Old English And Old Norse

An Introduction to West and North

Germanic
Instructor: Sen D Vrieland

Contents
1 Introdution

History

2 The Germanic Language Family

3 Old
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4

English and Its

West Saxon . . .
Kentish . . . . .
Mercian . . . . .
Northumbrian . .

4 Old
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9

Norse and Its

Runic . . . . .
Icelandic . . . .
Faroese . . . .
Norn . . . . . .
Norwegian . . .
Danish . . . . .
Swedish . . . .
Elfdalian . . . .
Gutnish . . . .

II

Dialects
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Dialects
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8
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10
10
10
11

Phonology

5 The Phonological Systems

5.1 Old English . . . . . . . .
5.1.1 vowels . . . . . . .
5.1.2 Consonants . . . .
5.2 Old Norse . . . . . . . . .
5.2.1 Vowels . . . . . . .
5.2.2 Consonants . . . .
5.2.3 Syllable Structure

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11
11
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12
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14
15

6 Sound Changes
6.1 Vowels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.1 Primary Developments from PGmc . . . . . .
6.1.2 Eects of Nasals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.3 Compensatory Lengthening and Contraction
6.1.4 Breaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.5 i-Umlaut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.6 u-Umlaut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2 Semivowels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.1 *w . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.2 *j . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.3 Holtzmanns Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.3 Consonants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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15
15
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16
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18
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6.3.1
6.3.2
6.3.3
6.3.4
6.3.5
6.3.6
6.3.7

III

Germanic Consonant Shift .

Primary Developments from
West Germanic Gemination
Anglo-Frisian Palatalization
Final Devoicing . . . . . . .
Assimilation . . . . . . . . .
Rhotacism . . . . . . . . . .

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PGmc
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Morphology

21
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22
22
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23

23

7 Nouns
7.1 a-stems . . . . . . . . . . .
7.1.1 Masculine a-stems .
7.1.2 Neuter a-stems . . .
7.1.3 ia-stems . . . . . . .
7.1.4 ua-stems . . . . . . .
7.2 o-stems . . . . . . . . . . .
7.2.1 Feminine o-stems . .
7.2.2 io-stems . . . . . . .
7.2.3 uo-stems . . . . . . .
7.3 i-stems . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.3.1 Masculine i-stems . .
7.3.2 Feminine i-stems . .
7.4 u-stems . . . . . . . . . . .
7.4.1 Masculine u-stems .
7.4.2 Feminine u-stems . .
7.5 n-stems (Weak Declension)
7.5.1 Masculine an-stems .
7.5.2 Neuter on-stems . .
7.5.3 Feminine on-stems .
7.5.4 Feminine n-stems .
7.6 Root Nouns . . . . . . . . .
7.7 r-stems . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.8 Old English s-stems . . . .

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24
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30
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30
30
31

8 Adjectives
8.1 Strong Declension . . . .
8.2 Weak Declension . . . . .
8.3 The Comparative Degree
8.4 The Superlative Degree .

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31
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33
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34

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9 Spatial Adverbs

35

10 Numerals
35
10.1 Cardinal Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
10.2 Ordinal Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
10.3 Decades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

11 Pronouns
11.1 Personal Pronouns . . . . . . .
11.1.1 First and Second Person
11.1.2 Third Person . . . . . .
11.1.3 Possessive Pronouns . .
11.2 Demonstrative Pronouns . . . .
11.3 Old Norse Denite Article . . .
11.4 Interrogative Pronouns . . . . .

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38
38
38
38
38
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40
41

12 Verbs
12.1 Strong Verbs . . . . . . .
12.1.1 Personal Endings .
12.1.2 Verbal Classes . .
12.1.3 Class I . . . . . . .
12.1.4 Class II . . . . . .
12.1.5 Class III . . . . . .
12.1.6 Class IV . . . . . .
12.1.7 Class V . . . . . .
12.1.8 Class VI . . . . . .
12.1.9 Class VII . . . . .
12.2 Weak Verbs . . . . . . . .
12.2.1 Personal Endings .
12.2.2 Class I . . . . . . .
12.2.3 Class II . . . . . .
12.2.4 Class III . . . . . .
12.3 Preterite-Present Verbs .
12.4 The Verb To Be . . . . .
12.5 Old Norse Reexive Verbs

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41
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41
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43
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46
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50
51
52
53
53
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57
58
59
61
61

IV

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Syntax

62

13 Word Order

62

14 Use of the Cases

63

15 Verbal Syntax
64
15.1 Old Norse Reexive Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
15.2 Passive and Impersonal Constructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
16 Negation

67

67

Bibliography

17 Dictionaries

67

18 Introductions and Grammars

68

Introdution

This compendium is designed to be a reference guide to students of Old English

and Old Norse, and is based o the work of numerous scholars in the elds
of Old English, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic, and Indo-European. This guide
does not contain the entirety of the body of knowledge in these elds, but
is meant to serve as an introduction to the most important grammatical and
historical features of these two langauges. It is furthermmore not intended to
be a scholarly publication to be cited.
I would like to thank a number of people for their help in my preparation
for this course, including Birgit Olsen, Guus Kroonen, Bjarne Hansen, Adam
Hyllested, and Peter Kerkhof.
Any mistakes in this guide have been made by the author.

