

292.

fn

The strong adjective declension in Germanic has many respects departed from its original form,

which, as has been remarked, was identical with the noun declension, and has become assimilated to that of the pronouns. By this means the distinctions of the three vowel declensions, once possessed alike by adjective and noun, have been in great measure obscured.

Only one vowel declension remains clearly marked, that of the o-stems (with the fern, in -d, cf. 235). As in the case of the noun, the jo- and wo-stems form subdivisions
which must be separately considered. Of the i- and u-declensions only scanty remains have been preserved in the nom. (302 ff.).
l)

Pure

o-stems.

293. Here again we are called upon to distinguish between short and long stems, polysyllables and mono-

syllables.

The

explained by

discrepancies of the paradigms may be reference to the laws concerning final

sounds and syncopation. As a paradigm for the short stems we may take hwset, active; for the long stems,

DECLENSION OF ADJECTIVES.

165

g6d,good; for polysyllables, hlig, holy. The variations from the noun declension are indicated in a) and b) by
italics
:

a) SHORT STEMS.
MASC.
Sing. N.V. G.

NEUT.

FKM.

hwaet hwaet hwates D. hwatum A. hwcetne hwaet

I.

hwatu,
hiocetre

-o

hwcetre

hwate
hwata, -e

hwate
hwatu,-o
huxetra

Plur.

N.A.V. hwate
G.

D.
6)

hwatum
LONG STEMS.

Sing. N.V.

g6d

g6d

g6d
gddre
godre

G.

D. A. gbdne
I.

g6d
gode

g6de
g6da,
-e

Plur. N.V. A. gdde

g6d
gddra

G.

D.

g6dum
c)

POLYSYLLABLES.
(

Sing. N.V. hallg

halig
'

haligu, -o

G. halges D. halgum A. haligne hdlig I. halge

Plur. N.V. A.

halgu,-o; hallg haligre

hdllgre

hdlge

halge

G.

haligu, -o (halgu.-o; hallg haligra

(
;

halga, -e

D.

halgum
nom.
sing. fern,

NOTE

1.

The

-u of the

and nom.

ace. plur. neut. of

the short stems and polysyllables hwatu, haligu, is in general older than the -o of hwato, hallgo. In LWS. even the long stems some-

166

INFLECTION.
:

times take the ending -u (-a) in the nom. ace. plur. neut.
callu, unrihta.

swylcu,

NOTE

2.

ends in -em
etc. (cf.

In very old texts, the dat. sing. masc. and neut. sometimes minem, etc. The -um of the same case, and of the dat.

plur. of all genders, afterwards passes into -on,

-an

godan, halgan,

237. note
3.

6).

NOTE

In
:

LWS.

the nom. ace. plur. neut.

for

of the masc.

hwate, gode, halge,

is replaced by the forms hwatu, g6d, haligu, halig.

NOTE 4. In North, the gen. sing. masc. and neut. also ends in -aes, and the gen. dat. sing. fern, in -rae the nom. plur. has the ending -e, more rarely -ae, but very frequently (especially in the Eit.) -o.
;

294. Like hwset are declined the few OE. adjectives with a short stem, like til, useful, sum, a certain, hoi,

hollow,
blaec,

dol, dull,

torn, tame,

won,

lacking,

baer, bare,

Hack, glted, glad, hraed, speedy, laet, late, waer, wary, as well as the compounds in -sum, -some, and
-lie, -ly.

NOTE

1.

The paradigm hwaet shows

at the

same time the

modifi-

cations which the radical vowel ae undergoes, according to 49 ff. In distinction from the substantive, the vowel ae is here actually limited to forms with a closed radical syllable, hwaet - hwates, as opposed to

daeg-daeges, faet-faetes, etc. In certain words this rule is not observed thus straec seems always to retain its ae, and hraelff (hraed)
:

usually does so in WS. blaec, black, takes other exceptions are rare.
;

in all the oblique cases

Contrary to 144, those with short stems have, for the most part, no middle vowel only seldom is one found in the r-cases sumere, along with sumre.
;
:

NOTE
in the

2.

nom.

In Ps. the adjectives in -sum have -sum instead of stumi In the older period, -lee often stands for -lie sing. fern.

before a vocalic ending.

295.

Like gdd are declined the majority of the OE.

:

adjectives
deceitful,

eald, old, sceolh, squinting, fjlh, hostile, fldh,

rdf, vigorous, t6h, tough,

gemdh, importunate, hail, whole, htfah, high, scoh, shy, gewloli, adorned,

DECLENSION OP ADJECTIVES.
fyrn, old (originally an i-stem, as the others.

167

umlaut shows),
ln'ali. high,

and many
rough,

NOTE 1. Words woh, wrong,

;

in h, like
rtih, rough,

ffweorh,
drop the

transverse,

hreoh,
;

in polysyllabic forms

those

having a vowel before the h contract, for the most part, according to 110 ff. hence ffweorh - ffweores (242), but woh, nom. sing. fem. w6
(for

wohu),

fem. wore,

etc.,

gen. etc. wos, as well as

wo(u)m, wone, wo, plur. w6ra, w6(u)m, woges, etc. The ace. sing, of heah is

generally heanne, more rarely heane, very seldom heahne, gen. dat. sing. fem. hearre, gen. plur. hearra, along with heare, heahre, and heara, lira lira (222. 2) dat. heagum, side by side with beam and
;

heaum;

Ps. North, he"h (163), but dat.

beam

from *hehum,
as in

ace.

heane from *hehona (166. 5), weak hea from *heho, ruh has gen. rfiwes, etc. (cf. 116).
In

WS.
:

heages,

LWS. forms with g- are very general instead of the contracts wogum, etc. likewise ruges, etc., for rfiwes. This is not to be
;
,

jectives like

regarded as grammatical change (234) but as a result of analogy from adgen6h - genoges, whose h was derived from older g (214. 1).

NOTE

2.

Words ending

in

a geminated consonant, like grlmm,Jierce,

w<?nn, dusky, dimm, dark, deall, proud, call, all, simplify the geminate (225) before any termination beginning with a consonant, and, as a rule, when final: grlm(m), grimme, grimre, grlinra, but grimmes, grimmum, etc. Nevertheless, 11 often remains before constill, quiet,

sonants

eallre, eallra, eallne, etc.

3.

NOTE

In the later texts, -ere, -era, are the regular forms, even
:

after long stems

g6dere, g6dera,

etc.

296.

To

the polysyllables, which are declined like

1

hdiig (North, also hgelig), belong the derivatives in -ig, like 6&dig, fortunate, f&mig, foamy, lir^mig clamorous, mqnig, many a (North, also in^nig); in -el, -ol, like
,

l^tel, little, inicel, large, yfel, evil, linitol,

pushing with

the horns, sticol, sharp, sweotol, manifest; in -er, -or, like fseger, fair, biter, bitter, bitter, snotor, snottor,

wise; in -en, like hseaFen, heathenish, grilpen, boastful; besides the adjectives denoting material, like gylden, golden, fren, iron, stsenen, stone, the past part, of verbs
(306),

and many

others.

168
NOTE
toles,
1.

INFLECTION.
The
polysyllables with the
first
it is

syllable short retain the

middle vowel, in

sweotole

forms, whenever but not always when

all

original

(144)

sweo-

it

arose in the nom. ace. from

On the contrary, micel and syllabic r: fsegeres and faegres, etc. lytel are always treated like long stems, and yfel very frequently so that is, they undergo syncope of the middle vowel micles, lytles, etc.
;
:

In the case of the long stems, syncope does not take place in the trisyllabic forms of the nom. sing. fern, and nom. ace. plur. in the earlier
period; hence haligu (micelu, lytelu), not halgu; not till later do we encounter forms like e6wru, hlutrii, etc. In the other trisyllabic

forms, having a termination beginning with a vowel, the long stems should always undergo syncope frequently, however, the middle vowel has again forced an entrance from the unsyncopated forms, the fre;

quency increasing with the lateness of the period.

all

Most irregular of are the adjectives in -ig (which often appears before a vocalic ending as -eg-). The fewest instances of syncope are formed in the past part,
in -en.

NOTE

2.

The accusative ending -ne

;

is

attached immediately to the

adjective endings in -en, and the endings -re, -ra, to those in -er:

gyldenne, irenne
in later OE., the

faegerre, snotterra, etc. Now and then, especially nn, rr, are simplified to n, r (225. 2), and in LWS. the middle vowel may be lost (145).

2) jo-stems.
297.

Stems originally short, like mid, middle, nyt, useful,

(cf.

gesib, related
all

Goth, midjis, gasibjis), are declined in

respects like the pure o-stems ending in a geminated

(295.

consonant
NOTE
j,

note 2) inid, gen. middes, fern, midre, etc.

:

.iiiujis

new, with its alternative ne"owe (Goth, which originally belonged here, has -e in the nom. like the even before consonants niwne, niwre, long stems, and retains its
1.

niwe (niewe),

* 2. frio, free, Ps. frea, stem frijo-, contracts the vowel of root and suffix in the nom. sing., but originally retained the uncontracted form in the polysyllabic cases frio, gen. friges, dat. frigum,
:

niwra NOTE
;

or

neowne,

etc.

plur. frige, etc.

Yet forms modelled directly on the contract nom. are

:

the rule in

WS.

sing. muse, frfone,

gen. dat. sing. fern, friore, gen. plur. friora, ace. nom. ace. plur. masc. frio, etc. The forms frioh.
in

freoh, are new formations

(295. note

1).

DECLENSION OF ADJECTIVES.
298.

169

Stems originally long take -e in the nom. sing, masc. and neut. they have -u, -o in the nom. sing. fern, and nom. ace. plur. neut., and in other respects are de;

clined like the pure o-stems.

MASC.
Sing. N.V.

Paradigm

gr^ne, green.
FKM.

NKUT.
gre"ne

grene

G. grenes D. grenum A. grenne grene

I.

grenu, -o grenre
gre'nre

grene

grene
grene
grenu, -o
grfcnra

Plur. N.V. A.

grena,

-e

G.

D.

grenum

NOTE. Words with mute + liquid or nasal before the e, like gifre, syfre, fsecne, insert a vowel before the r, n, when an unlike consonant follows: syferne, ftfccenra on the other hand, ace. sing. masc. fsfecne
;

for *feecnne, gen. plur. syfra for *syfrra, etc. -nne do not add n in the ace. sing. masc.

Adjectives ending in

299.

This declension
of

is

followed by a tolerably large

number

OE.

adjectives.
bold,

Examples

blfffe,

blithe,

br4me, famous, cne,

dierne, secret, dr^g-e, dry,

ierre, angry, fsfccne, deceitful, s^fte, soft, swte, sweet, s^fre, sober; besides verbal adjectives like grange, current, gengfcme, acceptable,
-bsfcre, bearing, -ede, -ed,

and a large number ending in and -ihte, -y, like waestmbsfcre,

fruitful, lidcede, curved, sttfenihte, stony. NOTE 1. A few adjectives fluctuate between this declension and that of the simple o-stems: e.y., siiioH and smylte, serene; strQng and strange, strong ; u 11 1;(-<1 and unleede, wretched ; s6fte and sefte, soft. NOTE 2. Not a few adjectives have been transferred to this from the
i-

or u-declension (302

ff.).

3) -wo-stems.
300.

vocalize the latter

The words with a single consonant before when final to -o, -u (-a), and

the

before

170

INFLECTION.
-o. Here belong, for exearu, active, gearu, ready, mearu, tender, uearu,

a consonantal termination to

ample

narrow,

calu,

callow,

cylu(?),

spotted,

fealu, fallow,

salu, sallow, geolu, yellow, basu, foe(o)su, brown, hasu, gray. They are declined as follows :
MASC.
Sing. N.V.

NEUT.
-o

FEM.

gearu, gearu G. gearwes

gearu, -o

D. gearwum A. gearone gearu, -o

gearore gearore

gearwe
gearwa,
-e

gearwe Plur. N.V. A. gearwe gearu

I.

G.

gearora

D.

gearwum
vowel frequently stands before the gearowe, Of sporadic occurrence is an ace. fealuwne, etc.
:

NOTE.

A middle

gearewum, etc. -uw is even found basuw, geoluw.

301.

at times in the uninflected

form

mearuw, brun-

Words with

a long vowel or a diphthong before

the

retain the latter in all cases,

and hence conform

in all respects to the declension of the simple o-stems.

Examples: slw, slow, ged6aw, dewy, (ge)hle'ow, sheltered, unhl^ow, unsheltering, gese"aw, juicy, gl<Saw,
hne"aw, miserly, hre"aw, raw, re"ow, rough, r<5w, gentle, and the plur. tant. fe"a, f6a,\ve,few; to these may be added ateow(a), serving, though the latter usually
prudent,
follows the

weak
r6ow

declension.
is

NOTE. From

also

formed the

ace. reone.

4) i-stems.
302.

Of

fragile,

swice,

mindful.

short stems only a few relics are left : bryce, deceitful, fre^ne, strenuous, geniyne, They follow the declension of the origilike

nally long jo-stems,

gr6iie

(298),

i.e.,

they

re-

DECLENSION OF ADJECTIVES.
tain the simple consonant in all cases, before the vocalic termination.
NOTE.

171
insert

and do not

i-stems, whose i ought properly to be dropped no case-ending, have passed over to the declension of the long jo-stems e.g., bryce, useful, sw6te, sweet, bliffe, blithe, ged6fe, suitable, gemsene, common, cf. Goth, brtiks, stits, bleijs, gad6fs, ga ma us the only exception is the nom. fyrn, ancient, which may be

The long
is
:

when

there

regarded as the sole

relic of the

long 1-stems, with possibly lyt,

little.

5)
303.

u-stems.

certain relics of the adjective u-declension are c(w)ucu, alive (for *cwiocu, 71; Ps. cwicu(?),

The only

North, cwic, 164.

3,

Poet.

OE.

and wlacu,

tepid.

c(w)ucu stands

cwic(u), rarely (c)wucu), for the nom. sing, and

plural of all genders, ace. sing, fern., ace. sing. plur. neut., and wk. nom. sing.; wlacu for the nom. sing, (and ace.
sing. neut.).

The other cases are formed from cwic and wltec respectively, except ace. sing. masc. (c(w)uc)
etc.

cucim(n)e, c(w)ucen(n)e, cwicen(u)e,

NOTE.

The long u-stems have mostly gone over to the o- or jodeclension: cf. OE. heard, hard, gleaw, sagacious, with Goth, hardus,

glaggwus;
old,

gle, troublesome, hn^sce,

soft,

tw^lfwintre,

twelve years

with Goth, aglus, hnasqus, and twalibwintrus. doublets are found, like strqng and strange.
B.

Occasionally

THE WEAK DECLENSION.

declension of adjectives is the same as that of nouns, except that the gen. plur. is almost Paradigm: always replaced by the strong form -ra.
304.

The weak

gtfda, the good.

MASC.
Sing. N. V.

FEM.

NEUT.

g6da

G.

D. A. g6dan Plur. N.V.A.

G.

g6de g6dan g6dan g6dan g6dan

godra, (-ena)

gode

g6de

D.

g6dnm

172
NOTE
1.

INFLECTION.

gen. plur. in -ena, like

g6dena,

is

rarely

met

with,

and

perhaps belongs only to scholarly translations like the Cura Past. Other variations of the gen. plur. are the ending in -an in conformity with the other cases contractions like sfeterna, gearra, uttra, yldra,
;

for seternena, gearr-ra (307), nterr(e)ra, *yldr(e)ra; besides which the gen. is sometimes formed in -a, like that of strong nouns feffer:

fota, uplica.

In

LWS.

there

is

a sporadic nom. sing. masc. in -an.

NOTE 2. The dat. plur. -an frequently occurs at an early period instead of -uni, g6dan, ln'-ssan, etc., in advance of its appearance in the dat. of strong adjectives and the dat. plur. of nouns (237. note 6; 293. note 3). This is no doubt to be attributed to the influence of
the other cases in -an.
sionally replaced

The ending

-an, wherever occurring,

is

occa-

by -on. NOTE 3. In some words contraction takes place thus hea, gen. hean from heah, dat. sing, hrcoii from hre6h wo, w6n from w6h, etc. NOTE 4. The discrepancies in North, are essentially the same as those that have been already noticed under the weak declension of
:

nouns (276. note

2).

C.

DECLENSION OF PARTICIPLES.

305. The present participle has adopted in full the jo-declension of adjectives, and may also be inflected as weak. Paradigm of the strong declension giefeiide,
:

giving.
MASC.

NEUT.

FEM.

Sing. N.V. giefende

G.

glefende glefendes

glefendu, -o

D. glefendum A. giefendne glefende I. glefende

Plur. N.V. A.

gtefendre giefendre glefende

glefende

G.

glefendu, -o glefendra

giefenda,

-e

D.

glefendum
used predicatively, the past participle
ace.
is

NOTE NOTE

1.

When

apt to be
as

uninflected in the
2.

nom.

For the declension of the present

participle

when used

a substantive see

286

11'.

DECLENSION OF ADJECTIVES.

173

306. The past participle, like the adjective, has both the strong and the weak declension ; e.g., from ace*osan, elect, n^rian, save :
MASC.

Strong

Weak
NOTE
1.

The nom.

sing. fern,

and nom.
:

ace. plur. in -u are rare,

and

are almost entirely confined to attributive use. In the predicative position the uninflected form is employed acoren, genejed.

NOTE

2.

With regard

to

syncope in polysyllabic forms cf 296.

.

174

INFLECTION.
2)

Superlative.

309.

The

shorter form of the superlative ends in -ost

-list,
;

(likewise in

-ast),

more rarely
;

in -est
;

e.g., le"of,

dear

le"ofost
;

heard, hard
rfcost

heardost
sina-1,

hwaet, sharp

hwatost

rfce, rich

small

smalost

but

string, strange, strong - strongest. NOTE. The superlative of sma-1 sometimes occurs
fea(we) are formed feast and fi-awost.

as smaelst ; from

310. The superlative, like the comparative (307), but seldom takes i-umlaut: eald - ieldest, lo.ng - longest,

string - strongest,
gesta), sceort

geong - gi(e)ngest
;

scyrtest

(Ps. also gunlu'ah has hiehst, hylist along

cf.

with h^ahest, heahst, LWS. he'hst(a), North, he"sta, heista, 166. 5).

101 (Ps.

lu-sta,

NOTE. These superlatives with umlaut have also a substitute

311.

in -ost.

With regard

to the inflection, the strong declen-

sion of superlatives is almost entirely confined to the shorter forms in -ost, -est, which stand for the nom. voc.
sing,

and

ace. sing. neut.

forms are rare.

The

With this exception, strong superlative usually follows the

:

weak declension. As a rule, the umlaut forms have the termination -esta
:

ieldesta, le^igesta, gingesta ; or, rarely, the shortened -sta hfehsta, h^hsta ; more rarely -osta, as in selosta (312). Even those without umlaut, and ending in -ost,
like

heardost,

le"ofost,

of this ending into additional syllable:

in the

very frequently change the o e, as soon as the word receives an heardesta, le"ofesta, along with

heardosta, l^ofosta (cf. 129). Syncope of the e is rare umlaut forms le.ngsta, yldsta, and belongs to LWS.
:

DECLENSION OF ADJECTIVES.
3) Irregular Comparison.
312.

175

tive or superlative is supplied

In a few adjectives the lack of a regular comparaby forms from a different

root:
god, good
yfel,

comp. b^t(e)ra, b^ttra

"
sella, srl ra

superl. b^t(e)st,

" " "

<

b^tsta slost, selesta (-osla)

bad

"

wlersa

wierrest(a), wlersta

micel, great
lytel, small

"
"

mara
lifessa

m?est(a)
hfesest, -ast, hfestfa),
i

Iserest

NOTE. To
(older

mara belongs

the neuter substantive

ma,

Ps. rnse

simisfel

larly to sella, selra, better

ssfel).

(North. Early Kent, sselra) belongs For mgest(a) the North, has also must (a).

313. In a few cases the comparative and superlative are formed from an adverb or preposition, in default of a corresponding positive
:

feor,far
lu'ah, near
sfer,

comp. flerra, fyrra

"
" "
m'-ai-ra,

superl. flerrest(a)

neara

"
"

nfehst(a), nyhst(a)
sferest(a)

earlier

aferra

fore, before

furiffra

"

fyrst(a),

EWS.
5.

fyrest

NOTE. For Ps. n6sta, North, nrst a.

(101).

neist^i, sec

166.

LWS.

jichsta, nexta, standing for unilauteil neahsta, are frequently found

feor

is

sometimes an adj.

in poetry.

314.

From some words

This
only in

there
is

is

formed a superlative
its

with an m-suffix.

preserved in

simplest

and in liiiidema, the form forma, hindmost; the others have added the regular superlative termination -est, and consequently end in -mest (-msest). These formations, like the preceding, are in some cases derived from adverbs and prepositions
the first,
:

176
(siS, late}

INFLECTION.
comp,

DECLENSION OF ADJECTIVES.
the adverb wel.

177

The vowels ae and a are interchanged without apparent cause in (h)rae3'e and (hjraffe, quickly ; smaele and smale, comparative smaelor. In LWS. occurs heage, high, instead of the
older
lu'

ah

316. Adverbs of another class, frequently employed instead of the foregoing, or side by side with them, are formed by composition of the simple adjective stem with
-lice:

hearde and heardlice, s6tfe and sd<51ice, sweotule and sweotullice. This mode of formation subsequently becomes the predominant one.
317.

adverbs, in part without corresponding fela, very, ge"ara, adjectives, have the termination -a formerly, gfena, again, geostra, yesterday, gfeta (also
:

Some

giet), yet, singala (also singale

and singales), alivays, soua, soon, tela, teala, properly, and the numeral adverbs tuwa, acriwa (331).
318.

Adverbs are formed from adjectives, and more from other words, by means of the terminations rarely -unga, -enga, -inga. Examples dearnunga, secretly ;
:

eallunga, entirely ;
inga, angrily
;

awimga,

publicly ; eorriiiga, ierr;

lidlinga, secretly

\v6niiiga, perhaps.

NOTE. The three endings frequently interchange with each other in the same word, without causing any modification of the radical syllable. The greater number exhibit u-umlaut of the stem vowel I-umlaut of the radical syllable is rare, unless the basic word already had the umlaut: e.g., jeninga and dnunga, &ninga, entirely; s^mninga and
;

sQmnunga,
319.

suddenly.

The oblique
as adverbs.

employed
fully,

cases of adjectives are sometimes Accusatives of this sort are l^t,

l^tel, little, geiidg, enough, f yrn,

gefyrn, formerly,
;

full,

h^ah, high, ungemet, immoderately

and those

178
in -weard, like

INFLECTION.
;

upweard, stiafweard genitives ealles, nealles (nalles, nalas, nalaes, nals), not at altogether,
all,

lles,

otherwise,

micles, very,

simbles, singales,

always ; SFweores, perversely, orc^apes, gratis, grapes, wide, st^apes, high, unwares, unawares, ^ndemes(t),
equally,

sQmt^nges,

together, nihtl<jnges, all night long,

l^tes-,
little,

ungewisses,

unconsciously,

hwsetlmgu-

ningas, somewhat, ungem^tes, immoderately ; several in -weardes, -wards, like upweardes, stiffweardes others
;

with a prepositional prefix like ttfgegnes, against, t6middes, in the midst; finally, datives like miclum, very,
l^tlum,
320.
little.

Of nouns,

it is

especially the gen.

and

instr. sing,
:

and the
night,

dat. instr. plur. that are

employed

as adverbs

the genitive, for example, in daeges, by day, nihtes, by

willingly,

(im^Qnces, (uri) willingly, willes, gewealdes, and their compounds ndades, nfedes, needs,
;

healfes, on the side, instaepes, immediately ; the instrumental in fdcne, very, sa>e (earlier ssfere, with i-umlaut, cf. 237. note 2), sore ;

the dat. plur., especially in

compounds ending in -maelum, like dropmaelum, drop by drop, stundmselum, time after time.
NOTE. Adverbial phrases, consisting of a preposition followed by a now and then occur t6 ffefenes, till evening ; to n6nes, till noon; t6 uhtcs, toward dawn; to geflites, emulously. Of a similar
genitive,
:

character are

h6 gerddes, how;
all;

hfi g6ares, at

what time of year;

h6

ineta, low; hti nyta, wherefore.

Cf. phrases like sfenige ffinga,

somehow; nafenige 91nga, not at

hfiru ffinga,

especially.

Adverbs of place denote rest in a place, motion towards, and motion from a place. The most important
321.

are the following:

DECLENSION OF ADJECTIVES.
WHERE?
(LWS.
hwsfer
>Ar),
there

179
WHENCE ?
iVniian

WHITHEB ?
ffider

(EWS.

ffaeder,

ffaedres)

(LWS. hwar),

where

hwider
hider (hid res, hide re)
in(n)

h^r, here inne, iniian, within

ute,
utiiii,

heonan, nine

without

At
up(p), up(p)

uppe, uppan, above

iifan, above

ufan
niffor
'forff

neoffan, below

foran,

before

liiiuhui, behind
,

hinder
last

hindan
eastan

east

west
north
south

west
norff

westan
norffan
siV.Yan

A8
feor(r)

feorra,n,far nrali, noli, near

feorran
in'-an

near

NOTE hwQna,
fuller

1.

In North, the adverbs in -an lose their

final -n:

<V(iim,

ufa, etc.
in
2.

On

the other hand, these adverbs sometimes take a

-ane (Qne) in WS. hwsfer are also formed gehwsfer ; sfeghwsfer, dgeh\vsfer; ( ge) welhwafer, \velgeh\v8fer, everywhere; ah\vsfer, dwer, 6\ver, anywhere ; naliwser, nowhere. Emphatic forms of ffsfer and Inva'-r are Va i-a and Invura. Peculiar in form are the adverbs hidenofer, hither,

form

NOTE

From

and geonofer,

thither.

Comparison of Adverbs.
a rule, no adverbs admit of comparison except those derived from adjectives, their comparative and
322.

As

superlative being identical with those of the

corre-

sponding adjectives in

heardor, heardost, strQngor, strongest, l^oflicor, l^oflicost. From seldan is formed a comparative seldnor (seldor) and superla:

-or, -ost

e.g.,

tive seldost,

and from hider the comparative hideror,

nearer.
323. few adverbs have, as a comparative, a peculiar monosyllabic form without the termination of the com-

180

INFLECTION.

parative, but generally distinguished from the positive by i-umlaut. These are bt, better, wiers, wyrs, worse,

md, mse, more,

North,
tylgr,

lss,

less,

ser,

earlier,

sitf, later,

fierr,

farther, l$ng, longer, ne"ar, nyr, nearer, sel (Early

Kent.

ssel), better, $nd (Goth, andis), before, formerly, more willingly, s6ft, softer, lets, easier. To some of these no corresponding positives are found.

NOTE L These adverbs correspond

like batls, -sei>s
;

the ending

-is, -s, is

^> the Goth, adverbs in -Is, lost according to 144 ; 182.

-s,

2. From le,ng is formed the compound l^nglffra (from iQiigwhich accordingly has double comparison. A similar example is mdfealdra, comparative of mQiilgfeald. The superlative forest, first, is very rarely contracted to gfest.

NOTE

life),

Numerals.
l)
324.

Cardinals.
all

The

first

three numerals are declinable in

:

cases

and genders

1) sin is declined like a strong adjective, according to the paradigm gdd (293. 2), the ace. sing. masc. usually taking the short-stemmed form senne, later dime, and

the instr. sene as well as

ne.

Plural forms are found

with the meaning "only," and in the phrases 6na gehwylc, each one, fine fe"awa worda, a few words, due ni you Hainan to jinuiu amlh&ifdiiiu (Cod. Dipl.
V., 153).

The weak
MASC.

declension

is

employed when the

FEM.

word
2)

signifies "alone."
NEUT.
tfi,

N.A. twegen
G.

twa

twa

t\eeg(e)a, twfcgra
t

D.

\v;i-in.

NOTE

1.

So

is

gen. beg(r)a, dat.

declined begen, beggen, both: fern, ba, neut. bfi, btem, bam. The monosyllabic forms of these two

NUMERALS.

181

words are often used conjointly: masc. fern. ba twa, neut. bfi t6 (btitwu, also b6ta), dat. bam twain. For twegen, Kent, and Rush, also have twaegen; the North, is more irregular, begen has 03 in Early Kent. North. gen. b&ga, dat. bdem (along with ba'in), perhaps
:

relics of original duals (cf.

Kent, twcfentlg, twenty, OE. twgntig or

twentig, contracted from

is

*twJem tigum).
;

The original quantity of the e in twegen, begen, is long in decidedly short (Orrm has tweggen), and perhaps in LWS.
MASC. NEUT.
(ffry)

ME.

it

FEM.
ffreo

3)

N.A.
G.

ffri, ffrfe,

ffreo iVivorn

D.

ffrim (ffreom)
of the
i

NOTE

2.

The length

in (Trim is rendered certain, at least as

regards the North., by the fact of gemination. In North, the nom. of all genders in ffrio, ffrfa, Urea, the gen. ffreana.

to 19, when attributively used, are not generally inflected (numerous exceptions in North.). They are: 4. flower; 5. fff; 6. siex, six;
325.

The numbers from 4

9. nigon; 8. eahta; 10. tfen, ty"n; 11. 7. seofon; $ndleofan, ellefan ; 12. tw^lf ; 13. ffrftene, ffrittene ; 14-19. flower-, fff-, siex-, seofon-, eahta-, nigontfene

(-t^ne, -t^ne). If these numbers stand

flected according to the i-declension gen. fifa, dat. fffum.

NOTE. Other

by themselves, they are ine.g., nom. ace. fife,

;

WS. and
;

dialectic

forms are: North, feuer, for;

;

syx, siox, seox, seax, North, sex WS. seofan, seofen, siofon, North, seofo, seofa, slofu North, aehto, fflhtowe, aehta WS. nlgan, nigen, neogon, North, nfone; North. ta, t6o, t6n; WS. ^ndlufan,

WS.

V"<llnfoii, ^ndlyfon, ^ndlyfan, aenlufon, North, eellefne; North. twoslf WS. ffreot(t)yne. The inflected numerals of North, have the nom. ace. plur. feuero, fffo, sexo, seofona, nigona, tno, aellefbo,
;

tuoelfo.

326.

The even

tens from 20 to 60 are formed

by

join-

ing the syllable -tig (= Goth, tigus, decade) to the corresponding unit ; those from 70 to 120 in the same manner,

182 but with

INFLECTION.

prefixed (though it is sometimes lost in the later language). They are: 20. tw^ntig (twoentig
L.,
2 twcegentig R. )
;

hund

30. ffrftig, ffrittig

;

40. Jteowertig

(f^ortig L. Kit.)
L.)
;

50. ffftig
;

60. siextig (sexdig, -deih

70.

hundseofontig
L.

80.

tig;

90.

