mearh

Historical Grammar

25. The a-Declension, corresponding to the Second or o-Declension of Latin and Greek, contains only (a) masculine and (b) neuter nouns. To this declension belong most of the O.E. Masculine and neuter nouns. At a very early period, many of the nouns belonging properly to the i- and u-Declensions began to pass over to the a-Declension. This declension may therefore be considered the for all masculine and neuter nouns belonging to the Strong Declension.

26. Paradigms of sē mūð, mouth; sē fiscere, fisherman; sē hwæl, whale; sē mearh, horse; sē finger, finger:

NOTE.—For meanings of the cases, see § 12. The dative and instrumental are alike in all nouns.

27. The student will observe (1) that nouns whose nominative ends in –e (fiscere) drop this letter before adding the case endings; (2) that æ before a consonant (hwæl) changes to a in the plural; (3) that h, preceded by r (mearh) or l (seolh, seal), is dropped before an inflectional vowel, the stem vowel being then lengthened by way of compensation; (4) that dissyllables (finger) having the first syllable long, generally syncopate the vowel of the second syllable before adding the case endings.

(b) Neuter a-Stems.

The neuter nouns of the a-Declension differ from the masculines only in the N.A. plural.

33. The paradigms show (1) that monosyllables with short stems (hof) take -u in the N.A. plural; (2) that monosyllables with long stems (bearn, bān) do not distinguish the N.A. plural from the N.A. singular; (3) that dissyllables in –e, whether the stem be long or short (rīce spere), have –u in th N.A. plural; (4) that dissyllables ending in a consonant and having the first syllable short(werod) do not usually distinguish the N.A. plural from the N.A. singular; (5) that dissyllables ending in a consonant and having the first syllable long (tungol) more frequently take –u in the N.A. plural.

NOTE.—Syncopation occurs as in the masculine a-stems. See § 27, (4).