PartI

History

Wulla
c. 311-382

Early OE
650-900
Late OE
900-1066

Viking Age
700-1050

c. 400 - Gallehus Horn

c. 650 - Cdmons Hymn

793 - Viking attack at Lindesfarne

Alfred the Great 874 - Inglfr Arnarson settles Iceland
849-899
Olaf Tryggvason
c. 960-1000

Manuscripts
1050-1350

Prehistoric
450-650

Syncope
500-700

Runic Norse
200-500

c. 98 - Tacitus writes Germania

Snorri Sturluson
1179-1241

1066 - Battle of Hastings

The Germanic Language Family

East

Gothic
Old Gutnish

North
Proto-Germanic

Old East Norse

Old Swedish
Old Danish
Old Norwegain

Old West Norse

Old Icelandic

Ingvaeonic
(North Sea Germanic)
West

Anglo-Frisian
Old Saxon

Istvaeonic

Old Franconian

Irminonic

Old High German

Old English
Old Frisian

Old English and Its Dialects

Scots
Northumbrian

Northern

Appalachian Dialects
Yorkshire

Anglian

West Midland
Mercian

East Anglian

Pre-English
East Midland

3.1

Kentish

South-Eastern

West Saxon

South-Western

West Midland
East Anglian
New England Dialects
Standard English
West County Dialects
Southern American Dialects

West Saxon

By far the most important dialect of Old English is West Saxon, thanks in part
to Alfred the Great (r. 871-899) who was instrumental in bringing learning
and the English language to England, and who commissioned the translation of
many Latin texts into English. Most grammars and readers of Old English (the
present compendium included) are primarily focused on West Saxon as it is the
dialect with the largest corpus. Below is a sample text of Alfred the Greats
letter prefacing his translation of Cura Pastoralis by Gregory the Great.

lfred kyning hate gretan Wrfer

biscep his wordum lufce ond

freondlce; ond e c
yan hate t me com swe oft on gemynd,
hwelce wiotan i
u wron

giond Angelcynn, ger

ge godcundra hada
ge woruldcundra; ond h
u gesliglica

tda a wron

giond Angelcynn;
ond h
u a kyningas e one onwald hfdon s folces Gode ond his
rendwrecum

bersumedon; ond h
u he ger

ge hiora sibbe ge hiora

siodu ge hiora onweald innanbordes geholdon, ond eac u
t hiora eel
r
ymdon.1

3.2

Kentish

The dialect of Kentish forms, together with West Saxon, the souther dialect
group. The corpus of Kentish is much more limited in scope than that of West
Saxon, and consists largely of charters, such as the one below. The Kentish
dialect died out during the Middle English period.

+ is sindan geinga Ealhburge and Eadwealdes

et em lande et
Burnan, hwet man elce gere ob em lande to Crstes cirican em

hwum agiban scel, for Ealhburge and for Ealdred and fore Eadweald
and Ealawynne: xl ambra mealtes and xl and cc hlaba, i wege cesa,
i wege speces, i eald hrer, iiii weras, x gs,
xx henfugla, iiii fora

weada. And ic Ealhburg bebade Eadwealde

mnem mege an Godes
naman and an ealra his haligra et he is wel healde his dei and
sian for bebeode his erbum to healdenne a hwle e hit crsten
se. + And suelc mon se et lond hebbe eghwylce Sunnandege xx
gesura hlafa to are cirican for Ealdredes saule and for Ealhburge.2

3.3

Mercian

Mercian and Northumbrian together form the Anglian dialects of Old English.
While the amount of literature in the Mercian dialect is limited in the Old
English period, over time the dialect became more inuential and is essentially
the ancestor of Standard Modern English. Below is an interlinear translation of
a Latin hymn.
L
ytel ic wes betweh brour mne, ond iungra in h
use feadur mnes.
Ic fdde

scep feadur mnes. Honda mne dydun organan; ngras

mne w
ysctun hearpan. Ond hwelc segde Dryhtne mnum? He
Dryhten, he allra geherde mec; he sende engel his, on nom mec of
scepum feadur mnes, on smirede mec in mildheartnisse smirenisse
his. Brour mne gode ond micle, ond ne wes welgelcad in him Dryhtne. Ic u
teode ongegn fremes cynnes men, ond wergcweodelade
mec in hergum heara; ic solce gebrogdnum from him his agnum
sweorde ic acearf heafud his, ond on weg arde edwt of bearnum
Israela.3
1 Whitelock

(1967:4-5)
(1967:200-201)
3 Whitelock (1967:184-185)
2 Whitelock

3.4

Northumbrian

The other Anglian dialect, Northumbrian, is the original language of Cdmons

Hymn, found later in a West Saxon version. Northumbrian was the dialect spoken closest to the Danelaw (886-954) and was therefore most heavily inuenced
by Old Norse.
Fore them neidfaerae
naenig uuiurthit
thoncsnotturra
than him tharf se
t
o ymbhycggannae,
aer his hiniongae,
huaet his gastae
godaes aeththa yaes
aefter deothdeage
doemid uueorthae.4

Old Norse and Its Dialects

4.1

Runic

The runic inscriptions go back to the third century AD, written in a language
called "Runic Norse" or "Proto-Norse." The most famous of the runic inscriptions, the Gallehus Horn (c. 400), is prized by scholars for being the earliest
preservation of alliterative verse.
ekhlewagastiR:holtijaR:horna:tawido:
ekhlewagastiz:holtijaz:horna:tawido:

4.2

Icelandic

Modern Icelandic is known for being the most archaic of the languages descended
from Old Norse, preserving the case system almost entirely. The orthography of
Icelandic is also inuenced by the system devised by the First Grammarian (late
12th century), meaning although pronunciation has changed over the past 800
years, Modern Icelandic and standardized Old West Norse are written nearly
identical. Below is an excerpt from Sjlfsttt Flk Independent People by the
Nobel laureate author Halldr Laxness, published in 1934-35.
essi jokkur tri v a gu ljssins og gu myrkursins ttu
sfeldum frii, og mnnum bri a styrkja ljssins gu barttunni
me v a yrkja akra og vinna a jarabtum. a er einmitt etta
sem bndurnir gera. eir eru a hjlpa gui, ef svo mtti a ori
kvea, vinna me gui ad uppeldi jurta, dra og manna. Gfugra
starf er ekki til jru hr.5

4.3

Faroese

Faroese is, together with Icelandic, an Insular Nordic language, and is nearly as
archaic as its northern neighbor. Although the language was not written down
for 300 years, the islanders preserve unique linguistic and literary material in
the form of ballads (called kvi). Below is the beginning of a ballad (in total 85
4 Whitelock

(1967:183)
Tmarit Morgunblasins, 25 January 1976, pg. 18. http://timarit.is/view_page_
init.jsp?pageId=3297404 accessed 18 August 2013.
5 From

verses long) recounting Olaf Tryggvasons voyages on the ship Ormurin Langi
(ON Ormrinn Langi).