Imndiiigontig ;
Rit.)
;

100.

hundeahtatig, hundeahhund, hundte"ontig

hund^ndleofantig,

(hun(d)te'antig

110.

hun(d)endlyftig,

(hundselleftig,

Cura Past.)

120.

hundtw^lftig.

These numbers are originally neuter nouns, and followed by the genitive but they also occur as adjectives at a comparatively early period. Occasionally they form a gen. in -es as if sing. but (frittiges, fiftiges, etc. have also gen. -tiga, -tigra, dat. -tigum, and are some;
:

times indeclinable.
327.

Along with hundte"ontig there likewise

:

exists a

WS. neut. hundred,

The
afre"o

North, hundraff, -eft, to denote 100. numbers 200-900 are formed with hund tu hund,

hund,

etc.

nents admit of declension.

(more rarely hundred) both compo1000 is expressed by the

;

neut. afusend, gen. ffusendes ; its plur. is SFusendu, -o (-e), gen. -da, dat. -dum ; the adjectival gen. plur. -dra also occurs, and the word sometimes remains uninflected.

2)
328.

Ordinals.

ordinals corresponding to 1 are forma, formesta, fyrmesta, fyrest(a), serest(a) ; to 2 are defer, aefterra the remaining ones are : 3. ffridda (North.
;

The

arirda, (Tirdda); 4. f6owerffa, f<5orffa; 5. flfta; 6. siexta,

2 sixta, syxta (siesta, sesta L., sexta R. )
;

8. eahteo<JFa,

ehteoffa, eahtege9"a;

nigoafa, nigeoSfa; 10. t^ofra, teogeafa (teigara L.) ; 11. ellefta, ^ndlefta,
9.

NUMERALS.
ejidleofeara,

183

sendlyfta,

endleofta (sellefta L. R. 2 )
-t^offa, -tdogefra, -teg(e)ara

aendlefta, aenlyfte, ^ndlyfta, 12. twetfta. 13-19 have ;

;

-tegara, -tigaFa, -tiga

20-120, -tiogoara, -tigoffa, twentigoara, twntiga, etc.

ordinals are formed corresponding to hund, hundred, and afusend, periphrasis being employed instead. Occasionally the cardinals are used where we should

No

expect ordinals. Combined numbers either have the second numeral an ordinal, an and tw^ntigofta, etc., or
(chiefly,

of the unit

perhaps entirely, confined to Beda) the ordinal is followed by e"ac and the dat. of the

cardinals denoting the tens: ffridda e"ac 23nZ; siexta e"ac ffftigum, 56A, etc.

twentigum,

All ordinals are declined like weak adjectives (304), with the exception of <52Fer, which belongs to the strong
adjective declension.
3)
329.
tives.

Other Numerals.

two," 3frim

In OE. there are only relics of former distribu"One by one" is rendered by tfenlfpige; "two by getwinne or twsem and twsfcm; "three by three," and afrim " four by four," flower and flower
; ;

"thousand by thousand," Kfiisendfealde or artisendum and arusendum. With Goth, tweihnai are allied the forms twfh and twe"onum in phrases like mid unc twfh, between us two; be seem twe"onum, between the seas.
to

More commonly they unite with the preposition l>e form the compound preposition betwfh, betweoh, bet(w)uli, betwuht, and betwfnum, betwonum, -an, between (North, also betwfn, betwlen), between. In a similar manner has arisen a preposition betwix, betweox(n),

OHG.

betwux(n), betwiux, betux, between untar /.uiskdiu).

(cf.

184

INFLECTION.
is

found, Oros. 68. 23

NOTE. Besides the dative phrases given above, an accusative Anno, and Anne.
:

330.

Multiplicatives are formed

:

tive -feald to the cardinals

twi-,

by adding the adjecanfeald, twiofeald (twie-,

etc.

twyfeald), ftrifeald, mqnigfeald,

331.

"how
tuwa

Of numeral adverbs in answer to the question often?" only the following are in use sfene, once; (twiwa, twywa, twuwa, twuga), twice; and
:

bers, as well as alternatives to those just

Those from higher numnamed, are formed periphrastically by means of sffF, journey, time :
SFriwa, <3Frywa, Sfriga, thrice.

sne
etc.
;

sfffa (later sfffe),

once; twsfem, SFrfm,

ff

sfJTum,

likewise

on

.viiiic siSF, etc.

etc., is

NOTE. The " first, second, third time,"

offre, ffriddan, siffe, etc.

expressed by forman,

Pronouns.
1) Personal

Pronouns without Distinction of Gender.

FIRST PERSON.

SECOND PERSON.
ffu, ffu

332.

Sing. N. ic, ic 6. niin

Win
ffe, ffe

D. me, me A. mec, me,

me

ffec,

flfe,

ffe

Dual N. wit, wit

G.

git, git

uncer

D. unc A. uiicii unc

Plur. N.

Incer Inc Inc it, inc

ge, ge, gie

we,

we

G. nser, ure D. MS A. nsic, ns

eow^er
f'OIV

eowic,

eow
is

we, ge, etc., the length of the vowel gemination and accent in the Mss., but cf. 121.
1.

NOTB

In

established by

PRONOUNS.
NOTE
ffec,
2.

185
;

The North, forms

9eh;

plur. fisic, fisig, usih,

6ser, fiserra, fisra ;

me, mec, inch 8Fe, and iuih, iuli (ivigh Rit.) gen. plur. luer, luerra Ps. fir, 6ower. From ic is formed,
of the dat. ace. are
;

by prefixing the negative ne, a compound

2)
333.

nic(c), in the sense of "no."

Reflexive Pronouns.

independent reflexive pronoun no longer In its stead are employed the correforms of the third personal pronoun (334). sponding
exists in

An

OE.

3)
334.

Pronouns of
MASC.

the
NBUT.

Third Person.
FEM.

Sing. N.

he

(he)

hit

heo, hie, hi
hiere, hire,
hiere, hire,

G.

his

D.

him
hit
hie, heo, hi (hig)

byre hyre

A. hi(e)ne
Plur. N. A.

luV hi, heo

G.

hiera, hira (hyra)

heora (heara)

D.

him,
dat. sing. fern,

NOTE. In North, the

(more rarely the gen.)

is

hlr;

heara

is

peculiar to the Ps. and North.

4) Possessive*.

possessives are formed from the stems of the personal pronouns of the first and second persons, and from that of the lost reflexive: mfn, mine; 8Ffn,
335.

The

thine

sfn, his ;

rire (Ps. tir), riser (risser),

uncer, of us two ; incer, of you two ; our ; cower (North, iuer),

your.

number, and

stand for any gender or generally employed as a reflexive (like Lat. suus), the genitives of the third personal pronoun his, hire, plur. hiera, are also used as possessives.

Besides sfn, which

is

may

336.

The declension

of the possessives

is

the same as

that of the strong adjectives (rire like grene, 298).

186

INFLECTION.

NOTK 1. user generally assimilates sr to ss in the cases which have syncope of the middle vowel (144; cf. 180) Asses, I'ISSHTH, for *usres, *6srum, etc.; but userne. The double-s forces itself, however, even
:

into unsyncopated cases

tire is frequently

ura

usser, usser ne, ussera. The gen. plur. of that of user is sometimes ussa. This assimi: :

lation

is

wanting in North.
etc.,

and lucres,

gen. usres, etc. gen. plur. iuera. gen. plur. ure, depending
is

In North, iuer has iures

NOTE

2.

The

hwelc, fenig, and nan,

inflected possessive
:

upon such words as begen, sometimes converted by analogy into the uriiin bam, urne hwelcne, ures nanes. 5) Demonstratives.

337. The pronoun se, seo, ftset, originally a simple demonstrative, was almost altogether restricted, in Old English, to the functions of the definite article. Its

declension in

WS.
MASC.

is

NEUT.
ffaet
ffaes
';' ii
i

FBM.

Sing. N. se, se

seo
ffsfere
fin'-

G.

D. A. ffone
I.

(iVjiin

re

ffaet
ffy,

ffa

ffon
ffa

Plur.

NJL
G.

ffdra

(ffafera)

D.

ffsem (ffAm)
in parenthesis are

NOTE

1.

Forms

more

recent,

and are seldom or

never found in the oldest texts.

ffare very rarely occurs as gen. dat. sing., and User as dat. sing. a LWS. form for gen. and dat. is ffgera. Besides ffone, there occur also ffsene and ffane,

Except

in

LWS.,
;

especially in
(cf.

LWS.
it is

(cf.

65. note 2).

ffam passes

into the

LWS.

ffan

187).
;

The instrumental ffon

chiefly

attributive

found

(ffan) appears but seldom as an in phrases like ffon ma, more than that,

and adverbial formulas

after that, etc.

like for,

bl ffon, on

that account, aefter ffon,

NOTE

2.

Peculiarities of the Ps. are

nom.

ace. neut. ffaet, ffet,

nom.

sing. fern, sfe (once seo), gen. masc. nom. ffes (along with ffses), gen. dat. fern, ffere, gen. plur. ffeara. The North, inflection is sing. nom.
:

masc.

.se,

ffe,

neut. ffaet, fern, ffiu, ffio, ffy;

gen. ffaes, fem. ffaere;

PRONOUNS.
dat. ffsfem, fem. 9skr, -re; ace.
instr.
ffy, ffe,

187
ffaet, fern. ffa;

masc. ffone, ffene, neut.

ffa,

ffon
;

plur.
still

seo

is

used for se

gen. ff&ra, dat. ffgfem. In later >e, J>6o, take the place of se, seo.
fres,

nom.

LWS.
fem.
:

338.

The compound demonstrative pronoun

MASC.

ffeos, neut. 31s, this, is

thus declined in the oldest

NEUT.
ffis

WS.

FBM.
ffeos
ffisse (ffeosse, ffisre)

Sing. N. ffes

G.

ffis(s)es, ffys(s)es

D. ffiosum, ffis(s)um, ffys(s)om A. ffiosne, ffisne, ffysne ffis

I.

ffisse (ffeosse, ffisre)

Vas

ffys, ffis
ff

Plur. N. A.

As

G.

ffissa (ffeossa)

D.

(Yinsmii, <Vis(s)iiiu, ffys(s)um

NOTE
above
;

1.

In the older documents

it

is

confined to the cases instanced

i

subsequently
2.

takes the place of

in the Ps. is

in the other cases, accord-

ing to 22.

NOTE
nom.
neut.

The declension

sing.

nom.

ffes, ffis,
ffls,

ffeos

gen. ffisses, ffisse; dat. ffissum, fflsse; ace. ffeosne,

ffAs, dat. (Yissuin
ff is,

ffAs;

plur.

(ffeossum).
;

North, sing. nom. masc.

;

ffes, ffls,

gen. ffisses, fem. ffisse dat. ffissum, ffassiini, fem. ffisser, ffasser, ffaesser ; ace. masc. ffiosne, neut. ffis, fem. ffAs; instr. ffis, ffisse, ffissa; plur. neut. ffAs, dat. ffissum, ffassum. NOTE 3. In LWS. the gen. dat. sing. fem. and gen. plur. occur as

fem.

'V

us,

ff ios

Jissere, J>issera.

NOTE

4.

particle, -se, -si

This pronoun was originally formed by the addition of a (= Goth, sa!, OHG. se, behold), to the case forms of the

simple demonstrative.

In OE. this formation

is

in such forms as ffe-s, ffeo-s (cf. North,

ffe, ffiu,

only to be recognized 337. note 2), ffa-s,

partook of

since the particle first became incorporated with the pronoun, its inflection throughout.

and then

NOTE 5. The pronoun jener, Goth, julns, scarcely survives in OE. ; an isolated to geonre byrg (Cura Past., 443. 25) is the only occurrence known. From the same root are, however, derived the adverbs geond
(giend, gind), through; begeondan, beyond,
etc.

339.

The pronoun
is

of identity

is

se ilca (illca), the

adjective.

same, which

declined like a

weak

The

equivalent of "ipse" is EWS. self (seolf, sielf, sylf), which may follow either declension.

188

INFLECTION.
till

did

NOTE, se seolfa anciently meant only "he himself"; not " the same." In L WS. ilca it acquire the signification of

late

is

some-

times strong.

6) Relatives.

OE. has no relative pronoun. Its place is supeither by the simple demonstrative se, se>>, eraet, plied or the particle are, alone or in combination with a
340.

demonstrative.
NOTE, se, s6o, ffaet, can of course refer only to the third person. but seldom stands alone ; it usually refers to an antecedent demonstrative se, seo, ffaet. This demonstrative frequently occupies a posiffe
:

tion immediately before the ffe (se ffe, seo ffe, neut. anciently ffaette, subsequently analyzed into ffaet ffe), though it belongs, grammatically,
to the preceding sentence.

Less frequent is the combination with a personal proare he, who ; noun, which is then appended to the are
:

afe his,

whose

8Fe

him, whom,

etc.

even double forma-

tions, se ffe his, etc., occur.

If the relative refers to

are,

the
a>u
.

first
.
.

or second person, either simple are (ic . . . are, or aru are, etc.) or the personal pronoun
:

fol-

lows them, as described above

are ic,

who ;

fre

we,

we who ;

are tisic,

us

whom,

etc.

7) Interrogatives.

= Goth. interrogative hwa, hwaet hwas, has only developed a masc. and neut. sing. The neut. hwaet (North, also huaed, huaetd), with a following genitive, e.g. hwaet niQima, signifies "what
341.

The simple

sort of a."
MASC.
Sing. N.

NKCT.

hwa
hwaes

hwaet

G.

D.
A.
!

hwaem,

hwdm
hwaet

hwone

hwy, hwi

PRONOUNS.
NOTE. Besides
65. note
2.

189

hwone

(rarely

second form of the

hwane), hwaene is also found, cf. instr., hwon (hwan), is met with
etc.
;

only in adverbial phrases like to hwon, for hwon, why, " h6, only in the character of an adverb, how."

a third,

342. Of the strong adjective declension are hwaeSFer, which of two ? and the compounds hiilic, of what sort ? and hwilc (hwylc, hwelc, Ps. hwelc, North, huoelc, * * The correlahuaelc), which ? (from hwi-lfc, hwa-lfc)
.

tive of the latter is swilc, swylc, swelc, such (North.

suoelc, Goth, swaleiks).

8) Indefinites.

indefinite pronoun "some one" is expressed which is declined like a strong adjective. In by sum, negative and interrogative sentences, the interrogatives hwa, hwaearer, hwelc, may be used as indefinites. Most of the other indefinites are formed by composition.
343.

The

344.

The

indeclinable

-hwega (-hwiga, -hwuga;

-hwegu, -hwigu, -liwugu, -hugu, North, -hwoegu, -hwogu) is used to form the compounds hwaethwega, anything, aethwega, somewhat, forhwaega, forhwaga, at least, huhwega, hi'ihugu, somewhere about, and the substantive and adjective hwilchwega, anyone. The same meaning is expressed by ndthwa, ndthwilc, properly "I know not who." "Anything" is likewise rendered by awiht, dwiht (dwuht, duht, dht <5wuht,
;

6bt;
345.

OHG.

eowiht).

Indefinite relatives are

formed from the

inter-

rogatives by
swii,

swa-swa: swa hwa swa,

sw^a hw^aeffer

swa hwilc swa, whoever, etc., the latter of which contract to swaecTer (swaffer) and swylc.

190
346.

INFLECTION.
"

One

of

two

"
(Lat.

alteruter)

is

ahwaeQ'er

which (dliwseffer, awfter, dwflfer; duffer, after, dffor), Of similar is mostly confined to negative sentences.
formation
are
:

aliwa,

anyone ;

aliwaet,

anything ;

ahwilc, whatsoever.
347.
<felc)
;

"

Each "

is

denoted by

selc (elc, Ps. ylc(?),

North.

besides sethwa,

gewha, each (only

as a substan-

fern., cf. 341), gehwae<yer, each (also aura gehwilc), SQmhwylc, both; gehwilc, some one, (ge)welhwylc, each; and the strengthened

tive,

but inflected sometimes as

forms seghwa, aeghwaeffer (segflFer), jfeghwilc, or 6ghwa, ^ghwilc, Ps. North, ceghwa, etc.
,

NOTE

1.

This prefixed

sfe,

ce,

corresponds to the Goth, alw,

A, 6,

OHG.

eo, lo (174. 3),

and

is

umlauted from

by the
etc.).

of the gi which

originally followed (cf.

OHG.

eo-gi-hwelih,

the strengthened gfefre sfelc, is derived the modern Eng. every; g&lcuht for afelcwuht, everything, occurs Oros. 113. 26.
2.

NOTE

From

348.
;i

l)

To "any"

corresponds

OE.

afenig;

North.

found, probably arising from composition of an with wiht, wuht, thing (cf. 2). " Neither " is 2) represented by ndhwgeffer, n6hwaenilil is also

"none" by nan, naenig; ndwiht (ndwnht, nauht, iiaht; "nothing" by nawiht, u6wuht, ndht, nau^ing, nanwiht, uanuht, North, also
ffer

(nawffer, ndwiffer, ndffer);

1 1

a"

-ni lit. Cf.

1).
is usually denoted by swelc (swilc, 342; sometimes also fryslic, ffuslic (likewise

349.

"Such"
cf.

swylc),

assimilated to

ffyllic, ffullic), rarely ffaeslic, but only in a demonstrative signification, never as a correlative.

CONJUGATION.

101

PART

II.

-CONJUGATION.

In General.
350.

1)

The OE. verb has the following forms Only one independently developed voice the
:

active.

the medial passive still extant in Gothic there remains only the single form hdtte, with the plur. hdtton

Of

(367. note) .

With this exception, the passive is formed by

(427),

means of the auxiliary verbs boii, wesan

rarely weor9"an.
2)

more

Two

tenses

time, which we

call

a present, and a general tense of past The place of the the preterit.

is generally supplied by the more rarely formed by means of the auxiliary present,

future (for be"on see 427)

verb sculan.

an indicative and an optative (more frequently called subjunctive), besides an imperative, which is only used in the present.
3)

Two

complete modes

singular and plural. Three verbal nouns: a present infinitive, a present participle with active meaning, and a past participle with passive meaning, to which must be added an iso4)
5)
:

Two numbers

lated

LWS.

gerundive, like t6 d6nde,faciendus.

351.
classes,

Germanic verbs are divided into two principal

:

l)

according to the formation of the preterit Strong Verbs. These form their preterit either by
is,

the so-called ablaut, that

variation of the radical

192

INFLECTION.

I bound (ablaut radical syllable, verbs) ; by reduplication which, however, does not exclude ablaut, like Goth.
vowel, like Goth, binda,
or

I bind,

band,
the

of

haita,
let

I call,

haihait,

/ called ;

16ta,

I let,

lailtit,

/ did

(reduplicating verbs).
2)

Weak

Verbs.

tion of the syllable -da, -ta, to the

e.g.,

These form their preterit by the addiend (dental preterit):

save,

Goth, nasja,

kaba,

I
;

have, salbd,

/ anoint,

bugja, J buy, pret. pret. nasida, habaida, salbtfda etc. The weak verbs again fall into three baiihta,
classes (see 398).

Besides these two main divisions there are certain

smaller groups, concerning which see 417
ff.

I.

Personal Endings in General.

of the strong verbs
PRESENT.
:

352.

The endings

Indicative.

Optative.
;

Imperative. Sing. 2. Plur. 1.

2.

Sing.

1.

-u, -o

-e

\ >
)

2. 3.

-es, -est
-eff
-aflf

-e

-an
-a

Plur.

-en, -an, -on.

Infinitive:

-an

Participle:

-cnde

PRETERIT.
Indicative.

Optative.
N

Sing.

1.

2.

-e
-

[
)

-e

3.

Plur. -un, -on, -an

Participle: -en (-on).

-en

NOTE.

For passive forms see 367.

2.

CONJUGATION.

193
II.

The endings of the weak verbs, Class I. and those of III. see the complete paradigm, 415) (for
353.
:

PRESENT.
Indicative.

Optative.
II.
I.

Imperative.
I.

L
Sg.
1. -u,

IL
Sg.2.
PI. 1.
2.

II.

-o ; -e

-lu, -lo, -i(g)e

-e,

-a

2. -es, -est
3. -e

-as, -ast
-aff

-an -aF

-l(ge)an
-l(ge)aff

Plur. -aff
Infinitive: I.

-i(ge)aff

-en -l(g)en
Participle:
I.

-an;

II.

-l(ge)an

-ende;

II.

-l(g)ende

PRETERIT.
Indicative.

Sing.

1.

-de
-ties,

2.
3.

-dest

-de

Plur. -dun, -don,

Participle:
I.

-dan
(-t)
;

-den
II.

-ed

-od (-ad).

354.
class of

The endings of the strong verbs, and of the first weak verbs, are the same throughout the pres-

ent,

The second

with the exception of the 2d sing. imp. (cf. 362). class of weak verbs has the same consonants,
Moreover, the endings of the

but different vowels.

plur. ind. are identical in all verbs;

and the same

is

true of the whole pret. opt., except that, in both cases, allowance must be made for the preceding d, t, of the

weak

verbs.

NOTE. For the preteritive presents, which form their present like a strong preterit, and from this present form a weak preterit, see 417 ff for the anomalous conjugation of verbs in -ml see 426 ff.
.

355.

(more
of
-o,

1st sing. pres. ind. ends in the Ps. in -u rarely -o, very seldom -e), North, in -o (Class II.
in -a, -iga)
;

The

weak verbs

in ancient

Kent, charters

-u,

are found along with

-e,

the latter finally triumph-

194

INFLECTION.

ing; in WS., with but few exceptions, -e is the prePs. bindu, nergu, seecu, ftrdwiu ; vailing termination
:

WS. binde, North, bindo, n^rgo, soeco, 8rr<5w(ig)a nerge, s6ce, <0Fr<Swi(g)e. NOTE 1. The older -u is retained in WS. in contract forms like
;

seo, tfeo, s!6a

(373

ft.),

from *sehu, *tihu, *slahu (according

to

111 ff.). NOTE

2. Apocope of the final vowel sometimes takes place before the pronoun Ic, especially in the phrase wnlc, I ween, for w6ne Ic ; North, forgeldlg, wlllic, for forgeldu ic, wlllo ic, etc. (cf. 4O9.

note 2).

356.

The

oldest

form of the ending of the 2d

sing,

pres. ind. is -is, usually -es (Goth, -is, -eis), e.g. bindes, hilpes; in the II. weak conjugation -as (Goth. -<5s), e.g.

that of the 2d sing. pret. ind. of weak verbs is These forms frequently -des, -tes, e.g. neredes, sdhtes. in the oldest texts, almost to the exclusion of prevail
sealfas
;

others, but are afterwards supplanted by -est, -ast, -dest. NOTE. Simple -8 seems to hold its place longest in Kent.; for example, it is still the normal ending in the Kent. Glosses. The -st
establishes itself first in the monosyllabic forms of contract verbs (373 ff.), and the verbs in -ml (427 ff.). For the origin of this final -t cf. 202. 6. In EWS. the final group -sff is very common bindesff,
:

n^resff, eardasff, tseldesff, etc. (cf. 196).

357.

The normal ending of

-it!

strong verbs, and of the

-ear,

first class
-i]?,

the 3d sing. pres. ind. of of weak verbs, is

-eip),

from former

(= Goth,

which

is

often

retained as

On the the oldest Mss. like Ep. the ancient texts often have -id, -ed (perhaps contrary, clerical errors, or to be judged in the light of 199. note),
-ith, -it, in
-et,

and likewise
-ae?T,

which

is

sometimes retained afterward

In North, -es
(-aes, -as,

(e.g., frequently in Kent. Gl.).

disputes the predominance with -eff; WS. Kent. Ps. bindeff (for bint, see 359. 3), North. bindeS,
-aff)

-es, -aes, -as, -se?F, -aff, etc.

CONJUGATION.
358.

195

In the 2d and 3d sing. ind. of the verbs just mentioned, the e of the termination -es(t), -ear is fre-

quently syncopated. As regards this syncopation, there

are.

marked discrepancies
In the oldest

in

the various dialects and

documents.
NOTE
1.

WS.

Mss., like
1

Cura

Past.,

syncope has already

assumed prominence.
frequently occur
flelff,
;

later period the fuller etymological forms such are st^ndeS , fealleff, bl6weff, for older ste^nt,

At a

being the rule in the Kent. Gl.

It is likewise common in Kent., the other hand, it is as good as unknown in the Ps. and North., and its absence is a valuable characteristic of these dialects.

blwff,

etc. (see also

371. note).

On

359.

The following

rules apply when, in consequence

of syncope, radical final consonants are brought into contact with the -s(t), -ar, of the ending.
1)

Gemination

is
;

simplified

wiiman, winst, winS

;

feallaii, flelst, fieiar

liliehhaii, hliehst, hliehSf

yppan,

ypst, ypar (ypt).

2)

d before
;

-s(t)

is

usually converted to t: findaii,

;

fiiitst (findst)

stQndan, st^ntst (st^ndst)

:

ondr&dan,

ondntst

dropped fiiist, st^nst. gr before -s(t) and -ar frequently becomes h (but c after n), especially in later Mss. stigan, stigst and stfhst, stigar and stihar
;

or

is

(214. l).

Before these endings c

is

occasionally con-

verted to h in the later texts.

3)

to

t,

d and t are fused with the Or of the termination which often becomes tt after vowels: fiiidan, flnt;
weak
faesff,

berstan, birst; bidan, bit, bftt; etan, it, itt; x/iidan. s^iit; fsestan, fsest (EWS. likewise

according to 196)

bw^ttan, hw^tt, etc. c passes into h before st and 3 in LWS. 4) se'can, tsfecan, SFryccan, 2d sing, selist, ttthst, ffryhst, 3d sing.
;

gre"taii,

g;rt

seliflF,

tttbac,

cst, car is

though the etymological spelling more frequently retained.

STryhS
;

196

INFLECTION.

NOTE 1. That cst, cff was pronounced hst, hff in LWS. is shown by the occasional substitution of cff for older hff and gff, as in gefficff,
afecff
;

flicff,

forswylcff.
is

always simplified after consonants, and usually after vowels weoraran, wierfr cweffan, cwifF cy^an, cfff(ff}. Before -s(t), ff either becomes t, as in
4)
ff

ff

siiitVan, snftst,

or

is

dropped when preceded by a con:

sonant

weorflfan, wierst.

ce'osan, cfest ; weaxan, 5) s + ff often becomes st wiext (EWS. also wiexOF, according to 196). In like manner yppan yields ypt, and flon, flfht; but the ff uniformly remains after c wiercS ffyucff, lycfr, etc.
1

In consequence of the contraction of s 3d pres. sing, often become identical.

2.

NOTE

ff

to st, the

2d and

l) All three persons of the plur. pres. ind., towith the 2d plur. imp., end in -aft (for *-an9" cf. gether Goth. -and). The older Mss. have now and then -at, -ad (cf. 357) ; in North, the -aff interchanges with -as
360.
;
1

(-aes, -es, -seKJ , -eft)

2)

But should one

bindaff, North, bindas, etc. of the pronouns we or ge stand

immediately after the verb, a shorter ending -e frequently takes the place of -a8f: binde we, binde ge, along with we, ge bindaff (and bindaar we, ge).
1st

In like manner, there occur abbreviated forms of the and 2d plur. pret. ind., especially of the preteritive
e.g.,

presents,

mdte we,
forms are

cfurfe we,

c6me

ge, sdhte ge,

with

-e instead of -o, -u.

latter
still

NOTE. The

preserved in North.

e.g.,

walla

we, we

will;

nutu

-we, we Icnow not;

maga
-1,

ge, you can;

nuutu

gle,

emblgto we, ice you know not; sal do ge

:

have served; along with

more frequent in the 2d plur. plaegde ge, haefdi ge, nuti ge, oncneugi ge, etc. This apocope was originally confined to final -n, that is, it affected only the preterit and the adhortative forms of the present (-an and optatival -en, the latter specially employed in the
-e,

CONJUGATION.
;

197

negative imperative) hence, -e for -aS is entirely wanting in North, and Ps., while in WS. the abbreviation has made its way into the indicative

and the genuine imperative.

361.

The

pres. opt. has in the sing, the

-ae,

ending
;

-e,

as

in

binde (anciently likewise

North, often -a)

in the

plur. usually -en or -an, as in binden, bindan (in ancient Mss. also -sen, and in later WS. -on (-un)) ; in North.,

with apocope of the

362.

-n,

binde,

-se, -a,

as in the sing.

The 2d

sing. imp. of strong verbs has

no termi-

nation, except in the case of the short stems, which form their present in Germanic with -jo- (372) ; these, like the original short stems of the first weak class,

have the ending -e, formerly -i, while the corresponding long stems are without termination (133. c\ 410. 3). The adhortative form of the 1st plur. in -an is not common, being supplanted in many documents by the corresponding optative in -en (for binde we, etc., see
360. 2).
363. i) Beside the regular infinitive ending in -an, bindan, the older (WS.) texts have less commonly -on, bindon. In North, the final -n suffers apocope, and the

vowel -a

is

often

weakened
inflected

to

-se,

-e:

bmda,

bindae,

binde, bind.

form of the infinitive generin -anne, but older Mss. have also -enne (-cue) ally ends and -onne bindeime, bindene, bindonne while in LWS. the termination -ende is to be found.
:

The

NOTE. In a few instances the uninflected

inflected
:

infinitive stands for the

to bindan for to bindanne,

etc.

2)

The usual ending

of the present participle

(so in

is

-ende, older -aendi, seldom -indi rarely occurs.

364.

Ep.)

-onde

The 2d sing. pret. ind. of strong verbs ends in e, that of the weak verbs in -des(t). regularly
l)

198
NOTE
1.

INFLECTION.

Now
:

and then the e of the strong verbs

set ffu,
O'u.

is

lost

before the
for

pronoun O'u com 3 u, druiic (In, come, drunce, ;i-t r. druge, gewice

druh

90,

gewic So,

NOTE
sing.

2.

In North, certain reduplicating verbs (in t) form the 2d

pret. ind. in -es, -est:

hehtes (beside forleorte), gihehtest,

sing. pret. ind. see

gUeortest, forlStes.

NOTE
2)

3.

For the i-umlaut of the 2d

377.

The

plur. pret. ind. has in the oldest texts (so in

Ps. and generally in Rush. 1 ) the ending -un, bunduii, sohtuii; next occurs -on, bundon, soliton (WS. and

North.)

subsequently

often

-an,

bundan,

sdhtan

(sporadic instances as early as rarely -en (bunden, Rush.).

NOTE.
365.

Cura

Past., Lind., Rush.);

Apocope

of final -n does not occur here in North.

The

bunde,

pret. opt. has in the sing, the ending -e, solite (seldom North, -a, bunda) ; in the plur.

originally -en, bunden, sdhten, quite distinct from that of the indicative. Subsequent!} however, the -on, -an, of the indicative invades the territory of the optative,
7

",

and the termination of the 2d sing, indicative is sometimes found in the preterit optative of weak verbs:
sealdest, fyligdest, mihtest, etc.
or even

NOTE. In North, the plur. generally has -e with apocope of the -n, -o, -on, with more or less complete levelling under the indica-

tive termination.

