OLD ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND EXERCISE BOOK

CHAPTER XI.
THE CONSONANT DECLENSIONS OF NOUNS.
The Weak or n-Declension.
63. The n-Declension contains almost all of the O.E. nouns belonging to the Consonant
Declensions. The stem characteristic n has been preserved in the oblique cases, so that
there is no difficulty in distinguishing n-stems from the preceding vowel stems.
The n-Declension includes (a) masculines, (b) feminines, and (c) neuters. The masculines
far outnumber the feminines, and the neuters contain only ēage, eye and ēare, ear. The
masculines end in –a, the feminines and neuters in –e.
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64. Paradigms of (a) sē hunta, hunter; (b) sēo tunge, tongue; (c) ðæt ēage, eye:
Sing. N. hunt-a tung-e ēag-e
G.D.I. hunt-an tung-an ēag-an
A. hunt-an tung-an ēag-e
Plur. N.A. hunt-an tung-an ēag-an
G.hunt-ena tung-ena ēag-ena
D.I. hunt-um tung-um ēag-um
65. VOCABULARY.
sē adesa, hatchet, adze.
sē ǣmetta, leisure [empt-iness].
sē bǫna (bana), murderer [bane].
sēo cirice, church [Scotch kirk].
sē cnapa (later, cnafa), boy [knave].
sē cuma, stranger [comer].
ðæt ēare, ear.
sēo eorðe, earth.
sē gefēra, companion [co-farer].
sē guma, man [bride-groom 1 ].
sēo heorte, heart.
gescieppan, to create [shape, landscape,
friend-ship].
giefan (with dat. of indirect object), to
give.
healdan, to hold.
sē mōna, moon.
sēo nǣdre, adder [a nadder >an
adder 2 ].
sē oxa, ox.
sē scēowyrhta, shoe-maker
[shoe-wright].
sēo sunne, sun.
sē tēona, injury [teen].
biddan (with dat. of person and
gen. of thing 3 ), to request, ask
for.
cwelan, to die [quail].
scęððan (with dat.), to injure
[scathe].
wiðstǫndan (-standan) (with dat.),
to withstand.
The r is intrusive in –groom, as it is in cart-r-idge, part-r-idge, vag-r-ant, and hoa-r-se.
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The n has been appropriated by the article. Cf. an apron (