4.4

1. Vilja tr hoyra kvi mtt,

vilja tr orum trgv,
um hann lav Trgvason,
higar skal rman sngva.

2. Kongurin letur snekju sma

har slttumsandi;
Ormurin Langi ststur var,
Sum gjrdur Noregis landi.

Niurlag: Glymur dansur hll,

dans sli ring!
Glair ria noregis menn
til hildarting.

3. Knrrur var gjrdur Noregis

land,
gott var honum evni:
tjan alil og fjruti
var kjlurin millum stevni.6

Norn

The last of the insular varieties of Norse unfortunately went extinct in the nineteenth century, although many small texts were recorded by various travellers
to Shetland and Orkney. Below is an excerpt of the longest text preserved in
Norn, the Ballad of Hildina, recorded in 1774:
Da vara Iarlian dOrkneyar
For frinda sin spir de ro
Whird ane skild meun
Our glas buryon burtaga.

4.5

Or vanna ro eidnar fuo

Tega du meun our glas buryon
Kere friend min yamna meun
Eso vrildan stiende gede min
vara to din.7

Norwegian

Old Norwegian is, like Old Icelandic, a West Norse language, and is attested in
manuscript form in the late twelfth century. In its earliest form Old Norwegian
is very similar to Old Icelandic, and a number of manuscripts written in Norway
were copied by Icelandic scribes. Below is an excerpt from Konungs skuggsj
The Kings Mirror, a dialogue between a father and son. Here, the son wonders
why one should use the pl r in reference to the king.
En f mar bir bnar sinnar til Gus, er allum er frmri ok hri,
eru infaldat hvrri bn oll au atkvi er til hans horfa, ok kvr
sv at ori hvrr er sna bn ytr vi Gu: , Drttinn minn,
allsvaldandi Gu, hyru bn mna ok miskunna mek betr en ek s
vrr. En ngan mann hyri ek sv taka til ors: r, Drttinn
minn, hyri bn mna ok gri btr vi mik ri sakar miskunnar
yarrar en ek s vrr.8
6 From Ftatrak Dansfelagi. fotatradk.com/kv/ormurin-langi.pdf accessed 18 August
2013.
7 From Barnes, Michael The Study of Norn.
8 Barnes (2007b:338)

4.6

Danish

Old Danish forms, together with Old Swedish, the eastern branch of Old Norse.
By the time Danish was written in manuscripts, a number of characteristic
changes had already taken place, such as the reduction of unstressed vowels to
. Below is the beginning of the Law Code of Jutland (Jyske Lov) with its
famous rst sentence.
Mth logh skal land bygis. n wild hwr man oruas at sit
eght. oc lat mn nyt iafnth tha thurft man kki logh with.
n ngi logh r mgoth at fylgh sum sannend. hwar sum man
ur um sannend. thr skal logh let hwilkt rt r. war i logh
a land tha hafu hin mest thr mest matt grip. thy skal logh
ftr all mn grs. at rt men oc spak. oc sakls nyt
ther rt oc spcth. oc fol oc vrt m rths thet thr i
loghn r scriun.9

4.7

Swedish

Old Swedish is preserved in a number of law codes and is the most important
language in the study of East Norse. Below is an excerpt from the oldest law
code in Sweden, Vstgtalagen.
Svear egho konung at tak ok sva vrk. Han skal mt gslum

oun far ok strf

tland. a skal han sndimn hingt gr
til aldrg
t ings. a skal lagmar gsl skipt, tva sunnn af
landi ok tva norn af landi. Sin skal ar
ur mn af landi
t
gr m em. er skulu til I
unbkkr mote far. stg
gsl skulu ingt fylghi ok vittni br at han r sva inlnder,
sum lgh err sighi. a skal aldrgt ing gen hanum nmn.10

4.8

Elfdalian

An incredibly archaic language in the Dalarna region of Sweden, Elfdalian has

become more and more important for the understanding of Proto-Norse and
Proto-Germanic. One of the most important features of Elfdalian (with less
than 5,000 speakers) is the preservation of nasalized vowels (written with an
ogonek), which unfortunately appears to be disappearing in younger speakers.
The organization Ulum Dalska Let us speak Elfdalian is active in preserving
Elfdalian and turning it into an ocial, literary language. Below is an excerpt
from Fbodlivet i gamla tider by Vikar Margit Andersdotter.
Ig wet ur lustut faer bruke sai v. An add we aut og ula liet
att uondlostjynr end upi Relldalim iessn. An add gai og stanna
og ula lyssn miluma og inggan rt. Just m an add gai so add
an fai sj triuo stur brind so inte add we retter t dier add mjst
kytt ni an. Edd ig a apt ien byss min mig, so edd dier allt a
9 Thorsen, Peder Goth (1853:2). Valdemar den Andens jydske lov, efter den ensborgske
codex, tilligemed den 1590 foranstaltede ny udgave af loven og den af Ekenberger 1593
besrgede plattydske oversttelse af samme. Copenhagen: Berlingske.
10 Gordon (1956:169)

10

ula f kuok suo i buum. Men sj ig add ingga og int dugd ig lat
wr diem eld, t ig rekkt a diem storn og sykte, men d kytt
dier, bruke an sai v.11

4.9

Gutnish

Old Gutnish is preserved in a handful of manuscripts and runic inscriptions.