366.

The

past participle of verbs without prepositional

prefix is usually compounded with the particle ge-, older gi-, as in German e.g., gebunden, geliolpen, genered,
:

gefremed, etc. Yet forms without ge are found, mainly from strong verbs.

As regards the endings, the past participle of strong verbs has in the older texts, in addition to the regular
ending -en, as in (ge)bunden, the rare termination -on

CONJUGATION.

199

(-an, -un), declined -one, etc., or rarely -in- in the in-

flected forms.

For the terminations of the weak verbs

See 402, 406, 413, 415.

II.

Strong Verbs.

A.

THE CONJUGATION OF THE STRONG VERBS.

Paradigms.
1.

367.

ACTIVE.
Indicative.

PRESENT. REGULAR VERBS.

Sg.
1.

CONTRACT VERBS.
t ('<)

binde

helpe

bidde

tfl)

S('()

Sll'jl

f6
1Y-

igsr

*>

isr
biddaff

tfhst tiehst siehst sliehst

tiehff siehff sliehff

list

!Y-li3

Flur. bindatt helpaff

teoff teoS

s^off

s!6aff
*

foff

Optative.

REGULAR VERBS.
Sing, Plur.

CONTRACT VERBS.

binde binden

helpe helpen

bidde bidden

teo

fro

teon

teon

s6o seon

slea

glean

f6 ton

Imperative.

Sg. 2.
PI. 1.
2.

bind bindan
bindaff

help helpan
helpaff

bide

tih
tfeon teoff

troh

biddan
biddaff

ton

seoh s6on

sleah slean

f6h f6n

Infinitive.

bindan

helpan

biddan

teon

teon

seon

slean

fon

Regular Verbs

bindende, helpende, biddende

:

Contract Verbs

teonde, teonde, seonde, slgande, f6nde.

200

INFLECTION.
PRETEBIT.
Indicative.

REGULAR VERBS.
Sg.
1.

CONTRACT VERBS.

l)oii(l

2.
3.

bunde
loml

healp hulpe healp

baed
1>;>'-<I<-

baed
bifcdon

Flur.

bundon hulpon

CONJUGATION.
though frequently modified by i-umlaut and 3d sing, indicative (371).
ent,
370.

201
in the 2d

u- and o-umlaut do not usually occur in WS. ; but in the Ps., and less regularly in North., both

umlauts appear before a single consonant. They are therefore found in ablaut classes IV. and V., in the infinitive,

indicative

present participle, 1st sing, indicative, the plur. and plur. imperative, but not in the 2d or 3d

sing, indicative,

2d

sing, imperative,

nor in the optative.

NORTH.

Examples

Infinitive

Participle: Ind. Sg. 1.

:

W8. beran berendo

bere

Ps.

beoran beorende beoru

bires
blreff

be(a)ra be(a)rende

bero
beres
bereff

2.
3.

Wrest
bireff

Plur. beratf

beoraff

be(a)ra8'

Optative
PI.

Imp.: Sg.

2.
1.

bere ber

bere ber

bere ber
be(a)ra
be(a)raff

beran
beraff

beoran
beoraff

2.

NOTE. Only seldom are forms found in WS. with u-, o-umlaut, like beoran, beoraff, beorende; that they formerly existed in greater numbers is proved by the frequent occurrence of forms like 2d sing. blerest, 3d sing, blereff, later byrest, byreff (by umlaut from *beoris, * *beoriff, with transfer of the eo from the 1st sing. beoru).
In North, the u-umlaut
is

wanting

in the 1st sing. ind.

Hush. 1

is

here ranged in the main on the side of North., though the forms with

u-umlaut are somewhat

less

common.

i-umlaut properly belongs only to the 2d and 3d sing, present indicative, and is frequently found in these two forms ; but not infrequently there is a substitution of the unchanged vowel belonging to the other present
371.

forms.

In this respect there various dialects.

is

no unanimity among the

202

INFLECTION.

NOTE. In respect to the use of umlaut, WS. takes the lead. Its documents, like the Cura Past., exhibit umlaut of every vowel capable of undergoing it, especially in the syncopated forms (359) beran, bired, biereff (370. note); weorpan, helpan, hilpff wierpft faran, fereS weaxan, wiexff feallan, fielS stqndan, stejit; cnawan, cnsfewff hatan, h&t; flowan, flewS Ifican, lycff; n lyt n heawan, hiewff <' osaii, ciesff, etc. The same manuearliest
:

however, likewise have forms without umlaut in particular, the verbs containing a in the radical syllable, like faran, generally In certain later documents have ae instead of 3: fserest, faereff.
scripts,
;

is the rule only in verbs whose radical syllable contains e, co: helpan, hilpeff; beran, blreff, byreff; weorpan, wyrpeff; while in the other classes of verbs the prevalent forms are those with-

the umlaut

out umlaut (and with fuller ending, 358. note)

st

weax eff,
1

fealleff,

<m<l'<v.

cnaweff, hdteff, floweff, buge8F,

is

heaweS

Kentish
II.
it

and

III.

very irregular in respect to this ablaut classes often remaining unchanged.

coseff, etc. umlaut, the verbs of the

,

inclines to follow the

WS.

rule.
i

The
:

On the whole, Psalter takes cognizance only

1

of the variation between e

and

(92)

helpan, hilpeff beran, bireS

;

stregdan, strigdes; (so also feolan, flleff, for the ecthlipsis of h, (218); but weorpan, weorpeft; fearan, fereff (151. 1); fiillan,
a .V stqndan, stQndeff cnawan, cnawefr fl6wan, fldweQ uca n. lAceff ceosan, ceoseff, etc. Notwithstanding what has been said above regarding verbs with radical e, this vowel is not seldom Verbs retained, especially where the stem ends in a single consonant.
fa
I 1
1

with radical ea (breaking) often exhibit syncope in the later texts without umlaut change fealst, weaxt. Verbs of the VI. ablaut class
:

frequently retain radical a in the imp. sing. : far, wiffsac, etc. (cf. 49). In North, the true i-umlaut is wanting ; yet original e appears as e unobscured by the u-umlaut of the remaining forms (370) : cf. helpa,

helpeff

beara, bereff, in contrast with cearfa, cearfeff

;
;

worpa,

worpeff fara, faereff stQnda, st^ndeff hata, hateff, etc. In like manner the i of nioma (390. note 2) remains as i uioma, nimeff.
;
:

Verbs in
372.

-jo-.

Like biddan are inflected

the verbs sittan,

fricg(e)an, licg(e)an (391. 3), h^bban, hliehhan, scieppan, staeppan, sc^iararan (392. 4), which form their present in Germ, with jo. The discrepancies are confined to

CONJUGATION.

203

the present, which conforms in all respects to the conjugation of the short-stemmed weak verbs of the First

Class (paradigm

fr$mman, 409). The paradigm n^rian (409) is followed by the strong

;

verbs sw^rian (392. 4)

the paradigm of the long stems, (differing from that of the strong verbs only by the invariable umlaut of the radical syllable), is followed

dman

by w^pan, weep (396), and perhaps gierran 1) and hw&san (396. c).
NOTE. In North, the
ing
:

(388. note

sing. imp. of the short stems is devoid of endbid, he/, instead of bide, h$fe (cf. 410. note 4).

Contract Verbs.
373.

ended

in

Contract verbs are those whose stems originally h; this was lost before vowels (218), and the
:

adjoining vowels were then contracted. Here belong I. t^on, the verbs of the following ablaut classes

wr^on, Iron, s^on (383) II. fl^on, ton (384) V. gef^on, plon, son (391. 2) VI. ftean, lan, slan, ?Tw<$an (392. 2) and the reduplicating fdn, hdn (395).
ar^on,
; ; ;

374. In WS. and Kent, the h is retained in the 2d and 3d sing, present indicative, which have the i-umlaut and syncopated ending, and in the 2d sing, imperative in Ps. and North, it is found (cf. the paradigm 367)
;

only in the sing, imperative. NOTE. The forms of the Ps. are: 1) Inf. \vr6an; pres. 3d sing. wriff; imp. sing. wrih. 2) Pres. 1st sing. fleom (of. 426 ff.), 3d sing. tiff, plur. tfcoS fleoff opt. plur. fl6n imp. sing, teh part, flgonde.
1

3) Inf. scan, sian

ger.

ges6onne
1

pres. 1st sing, sio, sie, gefio, gefie,

2d

sing, sist,

3d

sing, siff, gefiff (once geflhff, 20. 2,

and gefiht,

15. 9),

plur. siaft, seaff, sfcoff,

and gefiaS gefSaff,

,

gef&oflf

opt. sing. s6, geffe,

plur. sfen,

gef6n

imp. sing, seh, gefeh, plur.

siaff, gefiaff,

ge^off

part, sionde, siende.

4) Pres. 1st sing, slea, ffw6a, 2d sing. sl6s,

204
s,

INFLECTION.
3d
sing, sleff, ffweff, plur. sleaff; opt. sing. sle; imp. slaeh,

ffuaeh.
foest,

5)

Inf.

f6n; pres.

1st sing,

fo (once f6u,
4, i.e. ffest,

115. 13),
foeff,
;

2d sing.

3d

sing,

foeff

(once foeht, 47.

(i.e.

foeht), plur.

f69

opt. foe, plur.

foen

foe, fden,

or f6e, foen ?)

imp. sing, fob,

plur.

f69

part, fonde.
:

In North, the following inflective forms occur

pres. plur. glffii

1) Inf. gifffa, Kit.

we;

opt. sing, giffil; part, ffiieude,

wria

(often

2) Inf. fl6a; 2) ; pres. 3d sing, wriff, plur. wriaft. 2 sing, fiiS, R. Hit. fleff, plur. flea?; opt. sing. Kit. flee, flii, fliae; 3) Inf. sea; pres. 1st imp. sing, fl^h, plur. fl^aff; part, fleende, Kit.

wriga, 383. note

pres.

3d

sing,

seom, slum, 2d
;

sing, sist,

3d

sing, siff, plur. seat?

;

opt. sing, si

imp. sing, seh (also slh, sigh, Hit.), plur. seaff

4) Inf. sla, slaplur. slaff, slakS
pres. 1st sing,
;

part,

seende, segende.

slsfe,

2d

sing, shi-s,

3d

sing. sl;rY,

imp. sing, slab,

plur. ofsld

we

part,

sl^nde

pres. 1st sing, ffwa,

sing,
(i.e.

2d

sing, ffwas,

3d

sing, ffwaff, plur. ffwdff; opt.

ffwa; imp. 8"\vdh. (gefeon

II.).
is

f03s, foaff), plur. foaff, f6eff (foaff?)

5) Inf. f6a; pres. 2d sing, foes, 3d sing, foeff opt. foe (foe?); imp. f 6h,
;

plur. ton's

weak

in North.

gifeage, pret. glfeade, accord-

ing to Class

2)

PEETERIT.

375. The preterits of the contract verbs do not differ from those of the regular conjugation, since the h is either final or has undergone grammatical change to g or w. 376.

u-umlaut

is

assumed in the Ps. and North, by

:

the

plur. indicative of the ablaut class ; the Ps. has eo

weotan, know,
driofun, riosun.
377.

420.

note)

strong verbs of the first steogun, dreosun (cf. also the North, usually io
:

In

WS.

this

umlaut

is

only sporadic.

tive

i-umlaut properly belongs to the 2d sing, indicaand the whole optative (cf. OS. forms like 2d sing. indicative bundi, 1st and 3d sing, optative bundi, plur. bund in). It is no longer found, however, except in certain optatives of the preteritive presents (422 ff.), and in isolated like hwyrfe (Dan. 211), wyrde examples
(Kit. 114),

hliepen (Cura Past, 214. 7).

CONJUGATION.

205

3)

PAST PARTICIPLE.

378. In the older language a few verbs sometimes have i-umlaut in the past participle, alternating with the unchanged radical vowel, though the mutated vowel is, Here belong especially those as a rule, afterward lost. with original ag gesl^gen, gearw^gen, subsequently only geslsegen (geslagen), gefrwaegen (also geSFwogen); very frequently cymen along with cumen, sporadically gefrrsfewen along with geffrd/wen, gescyfen along with
:

gescofen,

ged6n (North, gedoen, cf. 429), betygen with betogen and betigen, from t&m, censure along So likewise the participial adjective (383. note 3). sfegen, own, along with ageii (Goth, aigins).
NOTE. In EWS. are sometimes found participles like geiflflegen, gewieten, gewrieten, with o- and 1-umlaut (109; 100). North, umlauted participles are dceii, foen.

B.

TENSE-FORMATION OF THE STRONG VERBS.

i)

ABLAUT VERBS.
The forms
of the

379.

The

tense stems.
all

OE. ablaut

verbs

may

be referred to four stems, which are

called tense stems.

These are
all

1) the present stem, to which belong the present

;

the forms of

2)

the

first

preterit stem, to

which belong only the

;

1st

and 3d

sing, preterit indicative

the second preterit stem, comprising the 2d sing, indicative, the plur. indicative, and the whole preterit
3)

optative ; 4) the stem of the past participle, from which only the latter is derived.

206

INFLECTION.

representatives of these four stems, the following principal parts may serve : l) the 1st sing, present indicative

As

or the infinitive;
;

indicative

sing, preterit 3) the 1st plur. preterit indicative ; 4) the

2)

the

1st

past participle.
380.

Grammatical change. Those verbs whose present

:

stern

ends in a surd spirant regularly experience grammatical change in the 3d and 4th stem cdosan, cas,
;

curon, coren (384); lifTan. laUF, lidoii, liden (382); t6on, t4ah, tugon, togen (384) se"on, seah, sjlwon, sewen The law is, however, often violated by the (391. 2). occurrence of the grammatical change in the 2d stem,
as in sloan, shSg, sldgon, geslsegen (392. 2).
381.

The ablaut

series.

The

variation of radical

vowel

in the four

stems of the word takes place within certain

series.
six.

well-defined groups or series, which are called ablaut Of these series the Germanic verb recognizes

Arranging the vowels according

to the order of
:

the four stems, the series form the following system

IST STEM.
I.

II.

in. IV. v.
VI.

NOTE. For the variation of e and

1,

u and

o, see 45. 2, 3.

The much more complicated system of OE. results from the .foregoing by taking account of the changes which the Germanic vowels have experienced in OE.
(49
ff.).

Further particulars will

be given in the

following paragraphs.

CONJUGATION.
382.

207
:

Class

I.

Verbs of the First Ablaut Class

;

f,

&,

i (ie, 378. note) e.g., grfpan, grtfp, gripon gripen, seize; with grammatical change in (griopun), 3d and 4th stem, like snffton, sn;i(V, sniclon, siiiden, cut.

(eo, io, 107),

NOTE

1.

Like gripan are inflected nipan, grow

dark-,

ripan, reap(l);
split,

clffan(?), adhere, drifan, drive, belifan, remain, t6slifan(?),

scrifan, prescribe, shrive, swifan, revolve; bitan,

flitan, contend,
defile,

bite,

drftan(?), cacare,
tear,

hnitan,
heir,

thrust,

scitan, cacare, slilan,

yo,

besmitan,
look,

ffwitan,
write;

ge\vitan,
bide,

aetwitan,
beat,

scold, twit,

wlftan,

writan, hlidan,

bidan,

cnidan,
slidan,

cover, ridaii, ride,

slide,

glidan, stridan,
creep,

glide,

gnidan, rub, stride, wridan(?),

170,

yrow; hlican,

shine, sicaii, sigh,

snican(?),

strican,

sxviran,

abandon, wican, yield ; figan(?), parch, hnfgan, bow, migan, mingere, sigan, sink, stigan, ascend ; cfnan, gape, acwfnan, dwinan, disappear,

ginan, yawn, hrinan, touch, hwinanC?), hiss, rinan, rain(l), scinan, shine (pret. scan, scean, 76), ffwinan(?), grow soft; arisan, arise, gerisan, befit; spiwan, spew; miiVaii, avoid, oferswiffan, subdue, wriffan, bind. Like sniffan are conjugated oliiffan(?), adhere, litfan,
go, scri;Vaii,

proceed (but part, scriffen Guthl. 1012).

NOTK
Class
I.

2.

rinan and oferswiffan are properly weak

also belong the defective verb
pres. part,

verbs.

In

may
3.

from

wisan),

-weosende, past

weosan (by o-umlaut part, weoren (woren)-

ripan is short in the Anglian dialect, and consequently undergoes u- and o-umlaut. For leorau see 384.
note
3.

NOTE

The

radical vowel of

The verbs t4on, censure, 8Fon, thrive, wron, North. 2Ffa, wrfa, Ps. wr^an (for * tfhan, etc., cf. cover, Goth, teihaii, beihan), have lost the h in certain forms
383.

of the present which have then undergone contraction (373), but retain the h in the 1st and 3d sing, preterit,

and convert
wr^on,

it

into

in the

wriili,

wrigon, wrigen.
:

3d and 4th stems (380) In consequence of con:

traction in the present, they frequently pass over into Class II. in WS. wron, wrah, wrugon, wrogen,
after

models

like te"on, te"ah,

tugon, togen, draw (384).

208
NOTE
1.

INFLECTION.
The
lexicons

ana grammars often

cite

infinitives

like

*sihan, *tihan; these are nowhere to be met with and are falsely deduced from forms in which the h
served (374).

in the literature,
is

regularly pre-

NOTE

2.

The g

of the 3d

and 4th stems

in North,

is

occasionally transferred

to the 2d stem:

ffag,

wrag;
1st.

wriga

(along with wria)

it

even penetrates into the

NOTE

3.

(Ycuii.

in addition to the pret. plur. ffigon, ffugon, part.

forms a pret. plur. ffungon, part, ffungeu, teon, accuse, has in the past part. according to Class III. (386). tygen, with i-umlaut, besides tigen and togen. NOTE 4. Like teon are inflected the 1st and 2d steins of Iron, lend,
ffigen, ffogen, likewise

scon,

sift

past. part, of the latter verb

(Goth, leihwan, *seihwan), pret. Idh, leah, sah (?). The is siwen, seowen, as well as (be)seon.

Class II. Verbs of the Second Ablaut Class e"o, o (Goth, iu, au, u, u), like be"odan, bad, Imdon, da, 11, boden, bid, or with grammatical change in 3d and 4th stem, like cdosan, c6as, curon, coren, choose, so9"an, s6a<T, sudou, soden, seethe, ton (North. te"a, for *to* m tah, tugon, togen, draw. han,
384.
:
'

1 1 ;

So are also inflected: creopan, creep, drropan, drop, a) Without grammatical change geopan, receive ; cleofan, cleave, reofan, shatter (only part, rofen, berofen) breotan, break, fleotan.yfow, geotan, pour, greotan, weep, hlrotan. cast lots, n&otan, enjoy. reotan,yh//, sceotan, shoot, spreotan,
1.
:

NOTE

sprout;

adorn, 16odan, grow, n'-oda n

ffeotan, howl, affreotan, weary; cr6odan, crowd, hreodan, redden ; abreoffan, frustrate ; rfcocan
,

smeocan (North. smca, sinica. perhaps weak), smoke; dreogan, endure, fleogan,^ (Ps. flegan, North, flega), l^ogan, lie ;
(North, rfeca),

breowan,
*

brew, cfeowan, chew, hr6o\van, rue; probably North. speoftan, spit (or 396. b, pret. spi-aft, plur. speafton, speofton), which was perhaps originally a weak verb of the 3d conjugation and
;

perhaps the defective Nioran, do (usually weak). .6) With grammatical change dreosan, fall, freosan, freeze, hreosan./a//, forleosan, lose, fleon (North. flfea),./?ee. NOTE 2. The verbs fleogan and fleon are frequently confounded in
:

LWS. The
hreowan

verb heofan

is

sometimes weak, and takes, as a reduplicat;

ing verb, the irregular sing. pret. heof, pret. plur. heofoii

so, in

LWS.,

has pret. hreow.

CONJUGATION.

209

385. The verbs slupan, slip, stipaii, taste, dtifan, dive, scufan, shove, briitan, snore, hitaii, bow, striidaii, devastate,

briican, enjoy,

Mean,

lock,

siicaii,

sfigaii,

suck,

In'i.uan.

bow, smtigan, creep,

stead of
Itican,

(cf.

have in the present li inGoth. lukan), but are otherwise regular:

;

lac, lucon, locen.

NOTE 1. The past part, of scufan is scofen and sceofen (76) in North, likewise scylen, with i-umlaut. Later WS. forms of scufan are sceufan, sceofan. Here may be classed the isolated past participles
aSruten, sicollen, geffruen, forged (twice written gefturen in Mss.), and possibly scudan, hasten (only scudende, Guthl.), unless this is weak. NOTE 2 (to 384. 385). The verbs whose stems end in gutturals have in the Ps. and North, e for eo and ea in the 1st and 2d stem (163. 165)
pret.
:

t6h, fleh, fleg, b6g, brec, etc.

= WS.

teuli, fleah, fleag,

beag,

br^ac. 386.

Class III.
i,

Goth,

a, u, u.
:

Verbs of the Third Ablaut Class: This class includes in OE. three main

sub-divisions

i,

i) Verbs in nasal + consonant take the ablaut series Q (a, 65), u, u: e.g., bindan, b<jnd (band), bundon,
bind.

bunden,

NOTE 1. So are also inflected flndan,_/inrf, grlndan, grind, hrlndan, thrust, swindan, vanish, iY in dan, swell, windan, wind ; ffrintan, sivell ;
(on-)ginnan, begin, linnan, cease, simian, meditate, spinnan, \vinnan, labor; cllngan, shrink, cringan (crmcan),fall, singan,
spin,
sing,

springan,

stingan, sting, s\viiigan, swing, ffringan, throng, wringan, wring ; drincan, drink, aovincan, vanish, scrincaii (scringan), shrink, sincan, sink, sliiican, creep, stincan, stink, svvincan, su-inL ; clitnban (cllmman), climb; (ge)limpan, happen, rimpan, wrinkle;
spring,

crimman,

cram,

grimman,

rage,

hliminan,

roar,

scrimman(?),

s\viiniiian, swim.

NOTE 2. Here belong also iernan (irnan, yrnan, Ps. iornan, North, iorna), run, and probably beornan, North, beorna, bearna, burn (Goth, rinnaii. brlnnan), with metathesis (179), pret. Qrn, born, later am, barn, for * rQnn, * brgnn, subsequently with regular ablaut

WS.
in

earn,

beam.
curdle,

The form rinnan

is

occasionally found, especially

gerinnan,

though the latter now and then exhibits inetath-

21
the causative sernan
curdle.

INFLECTION.
;

esis

may

also be

compared with the causative

Isolated forms are ffungon, ffungen, from 9eon, findaii sometimes has a preterit funde in VVS., thrive (383. note 3). after the manner of the weak preterits. In EWS. swingan takes the

gerennan,

past participle sungen.

3. In North, all these verbs have a in the 2d stem, although no other exception in North, (at least in Lind.) to the rule by which a becomes Q before nasals ongann, band, fand, dranc, gelainp, barn, etc. As the vowels were certainly lengthened in North. before nasals (168), it is justifiable to assume that the a here follows the pattern of Ablaut Class I. binda-band, like gripa-grap or else such preterits as halp (387). The forms containing u, like fund, drunc, gelump, now and then occurring in the editions, depend upon scrincan has pret. plur. soriungon false readings of the manuscripts

NOTE
is

there

(L. Mt. 13. 6), part,

24. 1)

forscriuncen (L. Mt.

12. 10),

ascryuncan

(Kit.

along with gescruncan (L. Luc.

6. 6).

387.
e,

2)
(a,

ea

Ps.

Verbs in 1 + consonant have the ablaut series and North, only a), u, o: e.g., lielpaii,
help.

bealp (halp), hulpon, liolpen,

NOTE
1.

Thus are inflected delfan, delve, belgan, be angry, swelgan, swallow, beteldan, cover, meltan, melt, sweltan, die, bellan, bellvu-, swellan, swell. The following verbs exhibit slight variations in WS.
:

glellan,

yell,

i, y, in the present on account of initial g, sc and North, preserve the e (157) meolcan, HI///,, seolcan, yrow languid, generally have eo in the present exceptions arc infinitive melcan (Lind. 2. 142), asealcan (Gen. 2167).

lan

(?), clash,

gieldan, with ie,

yield,

gielpan,

boast,

scielfan

(?), shake, sciel-

(75), while

Ps.

NOTE 2. feolan, adhere, reach, Goth, lillian, loses its h in the pres. before a vocalic termination, but retains it in the pret. fealh; the plur. is rarely fulgon, usually fgelon (according to 390), the part, foleii.

A pres.
*

felgan, which
3.

is

often assumed, does not exist.

NOTE

cwellan, haps weallan (396.

388.

adj. collenferhff, farce-winded, points to a lost verb * swell, and wollentare, weeping, to wellan, well, or per).

The

series

3) Verbs in r or eo, ea (North, also

cast,

li

+ consonant
:

have the ablaut

feaht,
fuhtoii,

a), u, o

e.g.,

weorpan, wearp,

wurpon, worpen,
foliten, fiyht
;

or

feohtan,

grammatical wearfr, wurdoii, worden, become.

with

change, weorafaii,

CONJUGATION.
NOTE
1.

So are
turn,

inflected

ceorfan,

cut,

carve,
die,

deorfan,

labor,
;

sweorfan, polish sceorpau, scrape ; smeortan, smart; beorgan, protect ; beorcan, bark, sneorcan(?), be forgotten, sweorcan, obscure; *ceorran, creak, * cweorran, inebriate, georran, chatter (likewise with umlaut, gierran), and perhaps seorffan, coire; with fcohtaii belongs *fleohtan, weave. Here belong also the participles astorfen, dead, samstorfen, halj For feolan see 387. note 2. An inf. * georran is usually dead. assumed for the plur. pret. gurron, Andr. 374 more probably it belongs to gierran (gyrran), which is only found in the present, and would then be formed with jo.

hweorfan,

sceorfan, gnaw, steorfan,

NOTE 2. The North, forms of weorpan, weorffan, are worpa, worfta (156. 2) for hweorfan Hit. has hwurfa (pret. plur. hurfon, for feohtan Ps. has fehtan, North, fehta, pret. faeht L. Mt. 23. 15) L. Mt. 26. 50, must be set down as (so the inf. of hruhtun, iniecerunt,
;
;

hrehta)
389.

beorgan, North, berga, according

4)

to

162

ff.

Other variations, many of which will be at once comprehended by a reference to the phonology, are exhibited by the following verbs
:

bregdan, brandish
stregdan, strew berstan, burst
fferscan, thresh

braegd
straegd baerst
ffaersc

brugdon
strugdon burston
ffurscon

brogden
strogden borsten
fforscen

frignan,

inquire, ascertain

frsegn

frugnon

frugnen

murnan, mourn
>

mearn
down

murnon
spurnou
lose their g, with lengthening

tread

spornan

spearu

NOTE, bregdan and stregdan often

: ;

b redan, brafed, etc., 214. 3 (3d sing. pres. of the preceding vowel the past part, occasionally appears as bregdcn ind. brltt, 359. 3) (Phoen. 306, Blick. Horn. 99.32); stregdan is usually weak in WS.
prose,

and

its

pret. occurs in North, not only as strsegd,

but also as

berstan and SVrsoun (North. 2 ffersoa Kit.) stand by metathesis for fftersca, ffearsca L., ffarsca R. *brestan and *ffrescan (179). frignan (Goth, fraihnan) often
strugde
(cf.

funde, 386. note

2).

drops g in the polysyllabic forms, and lengthens the preceding vowel in its stead LWS. has frinan, fran, frfnan, fraegn (see 214. 3) in imitation of Ablaut Class I., and irregularly friuion, frunen.
;

212

INFLECTION.
;

Assimilation occurs in frinnan, frunnon, etc.

sing, ft-eng, pret. plur.

other forms are pret.

frnngon (186. note), part, gefraegen, gefregen.

The n originally belonged only to the pres. of this verb (cf. Goth, frah, iW'hum) a relic of the older conjugation has perhaps beeji preserved in the pret. plur. frugan (R. Mt. 12. 10), and the part, gefrugen
;

(ae,

(391. 3).

e) and gefrlgen, though the latter perhaps belong to fricgean Instead of in ur 11:111. which alone is authorized, the lexicons

* frequently write

meornan
is

the former has the

weak

pret.

murnde
inf. for-

(Andr. 154).

spurnan

EWS., speornan LWS.

The

cwolstan, swallow,
390.

may

also belong to this class.

:

Class IV. Verbs of the Fourth Ablaut Class

6, u,
se,

Goth, i, a, North, e,

WS.

e, se,

sfe,
:

6, o,

150

ft.)

o (Kent, and Ps. e, e, 6, o, e.g., beran, baer, bsfcron,

hclan,

boren,
NOTE

bore.
1.

So also are

inflected

cwelan,

die,

conceal,

*hwe-

lan(?), roar, stelan, steal; scieran, shear (pret. scear, plur. scearon, 76), teran, tear, ffweran, stir ; brecan, break; here belongs likewise
the isolated past part,

gedwolen, perverse.
:

NOTE

2.

Peculiarly irregular are

iiiman, take

uoin

n6mon

niiinon

cuman,

come

The opt. pres. of c(w)ome), occurs not infrequently (uniformly in Ps.) as cyme, with i-umlaut now and then this y occurs in other pres. forms, which do
;

cumen, cymen c'(w)6inou c(w)6m cuman (North, cyma, rarely cuma, inf. also

not properly take the umlaut:

lias

Instead of

116111, 116111011,

LWS.

also

nam, iiamon,

form cwamon, upon no authority. The length of the 6 in nom, com, is certified by gemination and accent, striman, resist, may also belong here. NOTE 3. For u- and o-umlaut in these verbs see 370.
391.

which, according to 68, must be a recent formation. frequently set down in the books, seems to repose

Class V.
i,

1)

Goth,

a, 6,

i,

WS.
;

e, se,

Verbs of the Fifth Ablaut Class sfe, e (Kent, and Ps. e, e, 6, e,

:

North,

e, ae, 6, e,

150
or

if.),

meten, measure

like metan," meet, msfeton, with grammatical change, like

cweftan, cwaeff, cwsfedon, cweden, say (North, cuoeffa, cuoeff, cucedon, cuceden, along with cueOfa, cueff,

culdon, cueden, according to 156).

CONJUGATION.
NOTE
1.

213

So also are inflected drepan, strike, screpan, scrape ; swewefan, weave ; feta,n,fall (?) cnedan, knead, tredan, tread ; hlecan (?), cohere, spree an (Kent, and LWS. also s pecan), speak,
fan,
sleep,
;

carry ; Icsa 11, collect, genesan, recover ; with grammatical change only the defective wesan (427). The pres. tense of plegan, play, is sometimes strong, and then belongs to this class. The past part, of drepan is found once as dropen (Beow. 2981).

wrecan, pursue ; wegan,

NOTE 2. WS. glefan, give, gietan, get, are irregular only in accordance with 75: pret. geaf, geat (Kent, and Ps. gef, get, North, geaf, gaet), plur. geafon, geaton (non-WS. gefun, getun), part, giefen,
gieten, etc.