Often misconstrued as an East Norse variant, Old Gutnish shows a number of
archaic features inherited directly from PGmc. Below is an excerpt from the
Guta Saga, the 8,000-word semi-legendary history of Gotland.
Firi an tma oc lengi eptir san trou menn a hult oc a hauga,
w oc stafgara, oc a haiin gu. Blotau air synum oc d
ydrum
snum, oc flei mi mati oc mungati. et gieru air eptir wantr
o
sinni. Land alt hafi sr hoystu blotan mi fulki, ellar hafi huer
riiungr sr; en smeri ing hafu mindri blotan me flei, mati oc
mung
ati, sum haita sunautar, at air suu allir saman.12

PartII

Phonology
5

The Phonological Systems

5.1

Old English

5.1.1

vowels

The vowel system of OE (West Saxon) consisted of seven monophthongs and

three diphthongs, all of which could be either long or short.
u

i y

diphthongs:
ea eo ie io
ea eo e o
Furthermore, there was also likely
an eighth short monosyllable [O] as
PGmc *a is often written <o> before
a nasal in e.g. nama, noma name.13

11 Rdjrum

(2005:7)
(1956:176-177)
13 Note that, in Modern English, forms with short a prevailed (name, land). The opposite
is true of long
a before a nasal: OE st
an, h
am > ModEn stone, home.
12 Gordon

11

Examples
a
O

e
i
o
u
y
ea
eo
ie
5.1.2

Short
inf to waken
nsn land
nsn valley, dale
nsm army
nsm wind
nsm god
nsm full
nsm rst
nsm salmon
nsm dark
nsn property

wacian
lond
dl
here
wind
god
full
fyrst
leax
deorc
ierfe

w
acian

Long
inf to weaken

dl
h
er
wn
g
od
f
ul
f
yr
l
eas
d
eor
eg-lond

nsm
adv
nsn
nsm
nsm
nsn
nsm
nsn
nsn

share, deal
here
wine
good
foul
re
false
animal
island

Consonants

The consonantal system of OE was quite similar to that of Modern English,

with the addition of the gutteral spirants /x/ and /G/, and the lack of the
French-inherited sound /Z/. A few dierences occur in spelling between OE
and Modern English, which should be kept in mind:
The dental fricatives /T/ and // were written in the earliest manuscripts with
<th>, as in Modern English, although from an early period the use of
the runic <> thorn and the letter <> eth came to be the standard.
While in ON <> is generally used for the voiceless /T/ and <> for the
voiced //, OE does not make such a distinction, and varies widely from
author to author, so that <t> and <t> are no dierent.
Another runic letter <S> wynn was used to represent /w/, which could also
be represented by <u> or <uu>. Most editions transcribe with <w>.
The uncial letter <Z> yogh, introduced by Irish missionaries, was often used
instead of <g>. Either letter represented a number of sounds, including
/g/, /G/, /j/, and in a digraph <cg>, /dZ/.
Many handbooks write <c> and <g>
to distinguish the palatal sounds /tS/
and /j/ from the gutteral /k/ and /g/ (spelled <c> and <g>).
The sound /S/ was written <sc> (in many handbooks <sc>).
Most of the consonants, apart from the voiced spirants, glides, and aricates,
could be geminated.
The consonants of OE, shown with their typical spelling, are as follows:
Bilabial

Plosive
Nasal
Fricative
Liquid

p(p)
f(f)

b(b)
m(m)
f
w

Dental

t(t)
()
l(l)

Alveolar

d(d)
n(n)
s(s)
r(r)

12

Palatal

c(c)
sc
j

cg

Velar

c(c)
h(h)

g(g)
[N]
g

Glottal

Examples
p(:)
b(:)
t(:)
d(:)
tS(:)
dZ
k(:)
g(:)
m(:)
n(:)
N
f(:)
v
T(:)

S
x(:)
G
h
w
l(:)
r(:)
j

5.2

p
apa
binnan14
h
atan
bdan
cirice
brycg
b
oc
g
od
sumor
man
lang
f
ot
giefan
m
u
oor
m
scip
dohtor
fugol
habban
h
eawan
h
ealic
ge
ara
g
ear

Short
nsm pope
adv inside
inf to be called
inf to wait
nsf church
nsf bridge
nsf book
nsm good
nsm summer
nsm one
nsm long
nsm foot
inf to give
nsm mouth
nsf mother
nsn ship
nsf daughter
nsm bird
inf to have
inf to hew
nsm exhaulted
adv formerly
nsn year

ppel
libban
sittan
biddan
stycce

Long
nsm apple
inf to live
inf to sit
inf to pray
nsn piece

bucca
frogga
swimman
mann

nsm
nsm
inf
nsm

buck
frog
to swim
man

orung

nsf

oering

moe

nsf

moth

hliehhan

inf

to laugh

heall
ierre

nsf hall
nsm angry

Old Norse

5.2.1

Vowels

Around the time of the settlement of Iceland (ca. 874), the Old Norse vowel
system contained nine monopthongs, all of which could be long, short, or nasalized. By the twelfth century, however, this system of 27 vowels had reduced
to 16; the distinct vowels e and (i-umlaut of a) had fallen together, while

merged with (or if nasal). Finally, the distinct nasal vowels disappeared as
a separate class, leaving classical Old Icelandic with eight short monophthongs
and eight long, shown below in the standard orthography:
i y

()

()

a o

Furthermore, Old Icelandic had three diphthongs, ei, au, and ey (pronounced
[y] or [y]), which were long.
In unstressed vowels Old Norse distinguished only three vowels, a - i - u,
which may be written a - e - o in older manuscripts.
14 PGmc

*b > v <f> intervocalically

13

Examples of the vowels and diphthongs are given below.

Examples
Short
Long
a dagr
nsm day
sr
nsf wound
o
do
gum
dpm days
s
r
npf wounds
dgi
dsm day
sra
inf to wound
e vegr
nsm way
v
nsn sanctuary
kmr
3s
comes
dma
inf to judge
o koma
inf to come
dmr
nsm judgement
i bija
inf to pray
ba
inf to wait
y yngri
nsm younger
kr
nsf cow
u ungr
nsm young
k
asf cow
ei
steinn
nsm stone
au
draumr
nsm dream
ey
dreyma
inf to dream
5.2.2

Consonants

As in OE, the consonants in ON could be either short or long (geminate),

with the exception of [v] (written <f>), [V] <v>, [T] <>, [], [j], [h], and the
graphemes <x> and <z> which represented the consonant clusters [ks] and [ts],
respectively. The approximate placement of the consonants is given in the chart
below, with examples. Note that the voiced stops b d g occur only as geminates
intervocalically, and are replaced by their fricative counterparts [v] [] [G] when
not geminate. Non-geminate f also voiced to [v] intervocalically, while a true
geminate f in the older language is rare at best.
Bilabial

Plosive
Nasal
Fricative
Liquid

p(p)
f(f)

b(b)
m(m)
f
v

Dental

t(t)

l(l)

Alveolar

d(d)
n(n)
s(s)
r(r)

14

Palatal

Velar

k(k)
[x]
j

g(g)
[N]
[G]

Glottal

Examples
p(:)
b(:)
t(:)
d(:)
k(:)
g(:)
m(:)
n(:)
N
f(:)
v
T

s(:)
x(:)
G
h
V
l(:)
r(:)
j

5.2.3

pa
baka
sitr
deyja
taka
gra
koma
kona
so
ngr
fara
eptir
hafa
ungr
skoa
kjsa
inn-tekt

Short
inf to shout
inf to bake
3s
sits
inf to die
inf to take
inf to do
inf to come
nsf woman
nsm song
inf to go
prep after
inf to have
nsm heavy
inf to view
inf to choose
nsf income

eiga
hitta
vi
sklar
vera
hlja
degi

inf
inf
nsf
npf
inf
inf
dsm

to own
to meet
age, era
bowls
to be
to laugh
day

heppinn
krabbi
gott
ro
dd
akka
hyggr
skamma
unna

Long
nsm lucky
nsm crab
nsn good
nsf voice
inf to thank
3s
thinks
inf to shame
inf to grant

af-fall

nsn discount

kyssa
do
kkt
glggt

inf to kiss
nsn dark
nsn clear

kalla
verra

inf to call
nsn worse

Syllable Structure

Stressed syllables in ON were one of three lengthsshort, long, or overlong

depending on the length of the vowel and following consonant. This threeway distinction is preserved today in Elfdalian, shown below. Note that a true
diphthongON au, ei, and eyare long vowels, whereas the products of breaking
ON ja, jo
were short. Stressed syllables of the type short vowel followed by
nothing were impossible in ON; words such as thou, sv so, thus, and hey
hay scanned as long.
Short

Structure
Example
Elfdalian

6
6.1
6.1.1

v
c
hafa to have
v

Long

v
cc
bjo
rn m bear
bynn

v
c
heyra to hear
ra

Overlong

v
cc
hvtt n white
waitt

Sound Changes
Vowels
Primary Developments from PGmc

The vowel systems of OE and ON are inherited from the twelve distinct vowels
in PGmc. These are the four short vowels a e i u, four long vowels

o u
,
three diphthongs ai au eu, and the vowel termed e2 , of debated origin. The
15

chart below shows the main developments from Late PIE to OE and ON via
PGmc:
PIE a o e i
u
e (ia) ei a o u
ai oi au ou
PGmc
a
e i
u

o
u

ai
au
OE a e i o u

o
u

a
ea
ON
a
e i o u

ei
au
Noteworthy in OE is the presence of the vowel < *a, a characteristic sound
of English today. This raising of *a, termed brightening, is shared with Old
Frisian (spelled <e>): OE stf, OF stef sta. In OE the vowel appears (1) in
monosyllables (dg day); (2) in open syllables followed by a front vowel (fder
father); but remained a (1) when followed by a back vowel (dagas days); (2) in
closed syllables (asce, axe ask). Note that in the non-West Saxon dialects
of OE, and its long counterpart
are generally raised to e and e, respectively.
The PGmc diphthong *eu shows two primary reexes in OE and ON each,
though of dierent origin. In OE o developed from an early raising of eo before
i or j (lode people < *leud-), while eo stems from an unmutated form (beodan
to oer < *beudan-). In ON the diphthong appears as j in front of dentals
(j nation < *eud
o) and j before labials and velars (jfr thief < *eubaz).
Finally, the vowel o appeared in both OE and ON as a result of a-umlaut,
meaning PGmc *u was lowered before an *a in the following syllable (OE ON
lof praise < *luba-). This process is also assumed to have lowered *i > e,
although the only two conclusive examples are ON wer man ON verr < *wiraz
and OE nest nest < *nista.
6.1.2

Eects of Nasals

The nasal consonants *n *m *N aected preceding vowels throughout the PGmc,

OE, and ON periods, which can be grouped into three major sound changes:
lengthening, raising, and rounding.
Lengthening
A PGmc vowel was lengthened due to the loss of *n in the sequence *Vnh:
PGmc *fanhan- to get > *fhan in Gothic f
ahan OE f
on ON f.
In the Ingvaeonic languages nasals were lost before the voiceless fricatives f
s with compensatory lengthening: OE ff ve < *mf; g
os goose <
*gans-; c
u known < *kuna-.
In ON *n was lost before s an r with compensatory lengthening: gs goose <
*gans-; rr Thor < *unraz.
Raising
In the PGmc period *e was raised to *i before a nasal plus consonant, while
the lowering of *i and *u via a-umlaut was blocked by a following nasal
plus consonant: *bendan- > *bindan- to bind in Gothic, OE bindan, ON
binda; *hunda- dog in OE hund, ON hundr.
In OE *e was also raised to i before PGmc *m: niman to take < *neman-.