NOTE
cf.

3.

etan,

eat,

and fretail,

devour,
efe

have the

pret. sing, set, frsfet;

Goth.

fre*t.

The length

of the

rests

and, moreover, is shown to be old (i.e., North, form et (150. 1). NOTE 4. For the u- and o- umlaut of these verbs see 370.

upon manuscript evidence, not due to prolongation) by the

son,

rejoice, pteon, adventure, and stand for *-fehon, *plehon, *seh(w)on (373). Their tense formation is :

2)

The verbs gef^on,

see,

gefeon

pleon
,

gefeah pleah
(

gefeegon

(gefaegeu)
(

sawon
sgfegon

se-wen

sawen (sawen?)

NOTE 5. For the conjugation of the present cf. 374. An infinitive *gefeohan does not exist; gefaegen (North, gefagen), glad, is, like fiegen, properly an adjective, cf. OS. fagan. The form sawon is the
usual one in WS., ssegon being rarely
if

ever found in

WS.
:

prose.

The past

frequently gesegen. In Ps. and North, the pret. of scon is saeh, according to 162 plur. 1 segun, -on, part, gesegen, North, also gesen, R. gesean. In place of
participle

is less

WS.

gefeoii, North, has a

weak verb gefe*age, belonging

to Class II.

The verbs biddan, request, licgr(e)an, lie, sittan, form their present in Germ, with jo (cf. Goth. bidjan), but are otherwise regular: preterit baed, laegr,
3)
sit,

sset, participle

beden, legen,

seteii.

So, too, 9icg(e)an,

take,

and

fricg(e)aii,

inquire, have the same present

formation,

buf with

preterit ffeah, frali (besides

the

214

INFLECTION.
frigede,

91gde, 400. note 1, 401. note 1; the preterit of fricgean is not found), participle gefrigen (gefrugen, cf. 389. note); the part, of <0Ficg(e)an is per-

weak

haps geflFegen.
NOTE
there
is

6.

sfeora: wafegon. lafegon, and

The verbs whose stem ends in g have in the 3d stem either wagon, lagon, etc. (57. note 3); but
sagon,
*

no

fragon.

392.

Class VI.

i)

Verbs of the Sixth Ablaut Class

faran, fdr, fdron, faran, go.

Goth. OE.

a, d, d, a, like

NOTE 1. Thus are inflected alan, nourish, calan,grow cool, galan, sing ; grafan, grave, sc(e)afan, shave; hladan, lade, wadan, go; dragan, draw, gnagan, gnaw; acan, ache, bacan, bake, sacan, dispute, sc(e)acan (Ps. North, scaecan, -a, 162), hasten; wascan (waxan), wash ; geffracen, prepared, seems also to belong here. To these must
be added the isolated pret. w6c, awoke, sprang, which has no corre* sponding pres. wacan, and hence is usually coupled with the weak verb wan-nail, awake. NOTE 2. A few of these verbs have se instead of a in the past participle:
e.g.,

NOTE
hand,

3.

gehlaeden, graefen, along with gehladen, grafen (50.2). The irregularities of sc(e)afan and sc(e)acan, pret. sc6oc,

sc6c, part. sc(e)acen, sea-con, are explained in 76.

On

the other

spQnan (subsequently

also

spQnnan,

cf.

396.

a), instigate,

and

North, waexa, 162), grow, assume the conjugation of the reduplicating verbs (396) pret. speon, wfeox (though EWS. sp6n, North. w6x). The participle gedafcn
likewise
(also

WS. weaxan

wexan, 101,

(gedaefen),

befitting,

belongs here.

flay, lan, blame, sl^an, strike, ffw^an, wash (for the present forms of Ps. and North. see 374), have lost a medial h (cf. Goth, slahan,

2)

The verbs flan,

Jrwahan, and 373).

g, 16g, sldg,

The

1st

and 3d

sing, preterit has

ffwdg, through the influence of the plur. Idgon, sldgon, 9wdgon (380; Idh, sldh, afwdh are to be judged according to 214. l). The past participle often

has i-umlaut in the older texts:

slegen, frwegen (or

ffwogen), but also beflagen, belagen, slsegen (slagen), ffwaegen, Jfwogen North,
;

CONJUGATION.
3)

215

stQndan, stand, loses the

in the preterits stdd,

stodon, but retains it in the participle stgnden. 4) The verbs sw$r(i)g(e)an, sivear, h^bban, heave, hliehhan (hlihhan, hlyhhan, Ps. North, hlsehha(n)),
laugh, scieppan (scippan, scyppan, North. Kent, sc^p-

pan), create, 'ste,ppan (staeppan), step, sc^Sfffan, injure, have a j in the present stems, which is lacking in the
other forms:
(plur.

preterit

swdr (once

swe"or),

htff,

hldh
;

hldgon), scdp (scop),

stdp, sc<Sd (sc6od, 76)

participle

sworen (once swaren), hafen and

haefen,

scepen and sceapen.

NOTE 4. Along with scetf ffan there is a regular infinitive sceaffan and, conversely, along with sct'od a weak preterit sc^ffede (400. note 1). In LWS. hejbbau has weak forms: preterit he,fde, past
;

participle h^fod.

2)
393.

REDUPLICATING VEKBS.

four stems are recognizable in the verb as we have already found in the reduplicating ablaut verb (379) only that in the former case they are not so sharply differentiated, the 1st and 4th stems
;

The same

having the same vowel on the one hand, and the 2d and 3d stems a different vowel on the other. When
grammatical change takes place, it applies alike to the The distinguishing character2d, 3d, and 4th stems.
istic

of the reduplicating verbs lies in the

their preterit.

manner of

forming
394.

The

preterits

duplication (351. l)

by

contraction.

which originally sprang from reare uniformly abbreviated in OE. Only a small number of verbs have
;

preserved forms which clearly reveal the manner of heht from hdtan, call, Goth, haihait their formation reord from raedan, counsel* Goth, raird)?; leolc from
:

216

INFLECTION.
;

lacan, jump, Goth, lailaik

and with more complete

disfigurement,

(on)dreord (North, oiidreard) from To all of (on)drjfedan, dread; leort from leetan, let. these belong collateral dialectic forms according to
NOTE.
not one
is

395.

have only the reduplicated forms. In found except heht, and that not in Pure WS.
Ps. North,

WS.

prose

texts,

and

alternating with

het

leort in Bede

is

probably Anglian.

395.

More commonly the contraction

leads to complete

fusion of the reduplicating with the radical syllable ; the product retains either e, 6 or eo, 60 as the resultant

vowel

e.g.,

hdtan, h6t, he*ton, luiteu,

call,

or hlgapau,

hteop, hteopon, lileapaii, leap. A) The vowel e, 6 is preferred by such as have a) original a before n + consonant blQiidan, blend,
:

and perhaps ablQngan, grow angry (only part. al>l<jncgue

Lind.).
b)

WS.
,

sfe,

Goth. Kent. Ps. North. 6

let,

(on)drsfedan,

dread, la-fan,
c)

r&dan,
except

counsel,

Goth,

ai,

when

sl&pan, sleep; follows or precedes

hdtan, call, Istcaii, jump, scjidaii (sce~adan, scdd and sce"ad), separate.

76, preterit

To a) belong also the verbs fdn, seize, and hdn, Jiang, Goth. iVihan, lialiaii (67); preterit, with grammatical
change, feng,
also foen,

heng

hoen,

i.e. fcfen,

participle f^ngeii, hQngen, North, hcfen (like dcen, 429; cf. bif^n,

Crist. 1158), besides

hQngen.

of the preterit is undoubtedly long in b) and c) ; it seems to have been originally short in a), but is afterward lengthened
1.

NOTE

The e

according to 124. 1 (onf6ng, Lind. Lk. 18. 31). NOTE 2. In Ps. and North, slsepan forms the weak preterit slepte, Lind. Rit. slepdc; similarly there occur in WS. slsfepteand ondrcfedde. The weak verb rcfedan, read, has a strong participle r&den (Blickl. 167. 28), on the basis of which it is introduced in 6.

CONJUGATION.
396.
erit

217

B) The diphthong eo, o, is retained in the pretby such as have a) original a before 1, n -f consonant feallan, fall,
:

weallan, be agitated; fealdaii, fold, healdan, hold, stealdan, possess, wealdan, wield; sealtaii, salt, wealtan, roll (North, waelta, also weak)
boii
;

wealcan, revolve ;

nan. summon, sponnan, join ; ggngan, go ; batan, beat, be'awan, hew, hle'apan, b) original au
:

leap,
c)
fice,

almapan, pluck ;
6
:

hrdpaii, shout,

hwdpan,

threaten

; bltftan, sacri-

assign; fl<Scan(?), applaud; swdgan, roar; swtfgaii, overcome (part, geswtfgen, swooning); and with i-unilaut (present formation with jo, 372), w4pan, weep, hwe"san (hwsfesan), wheeze ;

\vr6tan (?), root;

cn6daii(?),

bldwan, bloom, fldwan, flow, gltfwan, glow, grdwan, grow, hldwan, low, rdwan, row, sndwan(?), hasten, spdwan, thrive; d) &w: bldwan, blow, clawan (?), claw, cnwan, know, crawan, crow, mawan, mow, sawan, sow (likewise ssfewan, Cura Past.), Ofrawan, twist, wawan, blow ; with wd swapan, sweep.
:

NOTE

1.

gQngan, gangan, g^ngan,

go,

North,

geonga (157.

4),

has, besides geoiig, the preterits gang (Beew.), g^ngde, (430 ; probably only the latter in prose ; the past participle

and eode

gegQngen

lacking in North.), not genuine OE.

is

geng, Gen. 626, 834, and spenn, Gen. 445, are

Goth.

NOTE
aukan,
Itiian,
its

2.

To
1,

6)

belong the isolated participles 6acen, great

(cf.

increase'),

see 384. note

dwell,
is

and eaden, given, granted; for North. *sp6afta(?) and for weaxau, 392. note 3. A strong preterit of

place

supplied by

synonymous gen^op, ingulfed, requires an

past participle gebtin, geb6en, byn, is wanting; but bi'ulc, btiede, North, byde, byede, from the The 3d sing, preterit huian, bi'nvian, North, bya.
infinitive

genapan

similarly onrfeod, moistened, requires onrfcadan or

or gen6pan; and onrodan. Beside

cnodaii and snoivaii, we apparently have

longing to 384?).

cnodan,

sru'-owan (be-

218
NOTE
ening
3.

INFLECTION.
The eo is certainly long in 6), c), and rf) it is probably when followed by two consonants, unless secondary length;

short in a),

may have
4.

taken place.

NOTE NOTE
optative;

Occasionally the plural has contraction of the eo with a

vowel of the termination, like reon for reowun, from rowan.

5.

Irregular forms of the preterit in North, are:

blew, bl<;wu,
speua, preterit

bleuu, plur.

blewun cneaw, cnsew,

;

plur.

cneawun

seaw; heu.

397. The past participle originally has the vowel of the present, though Rush. Mt. 12. 44 has aswopeii from swapan (396). Grammatical change, and hence a dif-

ferent vowel,
lion (395).

is

found only

in the participles of

fdn and

III.

Weak

Verbs.

398.

The weak verbs

are mostly derivatives.

They

are divided into three classes, on the basis of the variation in their derivative suffixes
:

1)
-ejo-,

The

jo-class

its

original suffix

was Indo-European
-joit

from which was derived Germ,

when

the radi(45. 8)
.

cal syllable

was

short,
:

and

-io-

when

was long
-6jo-,

2)

The The

o-class

its suffix

was Germ.

interchanginterchang-

ing with
3)

-o-.

ai-class

its suffix

was Germ,

-ai-,

ing with

-jo-.

In OE. these relations have been obscured in

many

ways by subsequent phonetic changes.

Only three different stems are to be distinguished weak conjugation: those of the present, the The two latter very preterit, and the past participle.
in

399.

the

frequently approximate in form.

CONJUGATION.

219

I.

FIRST WEAK CONJUGATION.

A) ORIGINAL SHORT STEMS.

the
1

Formation of the present stem. On account of of consonants before j the original short stems of this class, exclusive of (228),
400.

West Germanic gemination

those ending in r, became long in the present (with the exception of the 2d and 3d sing, indicative, 410).

There are consequently

in

OE. two groups

of original

short stems opposed to each other, such as n^rian (n^r-

gan, n^rigan, n^rigean), save, and such as fr^mman, All the forms of the present stem have perform.
i-umlaut.

NOTE

1.

Like nerian are also inflected dorian,

injure,

erian, plough,

herian, praise, am^rian, purify, sc(i)^rian, arrange, werian, defend, besclerian, deprive, gew^rian, clothe, gew^rian, weir, dam, ffwierian (1), oppose, byrian, pertain, onhyrian, emulate, snyrian, Like frejnman form their hasten, spyrian, inquire, styrian, stir.
ferian, carry,

presents:

a)

Verbs

in
e.g.,

m,

bb, eg, 190; 216),

iian, extend,

n, and the spirants s, 9, f, g (reduplicated gr^mman, provoke ; trymman, confirm; ff^n-

w^nnan,

accustom,

clynnan, sound, dynnan, hlynnan,

;

resound; cnyssan,

thrust,

hrissan, shake

scejffffaii, injure (also

strong,

392. 4), aswebban, appease, w$cg(e)an, agitate, fficg(e)an, receive b) Verbs in t, d, like hw^ttan, incite, lettan, (also strong, 391. 3).
hinder,

settan,
1 2.

verbs in

set, hrcddan, and c see 407.

rid,

(a)trexldan, investigate.

For the

NOTE

In WS., verbs of this class with stems ending in a nasal,

a liquid, or a spirant, gradually assume the forms of the o-class, and pass over to this conjugation. In the Cura Past, certain verbs belonging

under

a),

note

1,

gremian,

provoke,

have become assimilated to the r-stems, like nerian loinian. oppress, teinian, tame, trymian, confirm,
:

beh^llan, conceal, sylian, wallow, lirisian, shake, wr^iSIan, support. In later documents the transfer to the o-class is completely effected,
as well in the case of the r-verbs such as nerian, dorian. ?rian, byrian, spyrian, styrian, as in that of the originally reduplicated

stem

finals

freiniaii,
lull,

even gesw^fian,

dwelian, heliaii. iV;n ia n hrisian, l>,-<Ma n h^giau, hedge. Of verbs whose stem ends in a
.

220

INFLECTION.
Verbs with

short consonant, only hre,piaii, touch, seems to belong here.

a short stem and irregular preterit, like lecgan - l$gde, and those which are adduced in 407. a., are, with the exception of dwe,llan, usually exempt from the operation of this rule.

Formation of the preterit. 1) The short-stemmed r, and those with mm, nn, ss, tftf, bb, eg in the present (400. note 1), have the ending -e<le in the
401.

verbs in

'

preterit

the simple or ungeminated radical final consonant precedes the ending: ne.rian-ne.rede, fr^mmanfrejnede, <3Fnnan-<y$nede, cnyssan-cnysede, scejfrfranso^ffede, swejbban sw$fede (19O) w$cg(e)an-wegede, etc. only lcg(e)an, lay, always has l^gde without the
;

middle vowel (and

NOTE
1.

le"de, 214. 3).

middle vowel are occasionally formed from other verbs, e.g., wegde, ffigde, cnysde subsequently a transfer of the double consonant of the present to the preterit, cnyssde,
;

Such

preterits without a

etc.,

may take place. NOTE 2. In LWS.

2).

the -ede of the preterit

is

frequently replaced by

-ode (400. note

take the ending -de, the latter, however, being assimilated to a preceding t tr^ddan tr^dde, septan -s^tte (North, also satte, saette, without
2)

The verbs

in -d,

-t,

umlaut).

Formation of the past participle. The ending is the gemination of the radical final consonant being -ed, simplified as in the preterit: (ge)n^red, (ge)fr^med,
402.

(ge)ar^ned, (ge)cnysed, (ge)sce.8Fed, (ge)we,ged, (ge)se.ted,

(ge)tre.ded; the participle of without the middle vowel, to

lcg(e)an is again (ge)le.gd which add (ge)le"d (214. 3).

vowel, the

In the inflected forms whose termination begins with a -e- is retained according to 144, with the

exception of those in

-t,

-d

s$ted, plur. s^tte

traded,

plur. tre.dde (cf. 401. 2).

The

latter regularly contract,

CONJUGATION.

221

both when uninflected, and before an inflectional suffix beginning with a consonant. The Anglian and Kentish
dialects differ

from

WS.

in retaining the vowel.

B)

OKIGINAL LONG STEMS AND POLYSYLLABLES.

403. Formation of the present stem. The whole present stem of the dissyllabic verbs has i-umlaut, whenever the radical vowel admits ; verbs with o fluctuate

according to 100. The derivative j is lost, except after vowels, as in cfegan, call. NOTE 1. To this class belongs a large number of verbs like dselan,
; deinan, judge ; hierau, hear ; leoran, go stieran, steoran, steer; strienan, streonan, acquire; treowan, trfewan, believe; cyflFan, announce ; gyrda,n,gird, etc.

distribute, deql

fyllaii, Jill
;

(but see 384. note 3)

NOTE
(properly

2.

-of

tan,

lighten,

Among the polysyllabic verbs the derivatives in -ettan fan, Goth, -atjan) are especially to be noted, like bliccetroccettan, utter, sporettan, spur, as well as the compounds

which simulate these derivatives, like ondettan, confess, onettan, incite, * orettan, battle, from andahaitjan, etc. These have gemination of the derivative t, according to 228, although simple t is often written
after a

weak

syllable (225. 4).

The termination of Formation of the preterit. the preterit is -de, which is attached immediately to The i-umlaut is retained hferan the radical syllable. -lilerde, d6maii dmde.
404.
:

405.

As

of the termination
result a

the consequence of collision between the d and the radical final consonant, there
of minor variations from the normal

number

form, which

will be easily understood by reference to the phonetic laws. The most important are 1) Gemmation is simplified fyllan fylde, fill, w$m: :

maii - we^nde,

afirran - afirde, remove, cyssan -cyste, kiss (the t in accordance with 2).
defile,

222
2)

INFLECTION.

The ending

-de becomes -te after p,

t,

c,

ff,

ss
re-

(simplified
veal, gre"tan

according to l),

and x: yppan

ypte,

- grtte,

greet, scejican

sc^ncte, pour out,

increase (but also
cyste, kiss,

w^scan - w^scte,
ihte, 407. c),

wish, fecan

- lecte,

pyffan

pyfte, puff, cyssan

hyspan-hyspde, mock, adwjfescjin - adwifcscde, extinguish, ly\san - l^sde, release, r;C>san Another exception is sle"pde, Lind. rti'sde, rush).
note 2). remains unchanged in the older texts, but subsequently passes into dd cy^an, cy^de and cy'dde,
Hit. (395.

lixaii-lixte, shine (but

3)

3rd

announce.
4) After a consonant

+ d,

t,

the

of the 'ending

is

entirely lost:
gird,
etc.
('lit

sendan - sende,
elite, persecute,
is

send,
ffyrstaii

gyrdan - gyrde,
- ffyrste,
:

an -

thirst,

Only rarely

the spelling etymological

faestte,

hyhtte, etc. 5) The verbs in consonant

+ n, r,

1,

which,

if

regularly

formed, should have syllabic n,

(if

r, 1

very irregular: nc^iman, name, the n; ^fnan, raefnan, perform, frequently $fnde, raefnde; so likewise North, hyngra-hyngerde, hunger, timbra - timberde, build, dgla - d^gelde, conceal; but

in the preterit, are has n^mde with loss

more frequently these verbs take the ending -ede or (especially in the Ps. and North., not till late in WS.) the -ode of Class II.: ne.miiode, efncde (North, efnade); f r6f ran - f rdfrede, -ode, comfort; liyngraii hyiigrede, -ode tiinbran dfeglan - dfeglede, tiinbrede, -ode
;

Here again present forms, according to dfglade, etc. Class II., are subsequently found : fr^frian, hyngrian,
timbrian
NOTE.
(cf. 400.

note 2).
to the rule are

Exceptions
soil

formed by ^glan, $glde,

afflict,

slglan, siglde,

(but

LWS.

^glede).

CONJUGATION.
406.

223

-ed

in the cases

Formation of the past participle. Its ending is whose termination begins with a vowel

is syncopated, and the same rules the contract of -d- with the radical syllable as govern in the formation of the preterit. The verbs in t, d,

the e of the -ed

contract in accordance with the rule laid

:

down
,

in 402.

Examples of the various types are de*man gede"med - gede"mde fyllan - gefylled - gefylde, 405. 1 gre"tan ;

scencan - gesc^nced - gesc^ncte, gegre"ted - gegre"tte - gecy^eSF - gecy'SFde, late gec^dde, 405. 2 c^ffan
;
;

405.3; s$ndan-gesend(ed)-gesnde; e'htan-gee'ht(ed) -geelite, 405. 4; n^mnan genemned geiimde : tim-

bran - getimbred
NOTE.
retain
it

(-od)

- getimbrede

(-ode), 405.

7, etc.

The long stems which here insert e in the uninflected forms in LWS., even in inflected forms like gedfemede, gefyllede

on the other hand, those in p, nc, and occasionally others, sometimes

contract and assimilate in the

(LWS.)

uninflected

form of the

participle.

c)
407.

IRREGULAR VERBS.
join the termination of

Some Germanic verbs

the preterit and past participle directly to the radical of a middle vowel. syllable, without the intervention

These verbs consequently occur in OE. without the i-umlaut, and the verbs whose stem ends in a guttural have ht in the preterit and past participle, according to 232. An original nasal is lost before this ht (45. 5; 185).
a)

Here belong

cw^llau, kill dwellan, deceive

sell an. give

cwealde dwealde
sealde stealde tealde

gecweald gedweald
geseald gesteald geteald

stellan, place
tolliui, count

bycgean, buy
,

shake

bohte cweahte

geboht gecweaht

224
dr^ccean,
vex.

INFLECTION.
dreahte
leahte

gedreaht
geleaht gereaht gestreaht
geffeaht

le^ccean, moisten

re_ccean, expound
stre^ccean, stretch
ffe,ccean, cover w^ccean, icake

reahte streahte
ffeahte

weahte
laehte

geweaht
geljeht

laeccean,

seize

bepsfecean, deceive
rsfecean, reach

bepiehte
rgfehte

bepseht
gersfeht
getafeht

tsecean, teach
rfecean, reccean, reck

teehte

secean, seek
ff^ncean, think ffyncean, seem

rohte s6hte
ffohte
fffihte

gesoht
geffoht
goiTi'iht

wyreean, work
bringan,
bring

worhte
br6hte

ge\vorht

gebroht

NOTE 1. Beside d w^llan - d\vealde, LWS. has d\v^lian - dw^lede and d\v^lode (400. note 2) t^llan likewise forms a part, g^teled. NOTE 2. For EWS. s^llan, LWS. usually has syllan (for *siellan). The breaking occurs in Mercian as early as a charter of dr. A.D. 840 (siollanne), but Ps. and R. have only syllan. North, has inf. seal la and s^IIa, plur. ind. and imp. seallas and sellas, otherwise e.
;

NOTE 3. The LWS. verbs with ecc regularly take e instead of ec in the preterit and past participle cw^hte, dr^hte, gedr^ht probably by analogy with the vowel of the present, since this change (which
:

begins even in
of

EWS.) seems

to precede the palatal

umlaut (101. 2)

ea

to e.

In Ps. and North, these verbs have se in the preterit according to 162: raehte, waehte, ffaehte, except that sometimes e has entered from the present.
In In

WS.

r;tV( ojaii

always has the umlaut vowel in the preterit

rsehte, while North, has rahte.

LWS.
4.

wre_cc(e)an often occurs for wcc(e)an.

In the latest
:

NOTE NOTE
recean

WS.

the SB of the preterit and participle

tsfehte.

is

sometimes replaced by a
6.

tahte, for

(cf.

In reccean there seems to be a shortening of the vowel of 230. note).

NOTE 6. WS. wyrc(e)an, North, wyrca has, in Kent, and R. 2 the form wlrcan, and the isolated participle giwarht Corp. In LWS.

CONJUGATION.
metathesis takes place
:

225
The compound
forwyrhte,
forpart.

wrohte, gewroht.
in

wyrc(e)an, forwyrht.

transgress,

has

LVVS. the

pret.

NOTE

7.

Beside bringan, there

is

also a

weak brejig(e)an (OS.

breiigian).
6)

The

past part,

is

rarely

brungen.
c,
lit

which are

In imitation of these verbs, certain verbs in in other respects regular, sometimes take

in the preterit,

but retain the i-umlaut:

gefeced

e.g.,

fec(e)an
gefht,

- iecte - fehte

(Ihte, ylite), part,

(LWS.

geylit), increase; 9'rycc(e)aii-9'rycte, ffryhte, part, ge-

afrycced, oppress; cnycc(e)an-cnycte, ciiyhte, tie; wl^ceean, part, gewleced, gewl^ht, and gewlsecced, gewlaeht,

warm; nalifec(e)an -n^alsecte,

NOTE
8.

-lite

(North,

-cede,
etc.

-cde), approach; <Slcc(e)an-61$cte,

So to the

61hte, praise,
full

In the case of certain isolated forms a

pret.

paradigm can

only 'be conjecturally framed.

scyhte, seduced,
;

may

be assigned an infinitive scycc(e)an (from scucca) to the part. gecliht, collected, an infinitive clyccean; to ofhaehte, hacked off,
bedaehte, transmitted, the infinitives *haecc(e)an and *daecc(e)an - laehte (cf. laeccean above).

408.

l)

The verbs

in

rw and

Iw,

like

gierwan,

gyrwan, prepare, sierwaii, syrwan, deceive, smierwan, sin yr wan, anoint, wielwau, wylwan, roll, originally lose their w in the 2d and 3d sing. pres. ind., the 2d sing, imp., and the preterit, and hence terminate in -est,
-ear, -e,

pret. -ede (older ide)

for example, pret. gierede,

The past participle seems si(e)rede, smirede, wylede. to have retained the in the uninflected originally

form, and

to

have

lost it

when

inflected.

NOTE 1. With the interchange of rw, Iw and r, 1 must originally have been connected a variation of the radical vowel, since breaking of the basic vowel a or e could only have taken place before rw, Iw for example, smierwan, but smirest, smireff, pret. smirede. This change, however, has left no distinct traces except in smierwan. In
;

226
the case of

INFLECTION.
gierwan
all

difference

was regularly effaced

gierwan

(98. a), gierede (98. 6), etc.

various transformations occur, either by generalizing the w, or completely obliterating it, or creating forms according to the Second Weak Conjuga-

In

LWS.

No two verbs tion (400. note 2), with or without w. follow the same rule ; of some, like hierwan, deride,
nierwan,
NOTE
distress, there are

no examples

of the original

conjugation.
2.

For the most

part,

gierwan adheres

to the older inflection,

but already in

the participle occurs as gegiered, beside gegierwed, the imperative as gier and gierwe, beside glere; in LWS. there Ps. has regularly is a rare pres. opt. gyrie, past part, gegyrwod.

EWS.

gerwan,

a pret. gerede, part, gered, North, usually gearwia, R. larwia, according to the Second Weak Conjugation, but pret. gerede, part, gered, beside gearwade, gearwad. 3. sierwan is regular in EWS. prose, but there occurs a gesiered and a rare inf. sierian, to which LWS. adds a pret. 3d sing. pres. syrwff, pret. syrode. LWS. usually generalizes the

NOTE

part,

syrwde, or, according syrwedon.

to the 6-class,

syrwlan,

pret.

(syrwode),

plur.

NOTE
in

flection of

LWS.

there are numerous instances of the original inbesides part, gesmired, inf. smirian, smierian; there are, following the 6-class, a 3d sing. pres. smyraff, pret.
4.

In

EWS.

smierwan,

smirode, sinyrode, part, gesinirod, besides forms with ^, sm^rwan and smerian, etc. North, has inf. smir(i)an, pret. smirede; R. 1 the imp. sun; iv. In Ps. there is only a 3d sing. pres. smireff, pret. s mi redo, from an inferrible *smeorwan (159. 4).

NOTE 6. The nterwan 3d sing.

:

everywhere generalized in hierwan and hyrwff, pret. hyrwde, with the occasional introduction of forms from the 6-class hyrwian, nyrwian, pret.
is

pres.

hyrwode, nyrwode, etc. There and pret. nyrugde (Blickl.).

are also an isolated part, geniered

wielwan has a pret. wylede, part, gewylwed, besides inf. wylian and wylwian, according to Conjugation II. NOTE 6. Here seems to have belonged rseswan, consider, since it has also an inf. ra;sian, pret. rtcswode and reesode. fraetwan,
adorn, usually has a pret.

fraetwode (Conj.

II.), -beside

fraetwede,

CONJUGATION.
part,

227

gefraetwod, -ed; subsequently there are added present forms from Conj. II.

2)

Beside fewan, ^wan, show

(pret.

fewde, part.

-fewed, inflected part, fewde, etc.), there are even in

inf. owan, pret. e"owde, etc., without umlaut, and an inf. 6owian (Conj. II.), and in LWS. a pret. owode. More rare (and probably not Pure WS.) is Ps. employs 6awan, especially as the pret. 6awde.

EWS.,

pret. ot^awde, only once each: generally ot^owan, ot6owde North. awa, pret. awde (Lind. also 6awade and rarely e"ade).

ote"awan,

NOTE

7.

Similar contamination with the 6-class

*

is

exhibited by
(dialectic
is

siw(i)an, sew, spiwian, spew, from siewun,

spicwan

siow(i)an, spiow(i)an), though the original inflection served in the oldest texts.

only pre-

NOTE 8. The verbs ffywan, oppress (from * tfiewan, dialectic also ffowan), and hlywan, warm (from *hliewan), regularly have the pret. ffyvvde, hlywde, part. geftywed, *gehlywed, inflected geffywde, gehlywde, but to these must be added a pret. hlyde, part.
gehlyd, and poetical contract forms, like inf. ffeon, flected part, ffeode, and plur. pres. ind. h!6off.
pret. ffeode, in-

3) The verb cfegan, cfgan, call, name (Ps. North, ceiga, ceia, R. 1 also cjfegan, from *kaujan, 176),

usually transfers the cfegde, cfgde

(North,

of the present to the preterit: 1 ceigde, R. also ceigde), part.

gecfeged, gecfged, plur. geciegde (North, geceiged, only Ps. has regularly c6de, part. plur. geceigde)
;

gec^d,
NOTE

gec^de.

For the

inflection of te present see

408.
9.

*haujan, ON. heyja),

Similarly are inflected the poetic began, perform (from pret. hede, part, gehed, and the dialectic
;

strfcgan, strew (Goth, straujan), pret. strede (Erf. Corp. streide) the WS. representative of the latter is strewiau, streowiaii, pret. strewede, stre(o)vvode (cf. note 7).

228

INFLECTION.

NOTE 10. Here perhaps belongs *ton, make (Goth, taujan), of which, besides the 3d plur. te'off, only a pret. t6ode, part, teod, are found yet these might belong to * tcogan (414. note 1).
;

4)

The verbs h6an,

elevate

(from *hfehan) t^n,

in-

diihen), and no doubt *sc^n, tempt, *arr^n, compress (?), which are of extremely rare occurrence, always undergo contraction
struct, 3tyn,

press (from *2tyhan,

OHG.

of the radical

vowel with the

:

initial of the derivative or

inflectional syllable
part, lu'-ad,

pret. h^ade, t^de (LWS. t^'dde), t^d (LWS. inflected ttfdde), etc.
:

NOTE
pres.

11.

Uncontracted forms are rare

scya> (North.), part. agFryid. A participle of hfed (Mercian?), from *hfehid (166. 5).

ic ffyge, pret. ffygde, plur. lu'-an also occurs

:

Conjugation of the
409.

Weak Verbs

of Class

I.

iirrian

and

fr^mman

represent the conjugation

of the original short stems, of the original long stems. For examples of the former class, see 400; of

dman

the latter, 403

for

gierwan and
PRESENT.
Indicative.

cfegaii see 408. 1, 3.

Paradigms

Sing.

1.

iH'i-ie
iKM-t-sf ()
n(,-rc,Y

fre_mme
fre_mes(t)
fre.me<V

detne
d6m(e)ff

glor\ve
glereff

2.
3.

dem(e)st gierest

Plur. nej-iatf

frejnmaff

demaff
Optative.

gierwaff

Sing, n^rle Plur.

frejnme
deinen
Imperative.

gler\ve

ciege

gier\ven

ciegan

Sing. 2. Plur. 1. nor MII

i

frejne
frriiiinan

glere
(Ionian

cieg(Ps.c6)

gierwan
gier-\va8f

ciegan
eiegaff

2.

ii

i-i,,

CONJUGATION.
Infinitive.

229

nerian

fremman

dman

gicrvvan

ciogan

Participle.

nerlende

fre,mmende demende gierwende cfegende

|

PRETERIT.
Indicative.

Sing.

1.

ne^rede

frejnede frejnede
f'rtMiicdoii

dmde
demdes(t)

gierede, etc. ciegde,

etc.

2. 3.

n^redes(t) fr^medes(t)

Plur.

n^rede neredon

d6mde
dt'-iiidon

Optative.

Sing, ne.rede

frejnede

dt'-mde

gierede, etc. ciegde,

etc.

u^reden

fr^meden

demden

Participle.

Sing, Plur.

nered

framed
fre^mede

gler(\v)ed

n^rede
'

deinde

gierede

cieged ciegde

NOTE

1.

n^rlgean,
hneegeaff,

etc.,

For graphic variants of n^rlan, etc., like n^rgan, nejrigan, see 175. For forms like secean, seceaff, hnaegean,
along with sfecan, secaff,
-e

etc.,

etc., see

206. 6.
is

NOTE
saegde

2.

The
eade

of the 1st sing, preterit indicative

:

often lost in

North, before the pronoun Ic

Ic,
3.

NOTE
tion, see

Ic, c^rde Ic, For the introduction of forms from the Second Conjuga-

saegdlg, L., 6adlg, ce_rdlg, Kit., for etc. (355. note 2).

400. note

2.

Strictly speaking, the inflectional endings were originally the same in both classes, as they still are in
410.

the preterit. The actual differences in the conjugation of the OE. present are as follows
:

1)

The

of the suffix -jo-

was retained before an

r, like

unlike vowel in the case of the short stems in

in the

other short-stemmed verbs it caused, ii^rian; before its disappearance (177), gemination of the radical final consonant in West Germanic, according to 228, as

230
iii

INFLECTION.
it

After long stems produced gemination. having

fr^mman.

was dropped without

ever

1. In verbs whose stems were long the j remained as g whenwas preceded by a vowel, as in ciegan, or was lost, and contraction supervened (408. 4).
it

NOTE

of the original short stems exhibits variation between geminated and simple consonants,
2)

The present

the latter standing in the 2d the 2d sing, imperative.

and 3d

sing, indicative

and

NOTE

2.

these forms originally contained an i and that the suffixal j prefixed to this

This variation depends upon the fact that the ending of (cf. Goth, nasjis, nasji]>, nasei),
i

had already disappeared before

the occurrence of the

in this

connection are

West Germ, gemination. Especially to be noted the statements in 190 and 216, relating to eg as
:

the geminate of g, and

swe_feff, etc.
is

tinction

bb as that of f I^cg(e)an-l^ge8", sw^bban Subsequently, and indeed already in North., this disoverlooked, the geminated forms being introduced into the
:

2d and 3d

sing.

selest

and

sexiest, seleff

and

s^lleff, etc.

NOTE

3.

The

inflection of oogaii in Ps.

cfeff,

depends upon a similar

vari-

ation: cfegu, cest,

cege, imp. cfegaff, the termination.

etc.

imperative c6, but plur. pres. ind. cegaff, opt. that is, j vanishes before an 1 of (cf. 408. 3)
;

3)
-e

The imperative
-ei),

sing, of the short stems ends in

it

(Goth,

as in ne.re, fr^me, while

regularly
:

suffers

apocope

in the long stems, according to 133

dm,

lifer, etc.

NOTE 4. In LWS., forms like d6me, h#re, are found ; in North., on the other hand, the short stems suffer apocope ner, se^l (cf. 372. note). LWS. even has te.lle, but cw?U.
:

4) In like

manner the endings of the 2d and 3d

sing,

indicative are regularly shortened to -st, & in the EWS. texts de'mst, ctemfr, while the short stems but seldom
:

admit of syncope (and then usually after 1 and g: sejar, legrff, etc.). Subsequently there is much irregularity, Pure WS. preferring syncope.

CONJUGATION.
2.

231

SECOND WEAK CONJUGATION. The common basis

of all the

411.

Present stem.
is

forms

primarily a stem in original -tfjo-, which, however, was contracted to 6 in the 2d and 3d sing. ind. and 2d sing, imp., as early as the Germanic, or at all
of this class

West Germanic period. In OE. the -<5jo- has become -ia- (-iga-, -igea-), this combination regularly being pronounced as a dissyllable, and incapable of
events the

causing i-umlaut (though sometimes producing o-umlaut)

:

sealfian,

anoint,

Itician,

look,

wunian,
-6-.

dwell,

tacnian, betoken, sc^awian, behold,

etc.

Preterit and

past part, are formed on a stem having

is

NOTE. The number of these verbs very large, since verbs belonging to this class can be formed from very many nouns, but particularly from adjectives. Especially to be noted are the derivatives in iiian,
Goth,
ciaii,
-iiion, like

fcestnian, fasten

in -(e)cian,

OHG. -ihhon, like bede-

styfecian, extirpate, ieldcian, delay, gearcian, prepare; and in -sian, usually Goth, -isoii, like ricslan, rixian, rule, bledsian,
beg,
bless,

milt sian, pity, halsiau,

rue.

greet,

eorsian,

be angry, bllssian, rejoice,

hreowsian,
412.

Preterit.

The
:

preterit of this class ends in -ode

(-ade, -ude, -ede)

this dialect,

-ode is the less frequent in but the prevailing suffix in Ps. and North., in which dialects -ode is very rare -ude and -ede, though they are found in all
1.
;

NOTE

wuiiode, t&cnode, etc. regular WS. form, -ade being

the dialects, are comparatively scarce. The forms with e belong more frequently to the plur. than to the sing., and we may perhaps assume
the normal forms to be sing, sealfode, plur. sealfedon (129).

NOTE

2.

Some

verbs in
;

w occasionally syncopate the middle vowel

etc.

tr6wian, trtiwde

ffeowian, ffeowde,

413. Past participle. Its ending is -od, -ad, -ud, these forms standing to each other in the relation indicated by 412. note 1 gewunod, getdcnod. To these must be
:

added the

-ed- of inflected forms, like

getacnedum,

etc.

232
414.

INFLECTION.

Paradigms of the second

PRESENT.
Indicative.
Optative.
\

class

Sing.

1.

sealfle

2.

sealfast
sealfiaS
1

sealfle
[

Imperative. Sing. 2. sealfa Plur. I. sou Mian

2. sealfiaff

3. sealfaff

>

Plur.

sealfien
Participle: sealfiende

Infinitive:

sealfian

PRETERIT.
Indicative.

Optative.
\ >

Sing.

I.

seal fode

2.
3.

sealfodest

sealfoden
sealfoden

sealfode
sealfedon, -odon
Participle
:

Plur.

sealfad
le,

NOTE

1.

Graphic substitutions of Ige for

:

and of iga, igea for

;

la,

are frequent

ge for ie is found in a few manuscripts : gnorngende, grieving, huntgende, hunting, etc. Contractions take place in the verbs b6gan, boast, scoian, shoe, and tweogean, doubt, *te"og(e)an, ordain (North, pret. tiadae).
sealfige, sealfigen, sealfigean, etc.

NOTE 2. North, has in many instances retained forms which approximate more closely to the original ending of the present stem -6jo indicative plur. -ageff, e.g., infinitives in -ogla, -age, -egej present Still other North, peculiarities are: indicative 1st -egeff, -egaff, etc. sing, in -a, -iga (<5r6wa, ffr6wiga), (2d) 3d sing, in -es, -eff, -I(g)as,
:

-iges, -aglff, -alff, plur. in -aff, -as, -es, etc.

imperative 2d sing, in

-ig,

like arlg, cliunsig, along with -a; present participle in -ende, -ande, etc.

3.

THIRD WEAK CONJUGATION.

preserved in OE. libban, lifgan,

415.

This conjugation comprises the few remains of

still

the Goth, ai-class which are

These are the verbs ImtVban, have;

<yr6ag(e)an
(Ps.
(Ps.
ffr^gaii,

live; s$cg(e)an, say ; hycg(e)an, think;

and originally
rebuke;

North,

ffreiga),

smag(e)an

sm^gan), think; frog(e)an (Ps.frlgan),

Their inflection
is

liberate; f^ogan, hate.

as follows:

CONJUGATION.
PRESENT.
Indicative.

233

Singular:
1.

llblje
llf e

htebbe
hafas(t) hafaff
:

secge

hycge
hogas(t) hogaff

ffreage
ffreas( ffreas(t)
ffrfeaff

freoge
freos( freos(t)
fre"off

2. 3.

liofas(t) sagas(t)
liofaff

sagaff

Plural

ffreag(e)aff fr6og(e)a

Optative.

Singular:
1.

hicbbo
etc., like

hycge fr^mme, 408.

ffrfeage

frfeoge

2.

Singular: liafa
Plural:

llofa

saga

lioga

9rea

fr6o

(lifg(e)ao
Infinitive.

habban
Participles.

freog(e)an

hycgende
lifgende

ffreagende

freogende

PRETERIT.
Singular:
1,

haefde

llfde

saegde
etc., like

hogde
deinde, 408.

ffreade

frfeode

PAST PARTICIPLE.
gehaefd
gelifd

gesaegd

gehogod

geffread

gefreod

416.

The

peculiarity of

this

class

consists

in

the

intermixture of forms belonging to the 1st and 2d weak To the latter belong originally only the conjugations.

234

INFLECTION.

2d and 3d sing, present indicative and the 2d sing, imperative, all the other present forms being borrowed from the first conjugation. The preterit was formed by
attaching -de directly to the radical syllable, and the In the course of time, past participle by adding -d.

however, many modifications of the old system have taken place.

NOTE
1.

Later forms of

habban

are

1st sing, indicative hafu, -o,

-a (North, always so), 2d hacfst, 3d haefff, the latter being the

most

common

in

WS.

prose;

negative adverb ne,

LWS. sing, optative habbe. By prefixing the habban becomes nabban 1st sing, present in:
1

dicative naebbe, nafu, etc., 2d nafast, naefst, 3d nala <V. naefQ plur. nabbaff; preterit naefde; participle gensefd; cf. also naefga, mendi;

cant, naefte, poverty.

The past
in

The

preterit
2.

haedde occurs

a charter of

participle haefed is peculiar to Bede. A.D. 991.

NOTE
I
i

The

collateral

lian, are chiefly confined to the

forms of libban with fg (fl), like lifgan, Anglian and Kentish dialects liofo
;

is

found in North, as the 1st sing, present indicative. forms a preterit llfede (lyfede, lyfode, leofode).

In

LWS. libban

Later forms of se^cgean are present indicative 2d sing, 3d ssegff, sej5(e)ff, Ps. s^geff; imperative sej*e; preterit safede, participle gesafed, according to 214. 3. hycg(e)an has the preterit hogode, plur. hogedon, according to Class II., and even
3.
:

NOTE

saegst, s^g(e)st,

hygde
more

(3d sing, present hygff).

4. The original inflection of ffr^agan, smeagan, freogan, is clearly perceptible in Ps. than in WS.: infinitive ffregan, present indicative ffregu, ffr^as, ffreaff, plur. ffrfcgaff, optative ffr^ge, impera-

NOTE

tive ffrea, ffrga8f, participle ffregende, preterit ffr^ade, participle

geff read, for * ffraujan, * ffrauju, * ffrauals, preterit ffrauda, etc. likewise infinitive *frigan, present indicative frigu, freas, fr^aS
(friaff, frioff), plur. *fr$gaff,

imperative frea, frigaff, participle

fri-

gende, preterit frade, friode, participle fread, friod. Elsewhere there are found shorter forms like ffrean, smuan, besides 8fr6agean,
snieagean,
etc.

NOTE
II.

5.

The verbs belonging

For the most

to this class

more numerous.
class,

part, they

like biofian, blflan, tremble,

were originally much have either gone over to the hlioiiian, recline, scomian.

CONJUGATION.

235

shame, sorgian, care, or have a more or less perfect double formation, and are thus inflected in both classes: fylgean - fylgde and folglan-

folgode, te^llan tealde and talian talode. From wacian, u-akc, there is a present participle waeccende; and from hatian, hate, the participle h^ttende. In the case of others, only a preterit without middle to the old inflection vowel plagian - plaegde and plagade,
points
:

play; swigian (swigian?

(North.) and
dry, etc.

EWS.

swigode,

be silent;

also swugian, sugian) - swfgde adrugiau, adrtigde, and adrtigode,

IV.
1)

Minor Groups.

PRETERITIVE PRESENTS.

417. The Germanic preteritive presents have sprung from strong verbs, whose preterits have assumed a present meaning (like Lat. meinini, novi, coepi, Gr. oZSa), while the original presents have disappeared. Their forms consist of:

1) a strong preterit

with present signification (perfect

(352. 2)

present)
2) a

newly formed dental preterit

with preterit

signification.
418. The inflection of the former is in general that of the strong preterits, retaining, however, various older forms, such as the 2d sing, indicative in -t, and the

i-umlaut in the optative. The dental preterit conforms entirely to the inflection of the weak preterits.

In the formation of their strong preterits the preteritive presents range themselves under the ablaut classes of the strong verbs. Accordingly, they naturally fall into the following order
419.
:

236
420.

INFLECTION.
First ablaut class,

sing, wast,

2d i) Present wat, / know EWS. wiotun, wietun optative plur. witon,

:
;

wite; imperative "write; preterit wisse, \viste; infinitive witan, EWS. wiotan, wietan; participle witen to these must be added the ancient past participle gewiss,
;

now used as an By fusion with

NOTE.

" certain." adjective with the meaning the negative adverb ne, these forms

become ndt, nast, nytun, nyte, nysse, nyste.

participle

wuta

The Ps. has plur. weotun, neotun infinitive weotan weotende. The North., plur. wuton, union infinitive optative wite imperative wite, plur. wutas preterit only
; ; ; ; ;

wiste, nyste

past participle gewitten.

2) ag (all, 214. 1), I have: 2d sing, aht, ahst, plur. agon optative age imperative age preterit ante inf. agan; past participle segen and agen, adjective own
; ; ;

(cf.

378)

with the negative, nah, nahte,

class.

etc.

deag (d6ah, 214. 1, North. deg, 163), I avail: 2d sing, doht (?) not found, plur. dugon optative duge, dyge preterit dohte infinitive dugan present participle dugende, EWS. dugunde.
421.

Second ablaut

3)

Third ablaut class. 4) on(n), an(n), LWS. ge2d sing. onst (?) not found, plur. unnon; optative unne; imperative unne (North, gionn, Rit.); infinitive unnan preterit tifre present participle un422.

un(n), I grant:

nande; past
5)

participle (ge)unnen.

con(n), can(n),

know, can: 2d sing, const, plur.

; ;

cunnon; optative cunne preterit ctio*e infinitive cunnan past participle cunnen, besides the ancient p:ist
;

participle cuty, known,

6)
arearf,

need

used as an adjective. 2d sing, ffearft, plur. ffurfon

ffurfe
;

optative
ffurfte)
;

ffyrfe,

usually

preterit

frorfte

(R.

infinitive ffurfan, present participle arearf ende.

CONJUGATION.
7) dear,

237

/ dare :

2d

sing, dearst, plur.

durron

opta-

1 tive dyrre, usually durre; preterit dorste (R. dy(r)ste);

infinitive

durran

(?).

423.

Fourth ablaut
sceole

class.

8) sceal,
;

_Z"

shall

2d

sing.

scealt,

plur. scnlon, sceolon

;

optative scyle, sci(e)le,

;

scule,

preterit

sc(e)olde

infinitive

sculan,

sceolan.

NOTE
Cura
9)

1.

scalde, sculde, optative scylde.

Past.

North, plur. scilon, sciolon, optative scile ; preterit Rush.1 The forms scile, sclele, occur in

LWS. gemime, I inLWS. gemunst, LWS. 3d sing. gemanfr (?), plur. munon, LWS. gemunafr; optative myne, usually nmne; imperative gem yn(e), gemun(e) preterit munde; infinitive munan; present participle
mQn,

man

(likewise gemoji),

tend

2d sing. mqnst,

munende
NOTE
424.
2.

past participle (ge)munen.

North, has as preterit

gemyste

(for

*gemynste, 185.

1).

Fifth ablaut class.

10) maeg,

can : 2d sing.

meaht, miht, plur. magon; optative msege, LWS. mage, muge, plur. mahan, mugon; preterit meahte,

mihte
inaehte.

infinitive

magan

or

mugan

(?)

not found.

NOTE. The forms of the Ps. are meg, maeht, ma*gon, mege,

(used only in the 3d person) plur. -nugon, optative -nuge, preterit benohte ; infinitive -nugan (?) not found.
11) be-, ge-neah,
:

it suffices

425.

Sixth ablaut class.

12)

m<5t,

/ may

2d

sing,

plur. iiioton, optative infinitive mdtan (?) not found.

most,

mdte,

preterit

mdste;

238
2)
426.

INFLECTION.

VERBS

IN -mi.

1st sing, present indicative of the Indoverb ended either in -6 or in -mi (cf. the European Gr. verbs in -o> and -/it, like (frepa) and ri^yu-t, etc.).

The

To

the verbs in -6 belong all the regular Germanic verbs; of the verbs in -mi only scanty remains have been preserved; they are distinguished by the fact that the 1st sing, indicative ends in -m. Here belong
the following

OE. verbs
a)

The Substantive Verb.

is

427.

The

substantive verb

composed of forms from

the three roots, es (indicative and present optative), bheu (indicative and present optative with future signi-

and imperative), and" wes (infinitive, The inflection is as present participle, and preterit).
fication, infinitive

follows :
l)

Root es:
PRESENT.
Indicative.

ws.

CONJUGATION.
NOTE
earun
2d
is

239

2.

infinitive sie

R. 1 has also an indicative plur. sendun, and Lind. an in the Ps. sind is the regular form of the plur., while
;
;

the rarest

the form

send

is

sing. earff occurs not only in Ps.,

occasionally found in but also in Boeth. 128.

WS. The

2)

Root bheu:
PRESENT.
Indicative.
Optative.

WS.-Ps.
Sing.
1.

NOBTH.
bioni,

WS.
be\>

NORTH.

beom, b6o
bis, bist
biff

beom
bia

2. 3.

bist
biff

Plur.

b6off
I

^
biaff
)

Infinitive

beon

(North, bian)
:

Present Participle

bcomlc

Imperative

Sing, beo, plur. beoff

biff, are

NOTE

3.

Later forms of bist,

does the North, have bioffon for biffon.

byst, byff. Only rarely R. 1 has an indicative plur.

beojmn

(biffon) along with beo>, bioj>. the optative.

The

Ps. has no example of

3)

Root wes:
PRESENT.

Infinitive:

wesan

(North,

wosa, wossa).

Participle:

wesende.

Imperative: Sing. \ves, plur. wesaff (North, \vaes, \vosas).

PRETERIT.
Indicative: 1st sing, waes, 2d sing, wsfere; Optative : \vsere, etc., the whole regularly inflected as a strong

verb (391).

NOTE The past participle is generally wanting, but cf. 391. note 1. From fusion with ne results the preterit sing, naes, 2d iia'-rc, plur. na-ron, optative n&re. wees, naes, when enclitic, become was, nas.
4.

5)

The Verb "will"

tense of the
to

428.

The present

" verb " will was

originally confined in indicatively ; to these

an optative used have been added in OE. a new

Germanic

240
optative

INFLECTION.

and an imperative (the

latter occurring only

as a negative). The preterit is of the The inflection is as follows :

weak

conjugation.

PRESENT.

Indicative.

WS.
Sing.
1.

Ps.

NORTH.
willo, -e

wttle, wile

2.
3.

wilt
wile, wllle

wilt

wile
\viIluiV

wll
wallas,
-aff

1'lur.

wlUaff

Optative.
(

g.
(

wllle

wile

(
( t

waella, -SB, -e wellse, -e

wsellae, -e

Plur.

wlUen

wellae, -e

PRETERIT.
Sing,

Indicative.

wolde (walde)

walde
Optative.

walde

Sing,

wolde, walde

walde

walde

Inflected like ne.rede, 408.

NOTE 1. In North, the 1st sing, indicative is combined with the fol1 lowing pronoun to form wllllc R. distinguishes 1st and 3d sing, as wllle and -wile; plur. willaff and optative wllle, as in WS. The
:

infinitive
1

wlllan
2.

is

rare

Ps. has a present participle

wellende, and

R. an imperative

ne wellaff.
is

NOTE

Fusion with the negative adverb

the rule, occasioning

certain irregularities in the vowels of the various forms : WS. 1st and 3d sing, indicative nel(l)e, nyl(l)e, 2d nelt, nylt, plur. nellaff, nyllaff,

optative nelle, nyl(l)e, imperative nele (?), plur. nellaff, nyllaS

erit

pret-

nolde

(R.

1st
;

and 3d

sing, nyle, plur. nyllaff,

imperative nellaff,
;

nalde) Ps. sing, imperative nyl, plur. nyllaff, preterit nalde North. 1st sing, indicative nuillle, plur. nallas, sing, imperative nelle, plur. nallaff, luullaff, nellaff (-eff, -as, -aes), preterit nalde.
preterit

CONJUGATION.
The Verb "do."
do, is

241

<?)

429.

The verb ddn,

conjugated as follows :

PRESENT.
Indicative.
Optative.

WS.
Sg.
1. (16

Ps.

NORTH.

WS.

Ps.

NORTH.

d6m
da-sit
dried
)

dom,
doas

do,

d6a

d6

2.
::.

dest
(U'-iV

ddeff; d6aeff, -as, -es

<>
d6n

d6 f ' d e
l

Plur.

d6ff

doff

doaff, -as,

-eff,

-es

doen
Participles.

doe

Infinitive.

Ger.

don don domic

do.

don, do,

doa

d6nde

doende

d6anne, -enne
Past Participles.

Sg.

2.

do

PI. 1.
2.

d6n
doff

d6a d6n
doff

Ps.

do. d 6a

d6e
-seff, -eff

ged6n

d6aff, -as,

PRETERIT.
Indicative.

Optative.

WS.
Sg.
1, 3.

NORTH.

WS.
(

Ps.

NORTH.

dyde
dydes(t)
(

dyde
dydes(t)

dyde
dydes(t)
(

dyde
!.<, Ir

dyde

dyde

2.

1
(

Plur.

dydon

dydun

1 (djfedoii)

dydon dedon

dyden
d
.

dyden dyde

I'M 1,. II

NOTE

1.

It is
de,

doubtful whether the oe of Ps. and North, should be

since the Mss. do not distinguish between them. The participles gedfen, forden, are found in WS. only in the poetical texts, to which they have probably been transferred directly from North,

written 6e or

originals.

The

preterit plur.

d&don,

optative da-do, are probably not

found

in

WS.
2.
,

prose.
do'-st
;
,

NOTE

R. 1 has 1st sing, present indicative d6(m), 2d

;

3d

draff,

plur. d6ff d6aff, doeff

sing, optative
;

d6(a), plur.

doan

sing,

impera;

tive d6, plur. d6ff, d6aff, doeff present participle d6nde, doviidu

infinitive
;

preterit

doan, gerund d6anne dyde, plur. dydon ; past

participle

ged6an, gedoen.

242
d)
430.

INFLECTION.

The Verb "go."

(beside g<?ngan, 396. note 1)
:

The verb gdn, go

Indicative.

PRESENT.
Optative.

WS.-P8.
Sing.
1.

NORTH.
gsfe
\

WS.

Ps.

NOBTH.

2. 3.

g& gs(t)
g&ff
gaff

ggfes(t)

>ga gan

gsfe

g8feff,gar,-s
gaff,gseff,-s

Plur.

Imperative.

Present Participle.

ga Sing. Plur. 2. gdff

2.

gd,

gsfe,

gaae

gAnde

gdude

gdff, gsfeff,-s

Infinitive.

Past Participle.

gin

g&n,

g&

gegdn
PKETEKIT.

gead

Indicative.

Optative.

Sg. 1, 3.

6ode

ade, feode

feode

6ode

\
(

6ade eode

Inflected like n^rede, etc., 408.

NOTE 1. In place of our sfe the Mss. often have ae, which may also be interpreted as 6e sfe has only been admitted above, where the Mss. themselves contain the ligature se in addition to ae.
;

NOTE
jra-ff,

2.

The

inflection in R. 1

is

the same as in

WS., with the excepplur. imperative

tion of the plur. optative gsfen, along with

gan, and the

along with gaff. present indicative.

In one instance the Ps. has

gan

as the 1st sing,

APPENDIX.
a)

The

pre-Alfredian texts, which are exceedingly

important in a linguistic point of view, have been issued in a complete edition by Sweet, Oldest English Texts,

The OE. charters were collected by London, 1885. J. M. Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici, London, 1839-48 (new edition by W. de Gray Birch, Cartulariura Saxonicum, London, 1883 ff.). An extended bibliography is given in R. Wiilcker's Grundriss
zur Geschichte der Ags. Litteratur, Leipzig, 1885. 5) The principal Northumbrian texts, besides a few

Runic inscriptions (Stephens, The Old Northern Runic Monuments, I, 405 ff., Sweet, Oldest English Texts, 124 ff.), are an interlinear translation of the Gospels,
the so-called

Durham Book,
Matthew,

or Lindisfarne

Gospels
ac-

Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian versions, Cambridge, 1858-78) and a similar translation of the Durham Ritual, edited by Stevenson for the Surtees Society, under the title of
etc.,

(best edition by cording to Saint

Kemble and Skeat: The Gospel

in
;

Rituale Ecclesiae Dunelmensis, London, 1840.

f)

Mercian

is

fied transcript of the 1 (R. ), in the so-called

supposed to be represented by the modiNorthumbrian gloss on Matthew Rush worth Ms., but the dialect
to contain isolated

seems

to be a

mixed one, and

WS.

forms; as respects the other three Gospels, the gloss

244
(R.
2
)

APPENDIX.
is

but

little

more than a copy of the Northumbrian.

edition.

The whole is printed in Kemble and Skeat's The very important interlinear version of the
Vespasian A.

Psalter

1), which was for some (in Cotton WS. time considered to be Kentish, must certainly be regarded as Mercian in its linguistic character. It was edited by J. Stevenson, Anglo-Saxon and Early English Psalter, for the Surtees Society, London, 1843-47, and has now appeared in a more correct form in Sweet's

Oldest English Texts, 183 ff. d) The only remains which are certainly Kentish are a metrical translation of the 50th Psalm, a hyrnn, and a
collection of glosses in

Museum.

The two

first

Ms. Vesp. Z). 6 of the British were published in Anglosax-

onica quae primus edidit Fr. Dietrich, Marburg, 1885, and less correctly by Grein, Bibliothek der Ags. Poesie II, 276 ff., 290 ff. (cf. Haupt's Zs. XV, 465 ff.); the
glosses by J. Zupitza in Haupt XXI, 1 and in Wright-Wiilcker, Anglo-Saxon
ff.,

XXII, 223

ff.,

and Old English

Vocabularies,

I,

55

ff.

Not pure Kentish, but Kentish

containing at 'least an admixture of Mercian forms, is the Epinal Glossary of the beginning of the 8th century, together with the nearly related Corpus and Erfurt
Glossaries, which are the chief sources of our knowledge of the Oldest English. The Epinal Glossary was edited

by Henry Sweet, London, 1884, with a photolithographic facsimile of the whole manuscript; all three glossaries are in Sweet's Oldest English Texts, 1 ff, and the Corpus Glossary in Wright-Wiilcker, I ff.
e)

Among

the ancient specimens of

West Saxon,
in
all

certain

works by Alfred the Great, preserved

contemothers;

poraneous manuscripts, take precedence of

APPENDIX.

245

these are the translation of Gregory the Great's Cura Pastoralis (edited by Sweet, King Alfred's West Saxon

Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care, London, 1871), and of the Chronicle of Orosius, edited from the Lauderdale

Ms. by Sweet, King Alfred's Orosius, London, 1883. Next in importance is the oldest text (Parker Ms.) of the Saxon Chronicle, of which the oldest portion extends to A.D. 891; the most correct edition is by B.
Thorpe, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, London, 1861,
the latest

by

Earle,

Oxford, 1865.

Two of the Saxon Chronicles, Among the LWS. documents may be

mentioned the numerous and still partly unpublished works of JElfric (circa 1000), whose OE. Grammar of the Latin Language has been lately re-edited by Zupitza, The dialectical peculiarities have been Berlin, 1880.
faithfully preserved in his sermons, edited

by B. Thorpe,

The Homilies
^Elfric

of

JSlfric,

London, 1844-46, for the

both, excluding the idiosyucracies of the individual scribes.

much mon to

Society. By Pure West Saxon is meant so of the language of ^Elfred and ^Elfric as is com-

/) The poetical texts of Old English were collected by C. W. M. Grein, Bibliothek der Ags. Poesie, Cassel und Gottingen, 1857-64 (newly edited by R. P. Wiilcker,
I, 1, 2, Cassel, 1881 ff.). They originated, for the most part, in the Anglian territory (cf. Beitr. X, 464 ff.), but are all preserved in copies made by Southern scribes. The Mss. belong chiefly to the 10th and llth centuries, and therefore represent no dialect in its purity, but consist of a medley of the most various forms. Not only have Anglian forms frequently been transferred from the originals, but the earlier and later forms of the same

Vol.