16

eu
eu
eo
j

o
j

In ON the opposite eect occurred when a nasal was assimilated to a following

homorganic stop, i.e. *i and *u were lowered to e and o, respectively: vetr
winter < *wintru-; sokkin sunken < *sunkw-.
Rounding
The Ingvaeonic languages rounded *a and *
to O and , respectively: OE
nama, noma name < nam
on-; m
ona moon < *mnan-.

ON
> before and after nasals (otherwise > ): ntt < n
tt night <
*nahtu-. A number of double forms appear throughout ON because of
various analogies working with this sound shift, e.g. vr, vr our, ss,
ss a god.
6.1.3

Compensatory Lengthening and Contraction

Vowels were not only lengthened due to the loss of a nasal, but via the loss
of other consonants as well, a process called contraction. Furthermore, if the
consonant was lost intervocalically, two vowels came to be side-by-side and often
contracted.
Compensatory Lengthening
In OE, palatal g was lost before a dental, with lengthening of the preceding
vowel: OE mden

maiden from older mgden; en thane, servant from

older egn.
The loss of OE *h after liquids and before vowels caused compensatory lengthening, giving rise to short vowels next to long vowels in a single nominal
paradigm: OE wealh foreigner, gen. weales.
In ON the consonant clusters *l *r and *ht assimilated to l r tt, respectively, with compensatory lengthening: ON ml speech, case < *malan-;
Nregr Norway < *norr-vegr north-way; dttir daughter < *duhter-.
In both OE and ON nal vowels were lengthened in monosyllables (in ON also
before r < *z): OE sw
a thus ON sv < *swa; OE me me ON mr <
*miz.
Contraction
The loss of intervocalic *h and *nh caused contraction in both OE and ON.
In OE this often produced the long diphthongs (ea, eo, etc) while in
ON an original vowel sequence of long+short underwent a quantity shift
(short+long) which later became a diphthong (e.g. *sehwan- > *sean >
sa > sj to see): OE seon to see ON sj < *sehwan-; OE feoh gen
feos cattle, property ON f gen fjr < *fehu gen *fehauz.
In OE the sequences -igi- and -ige were contracted to : OE tle tile from
older tigele.
The ON the diphthongs *ai and *au contracted to and , respectively, before
*h (which disappears). The same contraction of *ai > occurred before
r: ON [he] has < *aih; though, yet < *auh; srr sore, wounded
< *sairaz.
17

6.1.4

Breaking

Both OE and ON underwent a process called breaking or fracture, a process

by which monophthongs are broken into diphthongs in certain environments.
The processes are quite dierent in the two languages, however, and cannot be
considered a common NWGmc process.
In OE front vowels were broken by the inuence of following back consonants
(namely l r h). The results are not spread evenly across the dialects nor across
all environments of l r h. The outcomes of breaking in West Saxon are as follows:
Before lC rC h(C)
(a) > ea ceald cold < *kaldaz; bearn child < *barna-; seah [he] saw <
*sahw
e > eo meolcan to milk < *melkan-; eore earth < *er
o; cneoht servant,
boy < *knehtaz
Before rC h(C)
i > io (> eo) liornan, leornan to learn < lzn
ojan-; tweo doubt < *twioh <
*twh
obefore h(C)
>

ea neah near < *nhw

> o (>
eo) weoh idol < *woh < *whaThe ON process of breaking only aects the short vowel *e when *a or *u
occur in the following syllable, producing the diphthong ja and its umlauted
counterpart jo
: ON gjo
f gen gjafar gift < Proto-Norse *gebu gen *gebaz <
PGmc *geb
o gen *geb
oz.
6.1.5

i-Umlaut

The fronting of a vowel due to *i or *j in the following syllable occurred unevenly

across the entirety of the NWGmc area. Often the trigger vowel was syncopated
after the eects of umlaut (or front mutation) had taken place. In ON the same
fronting occurred before r < *z. The changes are as follows:

18

PGmc
*a

a
O
ea
o
o

Old English
example
e
settan

ldra15
e
menn
ie
ieldra16
e
dehter17

a
a
a
a

Old Norse
example
e
setja
e
ellri
e
menn
e
ellri

o
u

kmr
kyn
grtr
ftr
ms

PGmc

o
u

ai

cynn

o
u

e
y

f
et
m
ys

dlan

au

ea

e18

heran

au

ey

heyra

to set
older
men
older
daughter
comes
kin
cries
feet
mice
to
share
*hauzjan- to hear

eu

eo,
o

ces

j,
j

ksir

*keusi

6.1.6

*satjan*aliz
o
*manniz
*aliz
o
*duhtri
*kumi
*kunja*grti

*f
otriz
*m
usiz
*dailjan-

chooses

u-Umlaut

Both OE and ON underwent a back mutation of stressed vowels before a back

vowel, but to a dierent extent. In OE the only vowels aected by back mutation
were a e i, and in dierent circumstances in the dierent dialects. OE back
mutation can be divided into u-umlaut, caused by a u in the following syllable,
and o/a-umlaut, caused by the other back vowels. It can be summarized as
follows:
a > ea via u- and o/a-umlaut in Mercian: heafuc hawk and fearan to go vs.
hafoc and faran in the other dialects. All dialects have ealu ale < *alu.
e > eo via u-umlaut in all dialects. In West Saxon only before labials and
liquids (eofur boar, but medu mead and brego prince); in Kentish before
all single consonants (eofor, meodu, breogo); in Anglian before all single
consonants except c and g (eofor, meodu, brego).
e > eo via o/a-umlaut did not occur in West Saxon (beran to carry, sprecan to speak); in Kentish and Anglian this umlaut occurred under the
same conditions as u-umlaut (Kentish beoran, spreocan; Anglian beoran,
sprecan).
i > io via u- and o/a-umlaut occurred under the same conditions as o/aumlaut of e: in West Saxon before labials and liquids (liofast thou livest,
but witan to know and stician to prick); in Kentish before all single consonants (liofast, wiotan, stician); in Anglian before all single consonants
except c and g (liofast, wiotan, stician).
15 Anglian

form
Saxon form
17 via , found in Northumbrian doehter
18 Later
,
y
16 West

19

In ON u-umlaut is most apparent in the rounding of a > o

, as found in a
number of grammatical categories (pl of neut nouns, many fem nouns and
adjectives, 1 pl pres of many verbs). Other vowels were rounded as well due
to the inuence of *u or *w in the following syllable:
a>o
lo
nd lands < *landu
>
r
um we counsel < *rdamiz

e > skkva to sink < *sekkwa < *sinkwani > y tryggr true < *triggwaz < *triwwaz
> r yew tree < *hwaz
ai > ey kveykva or kveikja to ignite < kwaikwjan-

6.2
6.2.1

Semivowels
*w

Initial *w remained a labial glide in OE and ON (OE wice week ON vika;

c.f. Elfdalian wiku with preserved w-), but was lost in ON before the rounded
vowels *o and *u: ON or word vs. OE word; ON ulfr wolf vs. OE wulf. Noninitial *w disappeared before u and e < *i in OE, though was often analogically
restored: OE neut t
u two < *tw
u; dat pl swum

alongside sm
seas.
Initial *w was lost in all of North Germanic before *l, while before *r it
disappeared in West Norse only. OE preserved *w in both positions: OE wlite
countenance ON litr colour < *wlitiz; OE wr
anger, wrath ON reii (but
Old Swedish vree > Modern vred).
Final *w develops into u (later o) in OE and disappears completely in ON,
causing compensatory lengthening if immediately following a vowel: OE cneo
knee ON kn < *knewan-.
6.2.2

*j

Initial *j is lost completely in ON, and remains in OE (spelled <g>): OE gear

year ON r < * jra-.

In both OE and ON, *j disappears after heavy syllables (OE deman to

judge ON dma < *d
omijan-). After light syllables *j remains in ON, but
causes gemination of the preceding consonant in West Germanic (except *r):
OE biddan to pray ON bija < *bidjan-. In ON the *j reappears after heavy
syllables ending in g or k and before a back vowel: dat pl rkjum kingdoms
(nom rki).
6.2.3

Holtzmanns Law

In PGmc the semivowels could appears as geminate *-jj- and *-ww-, of debated
origin. In East and North Germanic these combinations underwent Verschrfung, a process known as Holtzmanns Law (1838), with the following outcomes:
PGmc Gothic Old Norse
*-jj-ddj-ggj*-ww-ggw-ggv20

In West Germanic, however, the geminates were simplied to diphthongs

*-ij- and *-uw-, respectively:
PGmc
Gothic Old Norse Old English
*trewwaz triggws
tryggr
treowe
faithful, true
*twajj
o
twaddje
tveggja
twegea19
two (gen)

6.3
6.3.1

Consonants
Germanic Consonant Shift

The characteristic shift of the stops from PIE into PGmc can be described in
four parts, of debated chronological order:
(1) the spirantization of PIE *p *t *k *kw to *f * *h *hw;
(2) the devoicing of *b *d *g *gw to *p *t *k *kw;
(3) the deaspiration of *bh *dh *gh *gwh to *b *d *g *(g)w and their fricative
allophones *B * *G *(G)w; and
(4) the voicing of *f * *h *hw *s to *B * *G *(G)w *z via Verners Law.
Verners Law applied to the voiceless spirants that were (1) word-internal
and (2) not immediately following the PIE accent: *upri > *uberi
> *fader father.
over; *ph2 tr
When word-initial, or when preceded by the accent, Verners Law did
not apply: *bh rh2 ter > br
oer brother.
6.3.2

Primary Developments from PGmc

p t k kw remain in initial position and intervocalically in OE and ON. Initially:

OE pl
oh plough ON plgr < *pl
oga-; OE t
acn sign, token ON teikn <
*taikna-; OE cytel kettle ON ketill < *katila-; OE cwean to speak
ON kvea < *kwean-. Intervocalic: OE dreopan to drip ON drjpa <
*dreupan-; OE hete hatred ON hatr < *hati-; OE (ge-)lc alike ON lkr
< lka-; OE cwicu alive, quick ON kvikr < *kwikwa-.
f h hw remain in OE and ON in initial position: OE fder ON fair father
< *fader-; OE r
there ON ar < *ar; OE heaf sea ON haf < *haba-;
OE hwt what ON hvat < *hwat.
Between vowels *f and * become voiced, while *h and *hw disappear: OE
reofan to break, to tear ON rjfa < *reufan-; OE br
oor brother ON
brir < *br
oer-; OE ten ten ON tu < *tehun-; OE seon to see ON
sj < *sehwan-.
b d g appear as voiced stops in initial position: OE bc back ON bak < *baka-;
OE dg day ON dagr < *daga-; OE g
od good ON gr < *g
oda-.
Between vowels *b *d *g appear as the voiced fricatives [v G] in ON, while in
OE *d becomes a voiced stop (distinct from /): OE giefan to give ON
gefa < *geban-; OE fr
od wise ON frr < *fr
oda-; OE dragan to pull,
to draw ON draga < *dragan-.