246

APPENDIX.

dialect alternate with each other.

fore,

The poems,

there-

can only be employed for grammatical purposes

with the utmost caution. Now and then, indeed, the metre does allow an approximate determination of the original forms to be made (Beitr. X, 209 ff., 451 ff.).

BIBLIOGEAPHY.
Bouterwek, K.

Die vier Evangelien in alt-northumbr. Sprache (Gutersloh, 1857). Einleitung pp. CXII-CLXIV. Nordische lehnwb'rter im Orrmulum. Paul-Braune, Brate, E.
Beitr.

W.

X (HaUe,

ten Brink, B.

Zum

1884), 1-80. engl. vocalismus.

Zs.

f.

deutsches alterth.

XIX

(Berlin, 1876), 211-228.

Ib. XXIII (1879), 65-67. Beitrage zur engl. lautlehre. I. Altengl. g (5). heht. Anglia I (Halle, 1878), 512-526 II, 177 f

Eode.

hen^

und

Das
55-57.

altengl. suffix -ere.

Anglia
v.

Anzeige von Elene her.

Cook, A. S.

Zupitza, Anz.

(Halle, 1882), 1-4. f. deutsch. alterth. V,

Vowel-Length in King Alfred's Orosius.

3.

American

Journal of Philology V, no.

Cosijn,

Vowel-Length in Old English. Ib. VI, no. 3. P. J. De taalvormen van Aelfreds Pastoraal. Taalkundige Bijdragen II (Haarlem, 1879), 115-158, 240-246.
Uit de Pastoraal.
Ib. II, 246-259. Ib. II, 259-277.

Tijdschrift voor Nederl. Taal- en Letterkunde II (Leiden, 1882), 287 ff. Kurzgefasste altwestsachs. grammatik. I. Die vocale der

De oudste westsaksische chroniek. De instrumental singularis op -mi.

stammsilben.

Leiden, 1881. Altwestsachsische grammatik.

I.

halfte.

Haag, 1883.

1 A list of the older Anglo-Saxon Grammars is given by Wulcker, Grundriss zur Geschichte der Ags. Litteratur, Leipzig, 1885, pp. 93 ff. Here are noted only such modern publications as have contributed to our general

or special knowledge of Old English by references the sources.

to,

or quotations from,

248
Dieter,

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Ferd. Ueber sprache und mundart der altesten engl. denkmaler, der Epiualer und Carabridger glossen mit beriicksichtigung des Erfurter glossars. Gottingen, 1885. Hilmer, H. Zur altnordhumbr. Laut- und Flexionslehre. I. Lautlehre.

Goslar, 1880.

Holtzmann, A. Altdeutsche Grammatik. 1, 1.2. Leipzig, 1870-75. Zur altgerman. sprachgeschichte (1880). Kuhn's Kluge, Fr. zeitschr. XXVI (Berlin, 1883), 68-103, 328. - Anglosaxonica. Anglia IV (Halle, 1881), 101-106.
Sprachhistorische
(Halle, 1882), 506-539.
miscellen.

Paul-Braune,

Beitr.

VIII

Die german. consonantendehnung.

Anzeigen

Anglia

IV

Ib. IX (1884), 149-186. (1882), anz. (1881), anz. 14-20,

81-86.

Nehab, J.
Paul, H.

Der

altengl. Cato. Berlin, 1879, pp. 15-41.

Untersuchungen iiber den german. vocalismus. Halle, 1879. (Reprint from Paul-Braune, Beitr. IV, 315-475, VI, 1-261.) Zur altengl. declination. Engl. Studien VI (Heilbronn, Platt, J.
1883), 149
ff.

Nachtrage zu Sievers' ags. grammatik. Ib. VI, 290 ff. Anglia VI (Halle, 1883), 171-178. Paul-Braune, Beitr. IX auslautsgesetz. (Halle, 1884), 368 ff. [Cf. the remarks in Anglia VI, 474, VII,
Angelsachsisches. Zum consonant,
222, Beitr.
Priese,

X,

494.]

0.

Die Sprache der Gesetze Aelfreds des Grossen und

Strassburg, 1883.
Angelsiichsische quantitaten.

Konig
Sarrazin,

Ines.

G.

Paul-Braune, Beitr.

(Halle, 1884), 365-367, 585 ff. Zur altangelsachs. declination. Sievers, E,

IX

Paul-Braune, Beitr.
Ib.

(Halle, 1874), 488-504. Zur accent- und lautlehre der german. sprachen.

IV

(1877), 522-539,

(1878), 63-163.

Das verbum kommen. Ib. VIII (1882), 80 ff. Zur flexion der schwachen verba. Ib. VIII (1882), 90-94. - Der angelsachs. instrumental. Ib. VIII (1882), 324-333.
Miscellen zur angelsachs. grammatik.
Ib.

IX

Zur verbalflexion.
561-568.

Das pronomen
Ib.

jener.

(1884), 197-300. Ib. IX (1884),

Zu Codex Jun. XI.

(1885), 195-199.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Zur rhythmik des german.
209-314, 451-545.
alliterationsverses.
Ib.

249

X (1885),
Berlin,

Altangels./and
Sohrauer, 1886.

b.

Ib.

XI

(1886), 542

ff.

M.

Kleine beitrage zur altengl. grammatik.

Svensson, J. V.

Otn spraket
I.

den forra (merciska) delen af RushGoteborg, 1883.

of Gregory's Pastoral

worthhandskriften.
Sweet,

Ljudlara.

H.

Care.

King Alfred's West-Saxon Version London, 1871, pp. XIX-XLII.

History of English Sounds. London, 1874. An Anglo-Saxon Reader. Oxford, 1877. 4th
Dialects

ed., 1884.

and Prehistoric Forms of English.

ff.

Transactions of

the Philol. Society, 1875-76, 543

The Preterite of Disguised Compounds in Old English. 'cuman.' Anglia III (Halle, 1880), English Etymologies.
151-157.

History of English Sounds and Dialects. I. Proceedings of the Philol. Society, Dec. 5, 1879. II. Ib., April 16, 1880.

English Etymologies.

Ib.,

June
Ib.,

3,

1881

Feb.

2, 1883.

- Old-English
Zeuner, R.
Halle, 1881.

History of g in English.

Ib.

Contributions.

March

3,

1882

Feb.

6,

1885.
I.).

Die sprache des kentischen psalters (Vespasian A.

Zupitza, J. Kentische glossen des neunten jahrhunderts. Zeitschr. f. deutsch. alterth. XXI (Berlin, 1877), 1-59, XXII (1878), 223-226.

Auzeige

Anz.

f.

deutsch. alterth. II (Berlin, 1876), 1-19.

INDEX.
OLD ENGLISH INDEX.
[The numbers refer to paragraphs. Unstable i and y, if not readily found, may be sought under ie io under eo or le a before m, n, under Words under INFLECTION are indexed in full, with the Q; 9 follows t. 324-331; from the PHONOLOGY a selection exception of the numerals in of the more important words has been made. Of the abbreviations, none will
; ;

probably need explanation, except anv., which stands for "anomalous verb," and designates those contained in the Minor Groups, 417-430.]
a",

adv., 174. 3.

seghwser,
N. 2.

seghwider,

aerra,

abbud, stm., 10. ac, adv., 49 N. 1. ac, f 284 and N. 2, 3. acan, stv., 392 N. 1. adela, wm., 50 N. 1. adesa, wm., 60 N. 1.
.,

aghwo.nan, adv., 321

aegSer, pron., 347. aehher, see ear.
aeht, stf.,
a>l-,

a&spryng,

comp., 313. stf., 31 N.

N. 2.

266
aet,

aest, see a&rest.

adv., 51

and

N.

269.
1.

aetgar(u),stm.,273N.4.
aethrine, stm., 263.

89 N.

adl, stfn., 183;

202. 3;
N. 2;

aelc,

pron., 43 N. 4; 347.

254.
ae, stf.,

1.

173.2; 174 269 and N. 3.

stmn.(?),

aelcuht, n., 347 N. 2. seled, stm., 244. Alfred, p.n., 43 N.

aethwa, pron., 347. aethwega, 344.

aeSelc, adj.,
ae'Seling, stm., aew, see ,<.
sax, stf.,

4;

50 x. 2. 50 N.

2.

aebylg'S, stf ., 31 N.

57 N. 2.

aecyrf, N.

267

aelmeslic, adj., 196 N. 4. aene, adv., 331.

aenig, adj. ,348. 1; aenige

50

N. 2; 258. 2.

adr,

stf.,

202 N.

1.

aedre, adv., 315. aef-, part., 51.

sefen, stnm., 237 N. 2; 247. c; to 8fenes,

inga, adv., 320.

aeniht, n., 348. 1.

agan, anv., 420. 2. agehwaer,adv.,32lN.2. agen, adj., 378; 420.2.

adv., 320.
sef (e)at, stf.,

seninga, adv., 318 N. aenliepige, num., 329. aeppel, stm., 10; 264;

agend, m., 286. ah, adv., 49 N. 1. aht, see awiht.

ahwa, ahwa3i5er, ahwilc,

pron., 346. ahwasr, adv., 321 N. 2. alan, stv., 392 N. 1. aloS, see ealu. anet, stn., 247. c. anfeald.'num., 330.

43 N.

4.

aefnan, see efnan. aefre aelc, pron., N. 2.

aefter,

347,

273 and N. 3. ar, adv., 313; 323. aerce-, 79 N. 3.

a&rende, stn., 248. 313 33rest(a), sup., 323 N. 2 328.
;

adv. and comp.,

314.
aefterra, aeftemest,

314

sfcrist,

328.

stmf n., 266 and N. 2; 267. b; 269 and N.

anunga, -inga, adv., 318

N.
ar, stm., 273.
ar, stf., 252. b.

asg(er),n.,290andN. 1. segen, adj., 378; 420.2.

seghwa,-hwaeSer,-hwilc, pron., 347.

4.

79 N. 2; 179 N. aernan, wv., 79 N. 2 ; 89

aern, stn.,

and

N. 4;

276

N. 1.

N. 2.

arc, stm., 10; 79 N. 3.

252
asce, wf., 10. assa, wm., 10. assen, stf., 10. atelucost, adv., 43. ator, stn., 244. a, stm., 239. 1. a. auht, see awiht.

INDEX.
be,nd, stmf.,

264 benn,
6.

258 N. 4; blgndan, stv., 395. 266 and N. 2. ablgngen, part., 395.

258.
N.
1.

stf.,
.,

be'o,

wf 278

bldtan, stv., 396. bldwan, stv., 396.

bdc,
2.
f.,

be'odan, stv., 384. be'odern, stn., 43. 3. a. be'on, anv., 427.

;

283; 284 N.

1,

awSer, pron., 222 N. 1

346.

awer, awar, adv., 43 N. 4; 57 N. 2; 222 N.I; 321 N. 2.

awiht, awuht, auht, 6 N. 1 ; 344.
n.,

beorcan, stv., 388 N. 1. beorgan,stv.,388N.l,2. beornan, stv., 79 N. 2

179. 1
;

386

N. 2.

Beornice, p.n., 264. be(o)su, adj., 300. 114. be'ot, stn., 43 N. 4

;

bdcere, stm., 248. bdgan, wv., 414 N. 1. bdgincel, stn., 247. c. bold, stn., 183. bqna, wm., 277. batman, stv., 396. botl, stn., 196. 2 and

N.I.

awul,

stf., 57. 2. a.

ba, see bcgen.

bacan,

stv.,

392 N.

1.

botm, stm., 196 N. 2. box, stm., 56 N. 2. beran, stv., 370 390. bere, stm., 261; 263 brad, adj. comp., 307. andN. 4; 288 N. 1. braedu, f 279.
be'ow, stn., 250. 1.
;

.,

baeftan, adv., 110. baer, adj., 294.

-bsere, adj., 299.

bej(er)n, stn., 43. 3. a. berstan, stv., 79 N. 2;

179. 1
b<jt,
;

brasw, stm., 118 N. 2. brastlian, wv., 10.

389 and N.

baernan, wv., 79 N. 2;

adv., 323.

89
bae&~,

N. 2.
c.

be^tera,

baernet, stn., 247.

stn.,

comp., be,tost, be^tsta, sup., 312.

breadru, n.pl., 290 N. 3. breaw, see brsew. gebrec, stn., 241. brecan, stv., 380 N. 1.
breg, see brsew.

240 and

N.

2.

balca, wm., 80 N. 4. ban, stn., 239. 1. 6. basu, adj., 300.

be'acen, stn.,

bidan, stv., 382 N. 1. biddan,stv.,367;391.3. biegan, wv., 31 N.

bielg, stm., 266. bifian, wv., 416 N. 5.

bregdan,
N.

stv.,

389 and

brego, stm., 106.1; 271.

-breht, -briht, p.n., 179.
2.

beadu, stf., 260 and N.

243 105
1.

N.

N. 2;

367 386. binn, stf.(?), 273 N. 1. bitan, stv., 382 N. 1.

bindan,
stv.,
;

beald, adj., 202. 2. bealdlice, adv., 198. 3. bealu, stn., 105 N. 1

bite, stm., 263.

bre'me, adj., 299. bre/igean, wv.,407 N. 7. abre'oftan, stv., 384 N.I.

bit(t)er, adj., 296.

;

blaec, adj.,

294 and

N. 1.

249 and

N. 1.

beam,
249.

stn., 239. 1. b.
;

blawan, stv., 396. bledsian, wv., 198. 4;

384 N. 1. 384 N. 1. brerd, stm., 79 N. 2.

bre'otan, stv.,

breowan,

stv.,

bearu, stm., 105 N. 1

be'atan, stv., 396. be'aw, stm., 250. 1.

411

N.

brim, stn., 241. bringan, anv., 67 ; 407.

a.

247 N. 3. gebleo(h), adj., 301 N.

ble'o(h), stn.,
2.

and

N. 7.

247. 6. gebed, stn., 241. gebe,dda, wf ., 278 N. bedecian, wv., 411 N.

b<jd, stn.,

bletsian, see bledsian. blican, stv., 382 N. 1. bliccettan, wv., 403 N.2. blice, stm., 263.
;

briw, brig, stm., 247 N. 3 ; 250 N. 3. brdc, f ., 284.

brdhte, see bringan.

brdm, stm., 68.

brdtSor,

gebrdflor,
1, 2.

m.,

be'gen,

num., 324 N. 1 336 N. 2. belgan, stv., 387 N. 1. bellan, stv., 387 N. 1.

ben, stf., 269. benc, stf., 269.

bliSe, adj., 299; 302 N. bh' 5s, bliss, stf., 202. 7 ; 258. 2.

285 and N. bni, stf., 255

N. 3.

bh'Nsian, blissian, wv., 202. 7; 411 N. blodl3s(wu), stf., 260.

brucan, stv., 385. bryce, stm., 263. bryce, adj., 302. bryce, adj., 302 N.

INDEX.
brycg, stf., 258. 1. brygd, stm., 206. bryne, stm., 263.
bry'tofta, pi., 202. 4. bii, see begen.
ce'ne, adj., 299. Ce,nt, p.n., 284. ce'o, wf., 278 N.

253
cnucian, wv., 55. cnyccean, wv., 407. 6. cnyssan, wv., 400 N.
;

ceole,

wf

.,

109. a

278.

1;

401.

land N.I;

402,
c.

ce'on, pi.,

277

N. 2.

cofincel, stn., 247.

col, stn., 239. 1. b.

biian, anv., 396 N. bucca, wm., 55. bufan, 110.

2.

ceorfan, stv., 388 N. 1. ceorran, stv., 388 N. 1. ceosan, stv., 384; coren,
part., 306. ce'owan, stv., 384. Cert, p.n., 284. ciefes, stf., 254. 2.

Coleman,
N. 3.

p.n.,

281 N.

1.

collenferhS, adj., 387

condel, stf., 258. 1. copor, stn., 56 N. 2. cornuc, stm., 179. 1. costung, stf., 255. 1. crabba, wm., 10. craeftca, wm., 215.
craet, stn.,

biigan, stv., 385. biiian, wv., 396 N. 2. biine, wf., 278.

burg,
2.

f.,

284 and

N. 1,
1.

-burg, p.n., 284 N.

buriia, win., 179. 1. biitan, 110.

ciegan, wv., 31. a; 408. 3; 409; 410 N. 1.

ciele, stm., 263.

biiwian, see buian. bycgean, wv., 31 N. ; 407. a. byden, stf., 254. 2. byge, stm., 263. gebyrd, stfn., 267. b;

cierm, stm., 266. cierr, stm., 266.

cild, n.,

240 and

N. 1.

290

N. 2.

cinan, stv., 382 N. 1. cinu, wf., 279. claine, clane, adv., 315. claensian, wv., 185; 186
N.

crawan, stv., 396. Cre(a)cas, Cre'cas, p.n., 58 N.; 264.

-e,

wm., 277. creodan, stv., 384 creopan, stv., 384

cre'da,

N. 1. N.
1.

4 gebyrdu.wf., 267 N. 4. byre, gebyre, stm., 263. byrian, wv., 400 N. 1.

20!)

and

N.

cribb,
1.

stf.,

258.

1.

clauster, 6 N.

crimman,
386
220
cii, f.,

stv.,

386

N. 1.

byrst, stm., 266. byrSen, stf., 258. by'sen, stf., 269.

caefester, 75 N. 1. caelf, see cealf.

elawan, stv., 396. clawu, cle'a, cleo, stf., 67. a; 112; 259s.
clc'ofan, stv.,
clif, stn.,

cringan, crincan, stv.,

N. 1.

crocca,
N.

crobba,

wm.,

1.

384

N. 1.
b.

cleopian, wv., 109. 241.

284 and
stv., N. 2.

N. 1, 2.

cuman,
390

70; 378;

cli'fan, stv.,
1.

382

N. 1.
N. 1.

clife, wf., 278.

caeppe, wf., 75 N.
caerse, wf.,
c.'ilan, stv.,

climban,

stv.,

386

75

N. 1.
N. 1.

.'>9lJ

c ilcnd, stm., 12;

calii, adj.,

50

N. 5.

105; 300. carcern, stn., 10; 79

N. 3.

clingan, stv., 386 N. 1. clu\-m, stv. (0,382 N.I. cliSi', wf., 278. dyinm, stm., 264.

cumpaeder, stm., 70. cunnan, anv., 422. 5. cwalu, stf., 253. cw^ccean, wv., 407. n.

and

N. 3.

cwelan,

stv.,

390

N. 1.

caru,

stf.,

105
;

N.

252

N.

253.

cluege, wf., 216 N. 2. clyccean, wv., 407 N. 8. clynnan, wv., 400 N. 1. cnawan, stv., 174. 3;
396.

cwellan, wv., 407. a.

cwellere, stm., 248.
;

1.

cfisere, stm., 248.

cassuc, stm., 10. caul, cawl, stm., 6 N. ceaf, stn., 105 N. 1.

ceaflas, stm., 183. cealf, n., 288 N. 1 ;

1.

cnedan, stv., 391 N. 1. cneodan, stv., 396 and

N. 2.
cne'oris, stf., 258. 1.

gecwe'me, adj., 68 N. 1. c wen, stf., 68 N. 2 209. cwene, wf., 69 N. 278. cweorn, stf., 274 N. 1. cweonan, stv., 388 N. 1.
;

cwi'orran, stv., 388 N. ewe'San, stv., 391. 1.

1.

290 cneo(vv),
;

stn.,

250.

2.

and

N. 1.

ceaster, stf., 252 N. 1 254. 1.

cejlendre, 93.

cni'dan, stv., 382 N. 1. cniebt, stm.,6 N. 1 101.

;

cnodan,
N. 2,

stv.,

396 and

cwic(u), see c(w)ucu. cwice, wf., 278. cwide, stm., 263. acwi'nan, stv., 382 N. 1. ucwincan, stv., 386 N. 1

INDEX.
cwiS, stn., 271. ibrcwolstan, stv-C?),

389

N.

deofol, stmn., Il4. deor, stn., 239. 1. b.

stv., 388 N. 1. De're, p.n., 264. dejian, wv. 400 N. 1.

d^nu,

stf.,

253; 268.

duguS,
254. 2

stf.,
;

dung,

f.,

185 N. 269 N. 4. 284 and N.

1,
3.

c(w)ucu,

adj.,

71; 172

deorfan,

N.; 303.
stn., 249. cyll, stf., 258. 2.

cwudu,

cylu, adj., 300. cyme, stni., 263.

cyning, stm., 31 N. cynn, stn., 31 N. 246.

;

dieglan, wv., 405. 5. diegol, adj., 128. 3. dierne, adj., 299. dile, stm., 263.
adj., 295 N. 2. dinor, stm., 69. docga, wm., 216 N. 2.

durran, anv., 422. 7. duru, stf., 274 N. 1, 2. dwe,llan, d\ve,lian, wv., 407 a. and N. 1.

adwsescan, wv., 405. 2. gedwild, stn., 267. a.

dimm,

dwinan, stv., 382 N. 1. ged wolen, part.,390 N. 1

dyhtig, adj. 31 N. dyne, stm., 263.

gecynd,

-u, 267. b. and N.

-e,

stfn.,

269

and

N. 4.
1, 2.

eyre, stm., 263. cyssan, wv., 405.

;

cySan, wv., 403 N. 405. 3 406.

cy 5Su,
da,
stf.,

(North.), 288 gedyne, stn.(?),263. 289 N. 2. dynn, stm., 247. a; 263 N. 3. ddgor, n., 289 and N. 2. dynnan, dynian, wv., 400 N. 1. dohtor, f 285 and N. 2,
ddeg, n. N. 1 ;
.

255. 3.

3.

dol, adj., 294.

dynt, stm., 266. gedyre, stn., 263; 288

N. 1.
;

wf.(?),278w.
8.

dom, stm., 238.

N. 5.

daecceau, wv., 407 N.

daed, stf.,

269 and

gedaef tan, wv., 89 N. daeg, stm., 237 N. 2;

don, anv., 68 ; 350. 5 429. dor, stn., 239. 1. b.

e'a, f.,

Ill; 259 N.; 284

N. 3.
;

ondraedan, stwv., 394

eacen, part., 396 N. 2.

240;daeges,adv.,320. dasgred, stn., 57 N. 2.

dael, stn.,

395 and
dragan,

N. 2.

Eadburg,
N. 1.
1. a.

p.n.,

284

N. 1.

stv.,

392

dail, stm.,

240. 266.

dream, stm., 239.

N. 1.

dailan, wv.,

403

gedafen, part., 392 N. 3. gedafenian, wv., 50N.1.

dale, stm., 80 N. 4. daroS, stm., 105 N. 2
;

dre,ccean, wv., 407. a. dre'ogan, stv., 384 N. 1. dre'opan, stv., 384 N. 1. dre'osan, stv., 384 N. 1.
stv., 391 N. 1. dre,pe, stm., 263. drifan, stv., 382 N. 1.

eaden, part., 396 N. 2. e'adig, adj., 296. eafo, stn., 105 N. 2. eafora, wm., 105 N. 2.
e'ag-,

n.(?),

289

N. 2.

drepan,

cage, wn., 276 and N. 1,2; 280.

c'agor, stn.C?), N. 1, 2.

289 and

245.
dc'agol, adj., 128. 3. deall, adj., 295 N. 2.

drinc, stm., 266.

drincan, stv., 386 N.

1.

dearnunga, adv., 318. de'atS, stm., 273 and N. 1.

de'aw, stm., 250. 1.

dn'tan, stv., 382 N. 1. dropmaelum, adv., 320. adriigian, wv., 214. 6 ;

eald, adj., 295; coiup., 307; sup., 310 and N.; 311.

ealdorle.gu, stf., 268.

gede'aw, adj., 301.

gede'fe,
adj.,

416
N.
;

N. 5.

302

dry, stm., 117; 266 N.

3.

ealdorne/u, stf., 268. ealh, stm., 242. call, adj., 291 N.; 295
N. 2.
ealles, adv., 319.

adv., 315.
dt-lfan, stv.,387 N. 1. dcman, wv., 403 N. 1
;

404 406 and N.; 409.

de'mend, m., 286. dene, stm., 263; 268.
stf.,

dryge, adj., 31 N.; 299. dryht, stf., 209. gedryhtu, pi., 267 N. 2. drync, stm., 266. drype, stm., 263.
dryre, stn., 263. diifan, stv., 385. dugan, anv., 421. 3,

eallunga, adv., 318. ealneg, adv., 172 N. ealu, n., 105; 281. 289. e'ar, stn., Ill card, stm., 273.
;

Dene,
2.

p.n.,

263 and

N.

e'are,

wn., 276 N. 1,2; 280.

INDEX.
earm, stm., 239. 1. a. earm, adj. comp., 307.
earu, adj., 300.
e'arwicga, N. 2.
ent, stm., 266.
fa?t,
1.

255
stn.,

240 and

N.

396 N. eofolsian, wv., 43

e'ode, praet., 4.

1,2.

N.

wm.,

216
321
;

east, e'astan, adv.,

314.
e'asterra,

comp.,

e'ast-

eofor, stm., 106. 1. eofot, stn., 43 N. 106. 1. eoh, stm., 242.

e'oh, stm.,

244. fagenian, wv., 50 fah, adj., 295.

faetels, stm.,

1.

4;

fald, stm., 80 N. 4. falu, adj., 106

1;

300.
(see

mest, sup., 314. eatol, adj., 105 N.

250

N.

2. 3.

e'aSmod, adj., 202 N. c'aftme ttu, f., 255. 3. e'awan, see iewan. e'awfaest, adj., 118 N.
adv., 318. e,ce, stm., 263. ecg, stf., 258. 1. -ede, adj., 299. efes, stf., 93.

1.

cawunga,

iw). eolh, stm., 242. com, cam, anv., 43 N. 2. Ioniser, p.n., 222 N. 1. eorisc, stm., 222 N. 1. eorl, stm., 239. 1. a. eorlic, adj., 225. 3.

famig, adj., 296. faran, stv., 392. 1. fa'Su, wf ., 279.

gefe'a, N. 2.

wm., 113; 277

adj.,

fe'a(we),

301

comp., 309 N.
feala, see fela.

eorod, stn., 43

N.

4;

fealdan, stv., 396.

-fealdlice, adv., 198. 3. feallan, stv., 396. fealu, see falu.

222
N.
;

N. 1.

e,fnan,

wv., 405. 5. wv.,

193 43
N.

e^fstan,

4;

eorringa, adv., 318. eorsian, wv., 411 N. eorSe, wf., 276 N. 2; 278.
e'owan, wv., see iewan. e'owde, stn., 73 N. 1. e'ower, pr., 174. 3; 296

fearh, stm., 242

1.
t

and

N.

93.
e,ge,

stm., 261 ; 263 K..4; 288 N. 1. e,genu, stf., 254. 2. cghwa, pr., 347. c'ghwilc, pr., 347. gipte, p.n., 264. glan, wv., 405. N.
e,gle, adj.,

and

f^ccean, see t\ i;i n. fefor, stm., 192 N. 3.

gefc'g, stn., 267.
.

335; 336 N. e'owestre, stm., 73 N. 1. 258 e'owu, stf., 73 N. 1

N. 1;
;

106 N.; 275; 317. felcyrf,stmn.(?)267.a. 273. feld, stm., 272

fela,
;

N. 2.

felt,

stn.(?),288N.
225. 3.

1.

ejian, wv., 400

N. 1.

feltiin, stm.,

303

N.

-ern

aern, 43. 3. a.

fe,ng, stm., 166.

eh tan,
406.
el-

wv.,

405.

4;

e,sne,
c'st,

= ael-,

stm., 248. stf., 269.

ed-,

fe'ogean, wv., 415.

tVoli, stn.,

242 and
254.
1.

N. 1,

89

N. 1.

etan, stv., 391 N. 3.

eje, stm.,

93; 261; 263.

e- =

3; 275.
feoht,
N. 2.
stf.,

ejles, adv., 319.

eiSiSa, see

202 N. o$Se.

1.

feohtan,

stv.,

388 and

emb(e), adv. prep., 95

N. 2.

emnet, stn., 247. c. emniht, stfn., 225. 3.

end, adv., 323.

gefa, wm., 277 N. 2. facne, adv., 320.

fsecne,
adj.,

feola, -o, -u, see fela. fe'olan, stv., 387 N. 2.

N.
;

298

gefe'on, stv., 113;

373;

299.
faeder, m.,

391. 2.

246; 248. e,ndebyrdan, wv., 180. e,ndebyrdnis, stf., 180. endemes(t), adv., 319. endlufon, num., 198
ejide, stm.,
N. 2.

285 and

N. 2.

feond,m., 114; 286 and

N. 1
;

faeger, faeger, adj., 296 and N. 1, 2 ; comp.,

f.

287.

feorli, stmn.,

242 and N.
stf.,

307.
faereld, stn., 244.

1; 273.

enetere,

enitre,
3.

adj.,

fasstan, wv., 405. 4.

t'-u'stnian,

89

N. 1
c.

feorhle,gu, 268.

-ne/u,

173 K.

faesten, stn., 247.

feorr, adj., 313 N. feorr, adv., 313; 321.

ejigel, stm., 244.

ngle, p.n., 264.

wv., 3; 411 N.

196 N.

feorran, adv., 321. fe/ian, wv., 400 N.

1.

256
fersc, adj., 179. 1.

LNDEX.
79
N. 2;

folde, wf., 278.

fetan, stv., 891 N. 1. lYtian, wv., 196. 3. gefi'end, m.pl., 286. lierd, stf ., 269. fierr, adv., 323.
fierra,

folgian, wv., 416 N. 5. fo'n,stv.,67; 115; 367; 373; 395.

fgnt, stm., 70. fonu, wf., 279.
for, stf., 254. 1.

271. frocga, win., 216 N. 2. frdfor, stfm., 254. 1; 255. 2. fugol, stm., 55; 245.
frifi, stn.,

full, adj., 55. full, stn., 239. 2.

comp.,

fierrest,

sup., 313. afierran, wv., 405. 1. fierst, stm., 179. 1 266.

;

foran, adv., 321. ford, stm., 273.

fore, adv. comp., 313;

fullest, stm.,

43 N.

4.

314.

figan, stv., 382 N. 1. findan, stv., 386 N. 1, 2. firen, stf ., 254. 2; 255.
2.

forhwega, 344.
forlegis, see legis.

fullestan, wv., 43 N. 4. fullian, wv., 173 N. 3. fulluht, see fulwiht. fultum, stm., 43 N. 4.

forma, sup., 314 328. formesta, sup., 328.

;

fultumian, wv.,43N. 4. fulwiht, stfn., 173 N. 3;

267. b 269 N. 4. furh,f.,284andN.2,3. furlong, stn., 43 N. 4.
;

fiscere, stm., 248.

fit, stf.,
flii,

forsc, stm., 179.

1.

258.

1.

forwyrd,
;

stfn., 267. b.

wf.,

278 N.
267. a

flaasc, stn., N. 1.
fla'h,

288

321. for"Sweard, adv., 43. 3.

fort?, adv.,

furfior, adv., 55.

furSra, comp., 313; 314.

a. fdt, m., 281 and N. 1. f raco"$, adj., 43 N. 4. frsetwa, f pi., 43 N. 4

.

stn., 242. flab, adj., 295. flasce, wf., 10.

flea,wmf.,242;277N.2.
stm., 242. fleam, stm., 222. 2. fle'an, stv., 373; 392. 2.
flcali,

260 and
fr6a,
vvm.,
2.

N.

fraetwan, wv., 408 N.6.

119;

176;

furSum, adv., 55. fylgean,wv.,3lN.; 213 N.; 416 N. 6. fyllan, wv., 403 N. 1; 405. 1 406 and N. fylst, stm., 43 N. 4. fylstan, wv., 43 N. 4.
;

277 N.

fyr, stn., 239. 1.

b.

fleogan,stv.,384N. 1,2.
flcohtan, stv., 388 N.
fleon,
stv.,
1.

fre'fran, wv., 405. 5. fremde, adj., 202 N. 1.

fyr(e)sta, 328.

sup.,

313

119; 373;
1.

fre,me, adj., 302.

fyrmest,sup.,314; 328.
;

384

N. 1, 2.

fleotan, stv., 384 N. flqt, stn., 247. b.

afli'egan, wv.,

fr^mman, frejnian, wv., fyrn, adj., 295 302. 400 and N. 2; 401.1; (ge)fyrn, adv., 319.
402; 409.
fre_mu,
stf.,

fyrs, stm., 266.

31 N. flies, stn., 267. a. 241 to gegeflit, stn.,

;

252

N.

4;
ga'd, stn., 24!).

flites, adv., 320 N. flitan, stv., 382 N. 1.

268. frc'o,adj.,114; 297 N. 2. freo'Su, stmf., 107. 1; 271.

frfiogean, wv.,415;
N. 4.
fre'ols,

gaderian, wv., 50 N.
3; 75 N.
aet-,
1.

1.

gaedeling, stm., 50 N. 2,
td-gscdore, adv., 50

fldean, stv., 396.

416

flocgettan, w v., 216 N. 2. flocgian, wv.,216 N. 2. fldd, stm., 273 and K. 4.

flor, stf.,

N. 2,

3; 75 N.

1.
;

stmn., 43 N. 4. fre'ond, m., 114 ; 286 and

ga?rs, stn., 75 N. 1 N. 2 ; 240 N. 2.

79

274

N. 1.

N.I.
freosan, stv., 384 N. 1. fretan, stv., 391 N. 3. fricgean,stv.,372; 391.
3.
.

fldwan, stv., 113N.;371 N.; 396. flyge, stm., 263.

flyht, stm., 266.

gserstapa, wm., 225. 3. gaasne, ge'asne, adj., 76

K.I.
gaffetung, stf., 10. galan, stv., 392 N. 1. gan, anv., 67 x. 1 430. -gar, stm.,273and N.4.
;

gefdg, stn., 267

1:

gefn'end, m. pi., 286.

frigea, see frea.

288 N.
-fold

1.

= -feald,43.

2. 6.;

frignan,

stv.,
;

61.

186

N.

6 N. 1 389 and N.

f., 284 and N. 2. ong6an, adv., 214. 3.

gat,

ItfDEX.
ge'apes, adv., 319.

gierwan, wv.,

173.

2;

gear, stn., 102 and N. ge'ara, adv., 317. gearcian, wv., 411 N.

geard,
1.

stn.,

212
p.n.,

N. 1.

Gearomon,

281

N.

gearu,adj.,174.2; 300; comp., 307. geat, stn., 105 N. 1 ;

240

N. 1, 2.
pi.,

geatwa, f. 260 and

43

N. 4;

N.

togegnes, adv., 319.

Gend,

p.n.,

284

N. 4.

g^nge, adj., 299. geoe, stn., 238. geofon, stm., 106. 1. 185 N. geogirS, stf 254. 2 269 N. 4.
.,
;

geoloca, wm., 106. geolu, adj., 300.

1.

geomor,
N. 6.

adj., 68.

geon, pron.,

74;

338

geond,begeondan,adv.,
74; 100N.1;338N.5. geong, adj., 100 N. 1
;

comp.,307;310;311.
geonofer, adv., 321 N.
ge'opan, stv., 384 N. geornes, stf., 225. 3.
2.
1.

georran(7),
N.
1.

stv.,

388

geostra(n),adv.,109.a;
317.
ge'otan, stv.,

384

N. 1.

g^sthiis, stn., 75 N. 2.

gied, stn., 247. b. giefan, stv., 391 N. 2. giefende, part., 305. giefu, stf., 75 N. 3 252.
;

253

N. 1, 2.
1.
1.

gieldan, stv., 387 N.

giellan, stv., 387 N.

gielpan, stv., 387 N. 1. giena, adv., 317. giend, gind, adv., 74 ,

100 N. 1. gierd, stf., 258. 2. gierran, stv., 388 N.

1.

258
hal, adj., 296. halig, adj., 293; 296.

INDEX.
helpan,
stv.,

helt, stn.,

367 288 N.

387.

1.

hindema, sup., 314. hine, adv., 321.

hladan,
stv.,

halignes, stf., 258. 1. halor, stn.(?),267N. 1;

longest, stm., 244. he,nn, stf., 258. 1.

he'o,

392

N. 1.

289 and

N. 1, 2.

halsian, wv., 411 N. hassuc, stm., 10. hasu, adj., 300. liatan, stv., 350. 1 ; 367. 2; 394; 395.

He'nsbroc, p.n., 289 N. 3. pron., 114.

hlsestan, wv., 89 N. 1. hlaew, hlaw, stn., 250

1
;

288

N. 1.

hiew. he'ofan, stswv., 384 N. 2. heof on, stm., 106.1; 245. heolstor, stm., 81 N. 2.
he'o, stn., see

hlaford, stm., 43. 2. 6

and
N. 3.

N. 4;

51;

173

hatian, wv., 416 N. he, pron., 334.

5.

heonan, adv., 321.

heorot, 245.
stm.,

hleapan, stv., 396. hlecan, stv.(?), 391 N.

1.

106.

Heaberht, p.n., 222 N. 1. head(e)or, stn., 222N. 1. Mafod.stn., 243.1; 244. htfafre, wf., 222 N. 1. he'ah, adj., 119; 222 N. 2 295 and N. 1 304 N. 3; comp., 307; 310;
; ;

hle'o, stn.,

250

N. 1.

heorte, wf., 278; 280. heoru, stm., 106 N. 1 271.

hle'otan, stv.,
;

384

N. 1.

gehle'ow,

comp.,
hliehhan,

adj., 307 N.

301
N. 1.

heow,
he'r,

see hi'ew.

hh'dan, stv.,

382

adv., 321. here, stm., 246;

stv.,

372

247

392. 4.

311.

and

N. 2.

heah (heage),adv., 316 hejepaft, stm., 49 N. 1. N. 319. hejian, wv., 400 N. 1. geheald, stn., 267 N. 1 he,te, stm., 261; 263. 288 N. 1. and N. 4 288 N. 1. healdan, stv., 396. he,ttend, n;., 286 and Healfdene, p.n., 263. 1. N.I; 416 N. 6. healfes, adv., 320. hidenofer, adv., 321 N.2. he'alic, adj., 222 N. 1. hider, adv.,321 comp.,
; ;
;

hh'ewan, wv., 408 N. 8. hlimman, stv., 386 N. 1.

hlinian,

wv.,

109.

6;

416 N. 5. hli, stn., 241. gehlow, stn., 250. 1. hlowan, stv., 396. hlutor, adj., 296 N. 1.
hlutre, adv., 315.

heall, stf., 254. 1.

322.

hean, wv., 408. 4 and N.

11.

hidere,hidres, adv.,321.
hi'eg,
stn.,

gehlyd, stn., 267. a. hlynnan, hlynian, wv.,

31

N.

247

400

N.

1.

he"anis, stf.,

222 N. 1. heard, adj., 303 N. comp.,307;309; 311.

N. 3.

gehield,

stn.,

267.

a;
;

hnsegean, wv., 409 N. 1. hnappian, hnaeppian,

swv., 10. gehnsest, -hnast, stn., 267. a and N. 1. ahne'apan, stv., 396. hneaw, adj., 301.
hne,sce, adj., 303 N. hnigan, atv., 382 N. 1.

288 404

N. 1.

hearde, heardlice, adv., 315; 316; comp.,322. hearg, stm., 264; 273. heaflu-, 105 N. 2.
gehe'aw, stn., 250. ho'awan, stv., 396.
1.

hieran, wv., 403 N. 1

;

410

N. 4.

hierde, stm., 248. hiered, stm., 43 N. 4; 57 N. 2; 174 N. 6. hierwan, wv., 408. 1

hebban,

4 and N.

stv., 4.

372; 392.

and

N. 6.

hnitan,

stv.,

382

N. 1.

he,fe, stm.,

263.
9.

hi'ew, stn., 73. 2; N. 3.

250

hnitol, adj., 296.

f. 282 and N. hnutu, f ., 282 and N. hdcede, adj., 299. hocgian, wv., 216 N. 2. hocor, stn., 289 and N. 1

hnitu,

hegan, wv., 408 N. hege, stm., 263.

he,gian, wv.,

hiewet, stn., 247. c. hi(e)wan, higan, wm.

pi.,

400

N. 2.

277 N.

1.

helan, stv., 390 N. 1. he,lian, wv., 400 N. 2. h^ll, stf., 258. 1. helm, stm., 239. 1. a.
help,
stf.,

hild, stf., 258. 2. hilt, stn., 267. a.

252 N.

2.

hind, stf., 258. 2. li Sudan, hinder, adv., 321.

hof, stn., 239. 1. 6. hoh, stm., 242. hoi, stn., 242 N. 1. hoi, adj., 294.

INDEX.
hold heald, 61. holh, stn., 242 N. 3. holinga, adv., 318. hgmor, stm., 245.
ho'n.stv., 67; 115; 373;

259
wv.,
hwilc, pron., 43 N. 4;

hrissan,

hrisian,

400 N. 1, 2. hroden, see hreodan.

hropan, hro&or,
289.
stv., 396.

336
345.

N. 2;

342; 343;

gehwilc, pron., 347.

;

stn.,

267 N. 1

395.

hwilchwega, pron., 344. hwilendlic, adj., 173 N.

3.

hona, wm., 277.

hojid, stf .,

274 and

N. 1.

HroSulf, p.n., 173 N. 3. hriise, wf., 278.

hriitan, stv., 385.

hwinan,
N. 1.

stv.(?),

382

hop, stn., 239. 1. b. hordern, stn., 43. 3. a

and

N. 3.

hrycg, stm., 247. a. hryre, stm., 263.

hw^mm,

stm., 239. 2.

horh, stm., 242 N. 2. horhihte, horwehte,

adj.,

hry Ser,
hu,

see hri'Ser.
;

hwqnan, adv., 321. hwopan, stv., 396.

hwyrft, stm., 266. hycgean, wv., 31 N. 415; 416 N. 3. hy'd, stf., 269.
;

218

N. 3.
1.

hors, stn., 179. hos, stf., 66.

hii 172 N. meta, nyta, ge'ares, gerades, 320 N.

adv.,

hosu, wf.(?),279. hraca, wm., 57 N. hracu, wf., 279.

3.

hiihwega, 344. hiilic, pron., 342. hungor, stm., 273. hunta, wm., 277.

gehygd, stfn., 267. 6; 269 and N. 4.

N. 1.

hraed, adj., 294 and N. 1. hraefn, stm., 186 N.

hraeiSe, N.

huntgan, wv., 414

hraSe, adv., 315

hiiru ftinga, adv., 320. hiisincel, stn., 247. c.

luix, hiisc, stn.,

289 N. 3. hwa, pron., 341; 343; 245; hwon, hwone, 65 N. 2. andN.2; 118 N.; 250 hype, stm., 263. N. 2 288 N. 1. gehwa, pron., 347. onhyrian.wv., 400 N. 1. hreaw, adj., 112; 301. hwael, stm., 240. hyrnetu, stwf ., 268 N. 1. hrddan, wv., 400 N. 1 hwaenne, adv., 65 N. 2. gehyrstu,-e,pl.,267 N.2. 402. hwaar, adv., 321. hyse, stm., 263 and N. 3. hrehta, stv.(?), 388 N. hwsesan(?), stv., 396. hyspan, wv., 405. 2. 2. hwset, adj., 293; 294 hy', stf., 258. 2.
hrse(w), hraw, hreaw, stn., 173. 2; 174. 3
;

hyge, stm., 31 N.; 263. hyht, stm., 266. hyhtan, wv., 405. 4. hyll, stm., 247. a; 266. hylu, stf., 268. hyngran, wv., 31 N. 405. 6.
;

hre'mig, adj., 296.

and
N. 2.

N. 1

sup., 309.

hreodan,

stv.,

hre'oh, adj., 304 N. 3.

384 N. 1. 295 N. 1; 384

N. 1.

(hwaet)hwara, adv., 321

hreosan,

stv.,

hwaethwega, pron., 34 hw3ethuguninga(s),

adv.,
ijl'.i.
;

gehreow,

hro'ow, stf., 174. 3; 259. stn., 250. 1.

hre'owan, stv., 384 N. 2. hroowsian, wv., 174. 3;

411 N.
hr^pan, wv., 400
hri'S(er),
N. 2.
hrif, stn., 288 N. 1. hrinan, stv., 382 N. 1. hrindan, stv., 386 N. 1.
n.,

N. 2.

hre'5, stmn., 267. a.

289 and

pron., 342 343; 345. gehwreSer, pron., 347. hwar, adv., 321. hwara, adv., 321 N. 2. -hwega, 344. hwelan, stv., 390 N. 1. hwelc, see hwilc. hweorfan, stv. ,388 N. 1,
hwae'Ser,
2.

284. pron., 332. ides, stf., 254. 2; 265. 2; 269 N. 4. i'ecan, wv., 31 N. ; 405. 2 ; 407. 6.
f, p.n.,

ic,

leg, stf., 258 N. 4. ioUlcian, wv., 411 N.

ielde, stm. pi., 264.

ieldu,
ielfe,

f.,

279 and N.I,

pi.,

2.

stm.

264.
N. 1.
2.

ielfetu,

stwf., 258

ierfeweard, stm., 43.

ft;

51.

hrine, stm., 203. bring, stm., 239.

1. 1. a.

hwe'san(?), stv., 396. hw^ttan, wv., 400 N. 1. hwider, adv., 321.

iernan, stv., 79 N. 2; 179. 1 386 N. 2. ierre, adj., 299.

;

ierringa, adv., 318.

260
iVS, adv., 323. fewan, wv., 174. 3; 408.
2.

INDEX.
le,ccean, wv., 407. a. l^cgean, wv., 401. 1 402. leger, stn., 245. forlegis, stf., 268. 1. -le,gu, stf., 268.

h'-Ss,

HSincel, stn., 247. c. liss, stf., 202. 7; 258. 2.

wv., 100 N. 1 405. 2. loc, stn., 239. 1. 6. locian, swv., 411.
lixan,
;

ifigtearo, stn., 43. 2. a.

-ihte, adj., 299. ilca, pron., 43 N.

4 ; 291

N.; 339. incer, pron., 335. inn, adv., 321. innan, inne, adv., 321 ; comp., 314. innclfe, stn., 183. innerra, comp., inneraest, sup., 314.

le^mb, see lojnb.

Ionian, wv., 400 N. 2. lejnpedu, stf., 258 N. le,ng, adv., 323.

le,ngh'fra,
2.
le'o,

1.

Igmb(or), 290 and

n.,

288

N. 1

N. 1.
f.,

londbiiend,

287.

comp., 323 N.

lo.ndcop, 26. 4.

wm., 277 N. 2. leodan, stv., 384 N.

Igng, adj. comp., 310 312.

1.

inneweard,

adj., 43. 2. b.

instrepe(s), adv., 320.

iren, adj., 296 ivv, low, stm.,

leode,stm.pl.,261;264. leof, adj. comp., 309;

311.
leoflicor, -ost, adv., 322. Icogan, stv., 384 N. 1.

Ignglife, adj. 323 N. 2.

comp.,

and

N. 2.

lacan, stv., ; Tacnian, laecnian, wv.,

57. N. 3.

250 N. 3. 394 395.

Iqnu, wf., 279. lot, stn., 239. 1. 6. liican, stv., 385.

liilian. wv., 55. lufu, stswf ., 55
;

leoht, adj., 84 N. 1. Ic'oma, wm., 222. 2.

252
N.

N.

laeccean, wv., 89 N. 1

Icon,

stv.,

114;

373;
;

4; 253 and 279 N. 1.

Ids, f ., 284.

2;

407. a.
Irece, stm., 248.

383

N. 4.
N. 1.
stf.,

leoran, stswv., 384 N. 1

267. a. Irene, adj., 222. 2. Ires, stf., 260. Ires, adv., 323.
laen, stn.,

403
255.

lutan, stv., 386. lyft, stmfn., 266

leornung,
1.

254. 2;
1.

267 N. 2

and N. 269 and

N. 4.

Iressa,

comp., 180

304

N.

2; 312; sup., 312.

Iret,

hf-sta,

forlcosan, stv., 384 N. lesan, stv., 391 N. 1. le,ttan, wv., 400 N. 1. leo'Su, stm., 271.
libban, wv.,

adj.,

294;

comp.,

415; 416
1. b.
;

lyge, stm., 263. lyre, stm., 263. lysan, wv., 405. 2. 302. N. ly't, adj., 319. ly't, adv.,
ly'tel,

314.
Isetan, stv.,

N 2
394; 395.
lie, stn.,
-lie,

239.

ad j., 296 and N. 1; comp., 312; adv., 319.

adv., 319.

laetemest, sup., 60 N. 2;

314.
Irewan, wv., 174. 3. lagu, stm., 271. lappa, laeppa, wm., 10.
lar, stf.,

294 and

adj., 43. 1 and N. 1 N. 2.

ly'tes-,

lytlum, adv., 319.

lfc(c)ettan, wv., 223 N. licgean,stv.,372; 301.3

ma, m&, adv., 312

323.

N.

and
;

N. 6.
;

252 and

N.

h'eg, stm., 31 N.

254.

1.

lareow, stm., 43 N. 4; 250 N. 1. latteow, stm., 43 N. 4; 202.4; 250 N.I. lau, stf., 253 and N. 1.

266. h'eget, stn., 247. c 264. h'egctu, stf., 258 N. 1. liehtan, wv., 100 N. 1. belifan, stv., 382 N. 1. lifgan, see libban.
;

mafealdra, 323 N. 2. gemaecca, wmf., 89 1 278 N.

;

N.

m red,

stf .,260.
n. pl.(?),

mredru,
N. 3.

290

gelimpan,

stv.,

386

N. 1.

mreg,stm.,57N.3; 240.
maeg, anv., 424. 10.

laurtreow, stn., 6 N. 1. gelcaful, adj., 225.3.

Lindis, p.n., 258. 1. linnan, stv., 386 N. 1.

lio'Su, see leo'Su.

254 N." tean, stv., Ill;

le'ah, stf.,

373;

392.

2.

US, stn., 241. h'San, stv., 382 N. 1.

mregden, stn., 60 N. 2. mrege, wf., 57 N. 3. mreg(e) 5, f ., 284 and N.

INDEX.
msel, stn., 202 N. 2. maelan, wv., 202 N. 2. -iny&lum, adv., 320.

261
munan,
1.

me/gen,
metan,
3,5.

see

morgen.
391.
1.

anv., 423. 9.
70.
3.

ame/ian, wv., 400 N.

stv.,

munt, stm.,

Muntge'of, p.n., 196.

N.

gemame,

adj., 302 N. niaenig, see monig. msestan, wv., 89 N. 1.

me,te, stm.,

263 and

munuc,

stm., 70. murcnian, wv., 55.

metod, stm., 245.

-me'tto,
f.,

maestling, stm., 196 N. 4. maeftl, stn., 202 N. 2. maeSlan, wv., 202 N. 2. msew, stm., 266. niiifealdra, adj. comp., 323 N. 2.

202. 4.

murnan, and N.
imis,
f.,

stv.,

65; 389
N. 2.
1. a.

micel, adj., 31 N.; 296 and N. 1 comp. ,312. micles, miclum, adv., 319.
;

284 and

miiS, stm., 239.

mage,
N. 5.

see

msege.
;

micgern, stn., 216 N. 3. midd, adj., 297; sup.,

314.
to

magister, stm., 12

50
N.

middes, adv., 319.

gemynd, stfn., 267. 6; 269 and N. 4. myne, stm., 263. gemyne, stn.(?), 263. gemyne, adj., 302. mynecenu, stf., 258 N. 2.

magu, stm., 271 and gemah, adj., 295.

mynet, stf., 70. midmest, sup., 314. mynster, stm., 70. Mailros, p.n., 284 N. 4. mi(e)ht, meaht, stf., 98 N. 261 269 and nabban, wv., 10; 110; gemalic, adj., 222 N. 1. see habban. N. 2. mara, comp., maesta, Mierce, p.n., 264 and N. naiSer, see nahwae'Ser. sup., 312 and N. nsedl,stf.,201.3;254.1. margen, see morgen. gemierce, stn., 248. martrian, wv., 79 N. 3. miere, wf., 278. nsedre, wf., 278. masce, wf., 10. naefre, adv., 192 N. 3. migan, stv., 382 N. 1. mattuc, stm., 10. milts, stf., 198. 4 258. benzeman, wv., 68 N. 2. 2. ma-Sum, stm., 202 N. 3 ; genome, adj., 299. 244. miltsian, wv., 411 N. naanig, pron., 348. 2 mtiwan, stv., 396. nun, pron., 336. naanige "Singa, adv., 320. meaht, see mieht. minsian, wv., 185. 2. 69. mearc, stf., 254. 1. mint, naeniht, n., 348. 2. 242 and mistlic, adj., 196 N. 4. mearh, stm., nass, natron, anv., 172 N. N. 1. mrSan, stv., 382 N. 1. mearu, adj., 300. miulor, f ., 285 and N. 2, nahwae'Ser, pron., 348.2. 3. niece, stm., 91 N. 248. nahwser, adv., 43 N. 4 67 N. 2; 321 N. 2. mdna, wm., 68; 277. medume, adj., 106. 1. meltan, stv., 387 N. 1. moriaS, m., 68; 281 and nalles, nalas, nakes, N.2. nals, adv., 319. mejie, stm., 261; 263. mejigu, f., 279 and N. 3. niQnig, adj., 65 N. 2; nan, pron., 336 N. 2; 291 N.; 296. me,nnen(u), stf., 258 348.2;na(n)Hng,n., N. 2. 348. 2. mqnigfeald, adj. comp., 323 N. 2 330. meo, wmf.(?),277N.2. nanuht, n., 348. 2. me(o)du, stmn., 106. 1 niQnn(a), m., 281 and nas =r naes, 49 N. 1.
; ; ; ; ;
;

mi'dl, stn., 202. 3.

271.

N. 1.
1.

nasu, sec nosu.

stf.,

meolcan, stv., 387 N. meolu, stn., 249 and

2.

N.

monung, morgen,
;

254. 2.

nathwa, -hwilc, pron.,

344.

stm., 10; 11;

meoluc, f ., 107.
N. 3.

284
;

me'owle,

wf ., 73 174.3; 278. meje, stm., 261.-

N. 1

93; 214 N. 4; 237 N. 2 244 and N. moru, wf., 218 N. 2; 279 and N. 4. mot, anv., 425. 12. mo'SSe, wf.(?), 227.

nauht, see nriwiht.

niiwSer, see nahwae'Ser.

nawer, see nahwser. nawiht, ntiwuht, nauht, naht, pron., 6 N. 1 ;71; 172 N.; 348. 2.

262
ne'ades, adv., 320.
ne'ah, adj.

INDEX.
meten, stn., 243. 1 244. dhwaeSer, pron., 62 N. 222 N. 1 346. m'(e)we,adj.,73.2;297 N.I. dhwa^r, adv., 222 N. 1 321 N. 2. niman, stv., 390 N. 2. genip, stn., 241. dle_ccean, wv., 407. 6. ollunc, adv., 186 N. ni'pan, stv., 382 N. 1.
; ;
;

comp., 313

and

N.

neah, adv., 321. geneah, anv., 424. 11. neaht, see nieht. nealaecean, wv., 222 N.
1
;

407.

6.

nistig, adj., 110. nifian, nifterra,

dm, stm.,

ne'alic, adj.,

222

N. 1.

mest, adv. and comp.,

314. nrSor, adv., 321.

nealles, see nalles. nean, near, adv., 112; 321; 323. ne'arra, comp., 313. nearu, stf., 105 N. 1 ;

68. on, adv. prep., 51 N.; 65 N. 2. onun-, 66. 1. Qnaelet, stn., 247. c.

and

gendg,

adj.,

291; 295 N.

260 and

N. 1.

nearu, adj., 300. nearwe, adv., 315.

nejb, stn., 247. b.

1; adv., 319. ndht, see ndwiht. ndhwaefter,pron.,348.2. ndhwair, adv., 67 N. 2 ;

yncle'ow, stn., 198 N. 1 250. 1.

321
norft,

N. 2.

gndettan, wv., 403 N. 2. Qndrysenlic, adj., 196 N. 4 ; 198 N. 2. Qndswaru, stf., 51 ; 253

to nones, adv.,

320

N.

and

N. 1.
3. a.

Nebrod,

p.n.,

186 N.

nor'Serra,

nor5- Qndweard, adj., 43.

a.
p.n.,

nefa, win., 277. nefene, wv., 258 N. 2. gene'hwia, wv.,218N.3. nellan, anv., 428 N. 2. ne,mnan, wv., 405. 5; 406. ne'odlucor, adv., 43.
neol, adj., 43 N. 4 ; 51. geneop, pret., 396 N. 2.

mest, 314. norSan, adv., 321.

ojidwleota, wm., 43. 2.

Nor'Sanhymbre,
264.

dnettan, wv., 43 N. 4;

218

N. 1

403

N. 2.

norSor, comp., 314. N. 2. nosu, stf., 274 N. 1, 2. ndwSer, see ndhwaeSer. ndwer, see ndhwser. nowiht, noht, n., 348.2.

Qnge, adv., 315 N.

stf., 269 N. 4. Qnweald, stmn., 43. 2. b; 198 N. 2. Qnwealh, adj., 198 N. 2.

gnsien,

ne'os(i)an, wv., 221.2. ne'otan, stv., 384 N. 1. neo~San, adv., 321.

-numa, wm., 70. genyht, stf., 267.

N. 4.

or-, 66.

6;

269 dra, wm., 26.

;

4.

ne/gend, m., 286. ne_rian, wv., 400; 401. 1 402 409 and N. 1
;
;

410 N. 4; nejed, part.,

306. -ne/u,
stf.,

genyhtsum, adj., 31 N. 196 N. 3. or(e)flian, wv., 43 N. 4. nyllan,anv.,110;172N. dret, orret, stm., 43 N. 4; 218 N. 1. nynvSe, nybSe, conj.,
186 N.
drettan, orrettan, wv.,

orce'apes, adv., 319. orceard, stm., 196. 3.

268.

genesan,

stv.,

391 N.
b.

1.

n^tt, stn., nic, pron.,

247.

nyrSra, sup., 314. nytan, anv., 110, N.I; 172 N. 420. 1.

;

218

N. 1

403

N. 2.

orle_ge, stn., 263.

Qrn, pret., 65 N. 1.
oro'S, stn., N. 1.
o's,

nied, stf., adv., 320.

332 269

N. 2.
;

ni'edes,

nytt, stf., 258. 1. nytt, adj., 297.

43

N.

186

mednseme,

68 N. 2. 6, adv., 62 N. m'ehsta, sup., 313 and N. of, praep., 61. nieht, stf., 98 N.; 284 ofdeje, stn., 263. and N. 1 niehtes, oferhygd, stfn., 267.
adj.,
;

6swold,
dSer,
b.

stm., 66; 281. p.n., 51.

ot, prep.,

51 and N.

adj. num., 291 N. ; 328.

66;

adv., 320. niehtlgnges, adv., 319. nier, adv., 323. nierwan, wv., 408. N. 5. nierwet, stn., 247. c.

oferme'ttu,

stf.,

255. 3.
N. 4.

o'S'Se, conj.,

200.

oferslejje, stn., 263.

of (o)st,

stf.,

43

oftige, stm., 263. o'ht, stf., 67.

dwSer, see ohwae'Ser. dwer, see dhwr. dwiht, n., 62 N. ; 344. oxa, wm., 277 N. 1.

INDEX.
bepaecean, wv., 407.
paell, stm.,

263
salor, stn.(?), x. 1, 2.

a.

80

N. 3.

psetig, adj., 180.

stm., 240 and x. 2. paeftSan, swv., 228.

paeft,

396 x.2. 384 x. 1. reofan, stv., 384 x. 1. re'otan, stv., 384 x. 1. reow, adj., 301 and x. 1.
onre'od, pret.,
stv.,

289 and

reodan,

salu, adj., 300. sarc, ssere, adv., 320. sawan, stf., 396.

palendse, wf., 50 x.
Paris, p.n., 284 x. 4.

5.

re'owe, -u, see re'o. geresp, stn., 267. a.

pawa, wm., 57 a. ger^sta, wf., 278 x. pea, wm.,112; 118 x.l. rewet, stn., 247. c.
peose, wf., 278. Perse, -eas, p.n., 264. peru, wf., 54 x. 279. pin, stm.(?), 69. pinsian, w v., 69 185. 2. plagian, wv., 416 x. 5. pleg(i)an, stwv., 391
; ;

sawol, stf., 6 x. 1 174. 3; 252 x.2; 254. 2; 255. 2.

;

rice, stn., 246; 248. rice, adj. sup., 309. ri'dan, stv., 382 x. 1.
rieht, adj., 101. riehtan, wv., 100 x. 1.

x. 1.

pleoh,

stn.,

242.

pleolic, adj.,

222

x. 1.

rimpan, stv., 386 x. 1. Rin, p.n., 284 x. 4. n nan, wstv., 382 N. 1, 2. rinnan, stv., 386 x. 2. ripan, ripan, stv., 382
x.
1, 3.

sceacan, stv., 392 x. 1, 3. sceacga, wm., 216 x. 2. scead, stn., 271. sceadan, stv., 396. sceadu, stf., 105 x. 1; 260; 271. sceaf an, stv., 392 x. 1 3. stf n., 261 ; gesceaf t, 267 x. 2 ; 269 and x.
,

4.

sceamu,

see

sceomu.

pleon, stv., 113; 391. 2.

373;

risan, stv., 382 x. 1. Pleowald, p.n., 222 x.l. rixian, wv., 411 x. pocca, pohha, wm., 219 roccettan, wv.,403 x.2. x. 2. rod, stf., 252 x. 1, 2.

sce'ap, stn., 102 x. gesceapu, n. pi., 105x. 1. scear, stn., 290 x. 3.

sceafta,

wm., 109.
6
x. 1.

sceawian, wv., 411.

sceiS, stf.,

pund,

stn., 70.

ro'f,

pyffan, wv., 405. 2. pyle, stm., 173. 2; 263.

adj., 295. rofen, part., 384 x. row, adj., 301.

1.

rowan,

stv.,

396
x. 1.

and

scejicean, wv., 76 x. 3; 405.2; 406. gesce,ntu, f., 201. 4.

sce'o,

wm., 118; 277 rador, stn., 222 x.

ra,

x. 2.
1.

x. 4.
riih, adj.,

wf.(?), 277 x.2.

295

sce'oh, stm.,
3.

242 and

x.

riiecean, wv., 407. x. 3.

a and
;

rajdan, stwv., 394

x. 2.

395

raeden,
x. 3.

stf.,

258.

and
;

riimedlic, adj., 225. 3. rust, stn., 65. ryge, stm., 263. ryne, stm., 263. wm., 228.

sce'oh, adj., 295.

rya,
sacan,

sceolh, adj., 295. sceolan, see sculan. sceomu, stf., 263.

raefnan, wv., 193 x. 406. 5. Ties, stf.(?), 260. raisan, wv., 405. 2.

stv.,

392
;

x. 1.

sceorfan, stv., 388 x. sceorpan, stv., 388 x.

6.

1. 1.

sacc, stm., 10. sacerd, stm., 12

60 x.

sacu,
sse,

stf.,

253 and

x. 1.

sceort, adj. coinp., 307 ; 310. sce'otan, stv., 384 x. 1.

rajswan, wv., 408 x. 6. nipincel, stn., 247. c. re'c, stm., 266. re,ccean, wv., 407. a.
re'cean,

stmf., 118; 173.2; 174 x. 3; 266 x. 3 ;

x. 3.

269
1.

saecc, stf.,

89

x. 1

258.

226
6.

re,ccean, wv., x.; 407. aandx.

scerero, n. pi., 290 N. 3. sce^San, stwv., 75 x. 2; 372; 392. 4 and x. 4; 400 x. 1; 401. 1; 402.
gesci'e,

ssed, stn., 239. 1. b.

sael, stn.,

stn.,

76

x.

3;

240 ; 288

x. 1

24.
scield, stm., 273.

regn, stm., 186 x.

re'o,

289
ssel,

x. 2.

re'ocan,

wf.,218N.3;278x. stv., 384 and

x.l.

stm., 266. saeterndaeg, stm. ,50 x.2. sahtlian, wv., 10.

scielfan, stv.(?), 387

1.

N.

sciellan, stv.,

387 x.

1.

264
sciendan, wv., 76 N. 3. 372 ; scieppan, stv.,
392. 4.
scieran, stv., 390 x. 1. scierian, wv., 400 N. 1.

INDEX.
se,cg, stm.,
se,cg, stf.,

246. 258. 1.

si(o)du, stm., 107. 1 271.

1
;

se,cgean, wv.,

89 x.
;

415; 416

x. 3.

siellic, adj., 198. 3. sien, stf., 269 x. 4.

scinan, stv., 382 N.

scip, stn.,

1.

sefa, wm., 109. a sef t, adv., 323.

sefte, adj., 299. segn, stm., 54 N.
se'l,

277.

241

288 N.I.

sierwan, wv., 408. 1 and x. 3; 409. siew(i)an, wv., 73. 2;

siex,

-scipe, stm., 98 N. ; 263. scipincel, stn., 247. c. sciptearo, stn., 43. 2. a.

sci tan, stv., 382, N. 1. scdh, stm., 242 and N. 3.

scdian, wv., 414 N.

scol, stf .,

1.

55 N.
253.

scolu,

stf.,

416 N. 6. scgmu, stf., 253 and N.2. scraef, stn., 240 and N. 2. screpan, stv., 391 x. 1.
scoi nia n, wv.,

408 N. 7. num., 101. 1. 323. siexta, num., 221. 2. seld, stn., 183. sife, stn., 262; 288 x.l. seldan, adv. comp., 322. sigan, stv., 382 x. 1. sele, stm., 263. sige,stm.,261;263and x.4;288x.l;289N.2. self, pron., 81; 101 x. 2 291 x. 339. siglan, wv., 405 x. 180 sigor, stm., 289 x. 1, 2. sella, selra, comp., 312 and N.; selost, gesihtf, stf., 100 x. 1.
n.

comp., 312

x.

scride, stm., 263. scrifan, stv., 382 N. 1.

sup., 311; 312. s^llan, wv., 80 x. 2 407. a and x. 2; 410

;

x. 4.

scrimman, stv., 386 N.

386
N. 1, 3.

1.

scrincan, scringan,stv.,

scrfSan, stv., 382 N. 1. scriid, n., 281.

se,mninga, adv., 318 x. seticean, wv., 406 x. se^ndan, wv., 405. 4; 406.
se'o,wf., 113; 278 x. seo, pron., 114. seodu, see sidu.

simbles, adv., 319. sin, pron., 335. sincan, stv., 386 x. 1. singala, -e, -es, adv., 317; 319.
singan, stv., 386 N. 1. sinnan, stv., 386 x. 1. sinu, stf., 260. sittan, stv., 372; 391.3. sifi,adv.,314; 321; 323. si'San, adv., 321.
sift-San,
si'Sfaet,

sciidan,8tv.C?),385x.l. sciif an, stv., 385andN.l. sculan, anv., 76 N. 2; 423. 8.

scurf, stn., 179. 1.

scyccean, wv., 407 N. 8.

scyfe, stm., 263. scyldig, adj., 31 N. scy'n, wv., 408. 4
N. 11.

seolcan, stv., 387 x. seoloc, stn., 107. 1. seolfor, stn., 107. 1. scolh, stm., 242.

1.

adv., 109 x. stm., 49 X. 1.

sfSra,

and

seon, see sien. ' seon, stv., see,' 73. 1 113; 367; 373; 391.

siftecomp., (me)st, sup., 314. siwen, part., 73 x. 2.

2 and x.
seon, stv.,

5, 6.
'sift,'

slaO), wf., 278 x. slaeget, stn., 247. c. slsepan, stswv., 67 N. 3;

sle'a,

scyte, stm., 263. se, pron., 337; 340. sealfian, wv., 411; 414 and N. 1.

73. 2;

395 and
sle'an,

x. 2

405. 2.

114; 373; 383 x. 4. seono$, stm., 107. 1. seonu, see sinu.

seoriSan, stv., se'oSan, stv., 384.

slaw, adj., 301.

stv.,
;

Ill; 119;
;

sealh, stm., 242. sealtan, stv., 396. searu, stn., 105 N. 1

388

x. 1.

249 and
seats, stm.,

N. 2.

setl,

geset, stn., 241. stn., 196. 2

x. 1.

and
;

392. 2. sle,ge, stm., 263. sh'dan, stv., 382 x. 1. slide, stm., 263. slieht, stm., 266.

367

373

273. seaw, stnm., 260. 1. gese'aw, adj., 301.

tdsh'fan, stv.(?),382x.
1.

s^ttan, wv., 400 x. 1 401. 2 402.

;

slincan, stv., 386 x. 1.

Seaxe,

and

p.n., N.

261;

264

sibb, stf., 257

and

N. 2;

258.

1.

se'cean, wv., 407. a; x. 1.

409 gesibb,

adj., 297.
1.

382 x. 1. 250 N. 3. sloh, stnmf., 242; 254

sh'tan, stv.,
sh'w, stm.,

sican, stv., 382 x.

x.

INDEX.
shipan, stv., 385. smaeccean, wv., 89 N. 1. smael, adj. comp., 309
sd-Se, adv.,
so'ftlice,

265
stealdan, stv., 396. steapes, adv., 319. ste.de, stm., 263. stefn, stm., 193. 2. stefn, stf., 193. 2.

315; 316.

and

N.

smaele, adv.,

adv., 316. spadu, wf., 279. spald, spatl, stn., 183;

315 N.

2.

196.2.
wv.,

stelan, stv., 390 N. 1. 416 N. 4. stejlan, wv., 407. a. N. 3. smeang, stf., 119. st^nc, stm., 266. smc'ocan, stv., 384 N. 1. spe'oftan, wstv., 384 N. 1. ste,ng, stm., 266. smeortan, stv., 388 N. 1. speornan, see spurnan. ste'oran, see stieran. smeoru, stn., 249 and spere, stn., 247 N. 2 steorfan, stv., 388 N. 1 N. 2. 261; 263; 288 N. 1. stice, stm., 263. smi'ec, stm., 31 N. 266. spic, stn., 288 N. 1. sticol, adj., 296. smierwan, wv., 408. 1 spinnan, stv., 386 N. 1. stiell, stm., 266. and N. 1, 4. stieran, wv., 100 N. 2 ; spitu, stm., 271. 403 N. 1. smi'tan, stv., 382 N. 1. spiwan, stv., 73 N. 2; 382 N. 1. smie, wf.C?), 228. sti'gan, stv., 382 N. 1. smolt, smylte, adj., 299 spiwian, wv., 73. 2 408 stincan, stv., 386 N. 1. N. 1. N. 7. stingan, stv., 386 N. 1.

sme'agean,

415;

sped, stf., 269. speldru, n. pl.(?), 290

smiigan,

stv., 385.

sniylte, see smolt.

spun, stm., 68. spQnan, stv., 392 N.

3.

stondan, stv., 392. stow, stf., 259.

strsec, adj.,

3.

snaw,stm.,174.3;250.1. snearh, stf., 254 N.

snc'ome, adv., 315.

spQnnan,
N. 1.

stv.,

396 and

294 N.

1.

388 N. 1. sncowan, sndwan, stv., 396 and N. 2. snican, stv., 382 N. 1.

sneorcan,
stv.,

spor, stn., 239. 1. b. sporettan, wv., 403 N. 2.

3; 67. 1. strc'aw, stm., 112; 250

strset, stf., 17.

N. 2.

snide, stm., 263. siu'San, stv., 382. snottor, adj., 296

N. 2.
siui wan, see

spornan, see spurnan. sporu, wf ., 279. spdwan, stv., 113 N. 174. 3; 371 N.; 396.
sprsec, stf., 180.
stn., stv.,

strexicean, wv., 407. a. stre'gan, wv., 408 N. 9.

stregdan,

stwv.,

389

and

N.

and gesprec,
sprecan,
N. 1.

241.

string, stm., 266. strange, adj., 299 N. 1

;

180

391
N. 1.

303

N.
stf.,

sne'owan.
1.

strengSu,

255. 3.

snyrian, wv., 400 N.

softe, adj.,

spre'otan, stv.,

384

299

N. 1.

6<;fU-,adv.,66; 315 N. sol, stn., 239. 1. 6.

s<>m-, sam-,

springan, stv., 386 N. 1. spura, wm., 65. spurnan, stv., 65; 389

strejigu, f ., 279 and N. 3. streonan, see stn'enan.

stre'(o)wian, wv., 73 N.
1
;

408

N. 9.

68

N. 2.

and

N.
N.

sQine, adv., 315. SQmliwilc, pron., 347.

spynge, wf., 31

sQmnung, stf., 252 N. 2. SQmnunga, adv., 318 N.

sQintijnges, adv., 319. sQmwistu, n. pi., 267
N. 2.
so'na, adv.,
sor<r, stf.,

spyrian, wv., 400 N. 1. stasf, stm., 240. staMan, wv., 202 N. 2.

staenen, adj., 2iW>. sta'-nihte, stanihte, adj., 299. staspe, stm., 89 N. 1 ; 263.

stn'can, stv., 382 N. 1. stn'dan, stv., 382 N. 1. stride, stm., 263. strienan, wv., 100 N. 2;

403

N. 1.

striman,
N. 2.

stv.(?),

390
;

strqng, adj., 299 N. 1

68; 317. 252 N. 2, 4;

N. 6.

254.

1.

staeppan, stv., 89 N. 1 372 ; 392. 4.

staeS, stn.,

comp., 309 ff.; adv. comp., 322.

303

N.;

striidan, stv., 385.

sorgian, wv., 416 sorig, adj., 62 N.

s65, adj., 66,

240 and

N. 2.

stud 11,801^,^,282 and

stulor, stn.(?), 289.

stapol, stm., 245. staSelian, wv., 50 N.

1.

266
stuud, stf., 254. 1. stumlmaeliim, adv., 320. stycce, stn., 248. styde, see st^de. styfecian, wv., 411 N. styrian, wv., 400 N. 1.
Iran, siigan, stv., 385. sucga, wm., 216 N. 2.
si

INDEX.
sweorfan, stv., 388 N. 1. sweostor, f ., 72 285. gesweostor, f. pi., 72;
;

tawian, wv., 57.

tear, stm., 111.
tela, adv.,

a.

285.

sweotol, adj.,

71

and

109 6; 317. teldan, stv., 387 N. 1. tejlan, wv., 407. a and

N.
5.

N.I; 107.1; 290 and N. 1; adv., 315; 316.

swe/ian, stv., 392. 4. swe'te, adj., 299; 302 N. swican, stv., 382 N. 1. swice, adj., 302.
swifan, stv., 382 N. 1. swigian, wv., 214. 6;

1;410N.4; 416

N.

sugian, see swigian.

sulh, f ., 284

and

N. 1, 2.

t^mian, wv., 400 N. 2. ten(e), num., 113. T^net, p.n., 284.

tcogean, wv., 414 N.
teon,
stv.,
1.

siilincel, stn., 247. c. sulung, stn., 43 N. 4.

'censure,'

-sum, adj., 294 and N.

2.

114; 119; 367; 373;

sum, pron., 343. sumor, stm., 273.

sunne, wf., 278. sunu, stm.,270; 271.
siipan, stv., 385.
sii'5,

416

N. 6.

383 and
te'on, stv.,

N. 3.

swilc, see swelc. swile, stm., 263.

swimman,

stv.,

386

N. 1.
1.
1.

'draw,' 119; 367; 373; 384. te'on, wv., 408 N. 10.

adv.

comp., 314

and
sii'San,

N. 2; 321.

adv., 321.

geswinc, stn., 267. a. swincan, stv., 386 N. swindan, stv., 386 N. swingan, stv., 386 N.
2.

wm., 277. teoru, stn., 249 and N. 2 % teran, stv., 390 N. 1.

te'ona,
tid, stf.,

1,

269 and

N. 5.

Sii'Shymbre, p.n., 264.

siTSor,

tiegan, wv., 31 N.
tiene, see te'ne.

comp., 314 N.

2.

siTSweard(es),adv.,319. suwian, see swigian. swae^, stn., 240.

swsefter, swa'Ser, pron.,

swiopu, see sweopu. oferswfSan, wstv., 382

N. 1, 2.

Tig, see Tiw.

tigol, stf., 254. 2.
til,

345.

swapan,

396; 397. swar, swser, adj., 57 N. 3. swaflu, stf., 253 and N.

stv.,
1.

swcJgan, stv., 396. swote, adv., 315 N. swylc, pron., 345. swyle, stm., 263. swylt, stm., 266. geswyrf, stn., 267. a. sy'fre, adj., 298 N.; 299.
sylian, wv.,
syll, stf.,
3.

adj., 294.

tilian, wv., 109. b.

timbran, wv., 405. 5;

406. gt'timbre, stn., 248. timbrencl, f., 287. tir, stm., 68 N.
p.n., 250 N. 3. tdh, adj., 67; 295. tolic, adj., 222 N. 1.

swealwe, wf., 278. sw^bban, sw^fian, wv., 400 N. 1,2; 401. 1. swefan, stv., 391 N. 1.
swe'g, stm., 266. Swein, p.n., 6 N. 1.

400

N. 2.

Tiw,

258. 1. gesyntu, f., 202. 4; 255.

tojn, adj., 294.

swelc, pron., 43 N. 4 342; 349.

sype, stm., 263. 8/5, sup., 314 N. 2. s/5erra, comp., 314.

ta, wf.,

to, m., 66; 281 and

1.

N.

toweard, adj., 43. 43. 3. a; 51.

traef, stn.,

2. 6;

swelgan, stv., 387 N. 1. swelgend, f ., 287 and N. swellan, stv., 387 N. 1. sweltan, stv., 387 N. 1.
swejig,
N. 1.

118; 278 N.

240 and

N. 1.

tacen, stn.,186N.; 243. 1; 244.

stm., 266

and

tacnian, wv., 411. trecean, wv., 407. a

N. 4.
tail, tal, stf.,

trag, stf., 57 N. 3. trahtian, wv., 10; 82 N. tredan, stv., 391 N. 1.

tre,ddan, wv.,

and

400

N. 1

sweolofl, stm., 106. 1.

57 N.

3.

Swe'on, p.n., 277 N. 2. sweopu, wf., 278. 9.

talenta, wm., 60 N. 5. talian, wv., 416 N. 5.

1.

401. 2; 402. tre'ow, stn., 250. 2. tre'ow, stf., 259.

tre'owan, triewan, wv..

swcorcan, stv., 388 N. sweord, stn., 72.

getawe, 57.0.

f. pi.,

43

N. 4;

403

N. 1.
2.

tniwian, wv., 412 N.

INDEX.
trymman, wv., 400
1, 2.

267
Sriwa, adv., 317 ; 331. roh, stmn.('),242.
rotu, wf ., 279 and N. 4. ftrowere, stm., 248. 'Srowian, wv., 414 N. 2.

N.

Se'otan, stv.,

tu,

num., 172 N.

408 N. 8. 384 N. 1. Se'o(w), stm., 250.2.

Se'on, wv.,

betuh, see betweoh. tunge, wf., 276. tungol, stn., 243. 1 and
N.; 244.
tiinincel, stn., 247. c. turf, f ., 284.

Se'ow, adj., 301. tie'owian, wv., 412 N. 2.

Se'owincel, stn., 247.

c.

tuwa,

see

twiwa.

twejfwintre, adj., 303 N.

twc'o,wm.,113;277N.2. twe'ogean, wv.,414 N. 1. betweoh,71;172N.;329.

Se'owu, stf., 258 N. 2. Serb, see fturh. gerscan, stv., 79 N. 2 ; 179. 1 ; 389 and N. oes, pron., 338. 'Sicgean, stwv., 391. 3

ge^ruen, part., 385 N. 1. Snih,f.,284andN.2,3.

Sriistfel, stn.,
aiSrtiten, part.,

289 N. 3. 385 N. 1.
b.

"Sryccean, wv., 407.

N. 1.

ry'n(?),wv.,408.4and

and

N.

6
1.

400

N. 1

5ry,

stf.,

269.
349.

401 x.

u, pron., 332.
"Sullic, pron.,

(be)tweonum,
222. 2
;

adv.,

329.

ider, adv., 32_1. Sin, pron., 335.

betweox(n), adv., 329. twiefold, adj., 43. 2. 6;

61
tvvih,
'

Sindan, stv., 386 N. 1. 5inen(u) stf. , 258 N. 2.

*isl(e), stwf., 221. 2. 56, wf., 67; 115; 218 N. 3; 278 N.

"Sungen, part.^ungon, praet.,384 N. 3; 386

N. 2.

330 and

N.
see

betwih, tweoh.
adj.

be-

getwinne,
329.

num.,

Son, pron., 65 N. 2; 337

N. 2.

Sunor, stm., 70 245. -w^nge, ('Sun)wonge, stwn., 280 N. 1. 385 N.I. gefturen, part.,
;

'Surfan, anv., 422. 6.

twiwa, 317; 331.

betwuh, betwux,

see
see

betweoh. betweox.

flqnan, adv., 321. 'So.nces, adv., 320. tkmne, adv., 65 N. 2.

ftorh, see "Surh.

praep., 56 N. 1. ^uslic, pron., 349.

iS'urh,

Sweal,

stn.,

222. 2.

tyht, stm., 266. tylg, adv., 323.

ty'n,

Sorn, stm., 273.

ge'Sracen, N. 1.
part.,

wv., 117; 408.4.

392

Swe'an, stv., Ill; 373; 392. 2. Sweores, adv., 319.

flaccian, wv., 10.

"Saeder,

"Saedres,

adv.,

321.
Ssenne, adv., 65 N. 2. 321. "Sseslic, pron., 349.
foer, adv.,

Sracu, stf .,263 and N.I. rag, stf., 254. 1. Srawan, stv., 396.
rc'a, stf.,
'Sre'a,

112; 259 N.
N. 2.

wm., 277
N. 4.

'Sreagean,

wv.,

415

Sweorh, adj., 218 N. 2; 295 N. 1. Sweran, stv., 390 N. 1. ftwierian, wv., 218 N. 2; 400 N. 1. fiwi'nan, stv., 382 N. 1. Swi'tan, stv., 382 N. 1.
geSyld, stfn., 267. 6;

Sara, adv., 321 N. 2. 5e, part, rel., 340.

416
;

fire'ang, stf., 119.

269 and
N. 1.

N. 4.

geSeaht,

269 and

stfn., N. 4.

261

Sreo, num., 114.

Sre'otan, stv.,
Xrie,

384
;

fte'aw, stm., 250. 1.

8reottyne, num., 225 N.

Syle, stm., 263. Syllic, pron., 349. 8yn, wv., 117; 408. 4
N.
;

"Se/icean, wv., 407. a.

num., 33

ftegn, stm.,

186

N.

Segu, stf., 253. "Se/icean, wv., 407. a.

"Se^nnan,

Srifeald, N.

N. 1 14. and N. 11. num. ,330 and "Syncean, wv., 31

407. a
stv.,
1. 1.

dhte, 67.

iSrims, stm., 185. 2.

'Sejuan,

wv.,

400 N. 1,2; 401. 1. Se'oh, stn., 242 and N. 3. Se'on, stv., 114; 185 N. 2; 373; 383 and N. 3 386 N. 2.
;

386 N. 'Srinna, num., 329 N. Srinnes, stf., 225 N. Srintan, stv., 386 N.
Nringan,

1.

Syrel, 'Sy'rel, adj.,218. yrs, stm., 266. Syrst, stm., 266. "Syrstan, wv., 405. 4. gyslic, pron., 349.

Sn'stnes, stf., 196 N. 3. ftrittig, num., 225 N.

Sy wan

(= "Siewan ?), wv., 408 N. 8.

268
ufan,
adv.,

INDEX.
55 ; 321
;

waestmbajre, adj., 299.

comp., 314. ufemest, sup., 314. uferra, comp., 55; 314.

ufor, adv., 55.
; ;

water, stn., 245. wag, stm., 273.

-ware,
N. 7.

stwm.

pi.,

263

we'obud, we'ofod, stn., 43 N. 4; 222 N. 1. weorc, stn.,72; 238. a. 1. weorold, stf ., 72 ; 106. 1;

274 N. 1. wmn.(?), 185 N. warenian, wv., 60 N. 1. weorpan, stv., 72; 388 and N. 2. 2 280 N. 1 to lihtes, warofi, stn., 105 N. 2. was = waes, 49 N. 1. adv., 320 N. weortfan, stv., 72; 388 and N. 2. un-, 56 N. 1. wascan, stv., 10; 392
lihta,

uncer, pron., 335. un'Sonces, adv., 320.

unforcii'5, adj.,

N. 1.

weorftian, wv., 72.

3.

43

N. 4.

wawan, stv., 396. weorSig, stf., 72. wea, wm., 62 N.; 118N. weorSmynt, stf., 255.
1.

ungem^t,
319.

-e,

-es, adv.,

ungewisses, adv., 319. unla3d(e),adj.,299N.l.

unnan, anv., 422. 4. unwares, adv., 319. upp, uppan, uppe, adv.,
321.

wealcan, stv., 396. -weald, p.n., 51. weald, stm., 273. wealdan, stv., 396.

weoren, part., 382 N. 2. weosan, stv., 382 M. 3.

we'pan, stv., 396. wer, stm., 241 N. wejian, wv., 400 N. werod, stn., 106. 1.

1.

wealdend, m., 286 and N. 2 f., 287. gewealdes, adv., 320.

;

wesan, anv., 391

427.

N. 1

upweard(es), adv., 319. lire, pron., 335 ; 336 N.

1,2.
us(s)er,
lit,

pron.,
1.

180;
;

335; 336 N.
litan, lite,

Wealh, stm., 242. weall, stm., 239. 2. weallan, stv., 396. wealtan, stv., 396. -weard, adj. adv., 43. 2.
6.

west, westan, adv., 314 comp., 321.

adv., 321

3.

a and

N. 3;

51;

westen, stn., 246. westerra, comp., westmest, sup., 314. wibed, see we'ofod.

comp., 314.
utemest, sup., 314. uterra, comp., 314.

319.

wican,
stv.,

stv.,

382 N.

1.

-weardes, adv., 319.

weaxan,
6.
1.

392 N.

3.

wacian, wv., 416 N.

wadan,
N. 5.

stv.,

392 N.
part.,

wasccende,

416

waecnan, stwv., 392 N.

1.

we,ccean, wv., 407. a. WCg, stm., 247. a. w^cgean, wv., 400 N. 1 ; 401. 1 and N. 1. we,d, stn., 247. b. gewed, stn., 267. a.

wicg, stn., 247. b. wicu, see wucu. wide, adv., 315. widlan, wv., 202. 3.

widuwe,

see

wuduwe

wfelincel, stn., 247. c. wiell, stm., 266. wielwan, wv., 408. 1

waed, stn., 240. gewajde, stn., 248. wajdla, \vm., 202. 3. waig, stni., 266. waege, stn., 248. wael, stn., 240. wa'lhreow, adj., 43.2. a. waepen, stn., 189; 243. 1; 244.

weg, stm., 241 N. wegan, stv., 391 N. 1,6. wel, adv., 315 N.
wela, wm., 109. weler, stm., 264.

and

N. 5.

stf., 258. 1. wiers, adv., 323. wiersa, comp., wierre-

wiergen,

welgehwser,

(ge)welhwrer, adv., 321 N. 2. pron., (ge)welhwilc,

347.
1.

sup., 71 N. 2 72 N.; 180; 312. wierfte, adj., 71 N. 2.

sta,
wi'f, stn.,

239.

1. b.

wifmo.ii, m., 193. 2.

we,mman, wv., 405.

;

wsepmoji, m., 186 N. wsepnian, wv., 189. waer, adj., 294.

wen, stf., 68 N. 1 269. w^nge, wn., 280 N. 1. weninga, adv., 318.

wejinan,

wiga, wm., 277. wigend, m., 24 N. 280. 100 N. wiht, stfn., 71 1; 267. 6 and N. :i
;

Waerburg, p.n., 284

waestm,
264.

N. 1.

stm., 221. 2.;

400

N. 1

wejiian, wv., 405. 1.

;

we/ian, wv., 400 N.

1.

269 and N. 4. Wiht, p.n., 284. Wihtgar, p.n., 273

N. 2.

INDEX.
wilde, adj., 202. 2. wildL-or, stn., 225. 3. wililor, stn., 289.

269
N. 1.

wolcread, adj., 71

wuht,

see wiht.

WolfwoUu,
N. 4.

p.u.,

273
387

wuldor, stm., 202. 2.

wulf, stm. ,55; 239.1. a. wulle, wf., 55.

gewile, gewill, stn.(?),

wollenteare,
N. 3.

adj.,

263 and

N. 3.

willan, anv., 428. willes, adv., 320.

wom(a), stwm.,
WQn(a),
204.
adj.,

68.

gewuna, adj., 291 N. wund, stf., 254. 1.

wunian, wv., 70; 411. wuton, 71 172 N.
;

291 N.;
1.

wiudan,
wine,
N. 2.

386 N. 1. stm., 262; 263

stv., stv.,

WQiig, stm., 273 N.

wylf,

stf.,

257.

winnan,

386

N. 1.

winster, adj., 185. 2. winter, stm., 273 and

N. 2, 3.

WQnge, wn., 280 N. 1. wynn, adj., 295 N. 2. word, stn., 238. worms, worsm,stn., 186
N.

wynn,stf.,257N.2;269. wyrcean, wv., 407. a

and

N. 6.

wircend,
wist,
pi.,

in.,

286
;

N. 2.

wracu,
1.

stf.,

253 and

N.

stt'.,

20'.)

wistu,

wyrd, stf., 269 and N. 2. forwyrd, stm., 267. b. gewvrht, stfn., 267. 6; 368 and N. 4.

267

N. 2.
1.
1.

wrastlian, wv., 10.

wyrm,
1.

witan, anv., 420. 1. aetwitan, stv., 382 N. gewitan, stv., 382 N. wi'te, stn., 248.

wrecan,

stv.,

391 N.

stm., 72 N.; 265. wyrp, stm., 266.

wre,ccea, wm., 89 N. 1. wr^ecean, wv.,407 N.3.

wrejic, stm., 266. wre'on, stv., 114; 373;

wyrt, stf., 269. wyrtiin, stm., 225. 3.

bewitian, wv., 109. b. wlacu, wlaec, adj., 303. wlaeee, stn., 263. wle,ccean, wv., 407. b.
wli'tan, stv.,

wyrtruma, wm.,225. 3. wyscan, wv., 405. 2.

yfel, adj.,
1

383. wre;$ian, wv., 400 N. 2.

296 and N.

wlitc, stm.,

wloh,

f.,

382 N. 1. 263 and N. 5. 218N. 3; 284

1.

wn'dan, stv., 382 N. 1. wriSan, stv., 382 N. 1. wringan, stv., 386 N. 1.

gewrit, stn., 241. writan, stv., 382 N. 1. wrixlan, wv., 100 N. 1;
180.

;-comp., 312. yferra, comp., yfemest,

sup., 314. yfes, stf., 93.

and

N.

gevvldli, adj., 295.

ymb(e), adv. 95 N. 2.
y'mest,
sup.,

prep.,

wueor.stf., 254.1; 255.2.

222.
2.

2;

woh,

stn.,

67

242 and

wrotan,

stv., 396.
;

N. 1.

woh, adj., 67; 295 N.I; 304 N. 3. wolcen, stn., 186 N.; 243 N.

wucu, wf., 71 279. wudu, stm., 71; 271 and

N.

314 and N. 1. yppan, wv., 405.

y'st, stf.,

269.

y'terra,

comp., ytemestj
258. 2.

wuduwe,
1
;

wf., 71 156. 4.

and

N.

sup., 314.

y,

stf.,

GOTHIC INDEX.

270
auhmists, 222. 2.

INDEX.

INDEX.
midjis, 297.

271

272

INDEX.

INDEX.

27 6

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