21

r l m n generally remained initially and intervocalically: OE ON land land

< *landa-; OE rdan

to advise ON ra < *rdan-;

OE mona moon
ON mni < *mnan-;

OE ndl
needle ON nl < *nl
o-; OE stelan to
steal ON stela < *stelan-; OE faran to go, to travel ON fara < *faran-;
OE guma man ON gumi < *guman-; OE sunu son ON sonr < *sunu-.
6.3.3

West Germanic Gemination

In the West Germanic languages *j geminated preceding short consonants in

light syllables: OE settan to set ON setja < *satjan-; OE biddan to pray ON
bija < *bidjan-. Only *r avoided gemination as in OE erian to plough ON
erja < *arjan-.
A similar gemination happened to p t k h before r and l. Because of ablauting
patterns and levelling, a number of double forms exist as in OE ppel, pl apple
ON epli < *apla-; OE bitter, bitor bitter ON bitr < *bitra-.
6.3.4

Anglo-Frisian Palatalization

A development common to OE and Old Frisian was the palatalization of West

Germanic *k, *g [G], and *-gg- before (and often after) the front vowels *i and
*e, the brightened vowel *, and the glide *j. In Old Frisian these palatalized
consonants were written <ts, i, dz> respectively, however in OE the letters <c>
and <g> continued to be used (in many editions with a superscript dot <c, g>).

The pronunciation of these palatals was likely similar to the Modern English
pronunciation: [tS] as in OE c irice church; [j] as in OE g earn yarn; [dZ] as in
OE ecg edge. In ON k and g remained gutteral, though perhaps with a slight
palatal quality, as a similar process happened in later Faroese and Swedish, for
example. Note the following examples:
PGmc
*gelda*kerla-/*karla*daga*sagjan6.3.5

Old Frisian
ield
tserl
dei
sedza

Old English
gield

c eorl
dg
secgan

Old Norse
gjald
karl
dagr
segja

tax, payment
freeman
day
to say

Final Devoicing

The voiced spirants [v G] were devoiced word-nally to OE f h [f X] and ON f :

OE wulf wolf ON acc sg ulf; OE dr
oh [he] pulled ON dr from *dragan- to
pull, to draw.
In Proto-Norse the voiced stops *b *d *g (i.e. when following a nasal) were
devoiced to p t k in absolute auslaut. This occurred before syncope and before
the assimilation of nasals (see below): ON batt [he] bound (pret of binda) <
*bant < *band vs. ON band band, tie < *banda; ON gekk [he] went (pret of
ganga) < *genk < *geng vs. ON go
ng passage < *gang
o.
6.3.6

Assimilation

Progressive Assimilation

22

ON mp nt nk > pp tt kk with a lowering of *i to e and *u to o: svo

ppr
mushroom < *swampu- (c.f. Modern English swamp; vetr winter <
*wintra-; sokkinn sunken < *sunk- (c.f. OE suncen).
OE mf n ns > f s with compensatory lengthening: ff ve < *mf (ON
mm); m
u mouth < *muna- (ON munnr; g
os goose < *gans- (ON
gs).
ON ns > s with compensatory lengthening as in gs goose.
ON nnr > r in mar man < *mannR < *mannaz (OE mann/monn). Note
that this occurs to both r < *z and original *r, and must occur before *n
> nn as in munnr mouth.
Regressive Assimilation
ON mf n l > mm nn ll in mm ve; munnr mouth; gull gold < *gula(OE gold).
ON lR nR sR > ll nn ss as found in many nom sg forms: stll chair <
*st
olR < *st
olaz (OE st
ol); steinn stone < *stinR < *stainaz (OE
st
an); ss ice < *sR < *saz (OE s). Note the acc sg forms stl, stein,
s without *-R.
6.3.7

Rhotacism

Both the North and West Germanic languages underwent a rhotacism of *z >
r, whereas in Gothic z remained or devoiced to s in auslaut: PGmc *maiz
omore > Got maiza OE m
ara ON meiri; PGmc *deuzan animal > Got dius
OE deor ON dr.
As *z arose as a Verners variant of *s, r and s can be found within the same
paradigm as in OE ws/wron

was/were or can dier from one language to

the other: Old Saxon has
o hare < *has
on, but OE hara ON heri < *haz
on.
In the West Germanic languages nal *z/r was dropped in nal position:
OE earm arm ON armr < *armaz; OE we we ON vr < *wz.
Early Runic Norse still preserves a distinction between the rune R *z (often transliterated as *R) and r *r, indicating rhoticization did not occur in a
common Northwest Germanic.

23

PartIII

Morphology
7

Nouns

7.1
7.1.1

a-stems
Masculine a-stems

MASC
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

Old English
dg
dges
dge
dg
dagas
daga
dagum
dagas

PIE *dh ogh -o- day

Old Norse
Gothic
dagr
dags
dags
dagis
degi
daga
dag
dag
dagar
dag
os
daga
dag
e
do
gum
dagam
daga
dagans

In both ON and OE, disyllabic a-stems show syncope in the Dat sg (and
Gen sg in OE) and all pl forms:
MASC
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

Old English
engel
engles
engle
engel
englas
engla
englum
englas

Gk Angel
Old Norse
engill
engils
engli
engil
englar
engla
englum
engla

Words ending in -CR are treated as disyllabic in OE, but are monosyllables
in ON:
MASC
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

PGmc *ngra- nger < PIE *pnkw -roOld English

Old Norse
nger
ngr
ngres
ngrs
ngre
ngri
nger
ngr
ngras
ngrar
ngra
ngra
ngrum
ngrum
ngras
ngra

24

7.1.2

Neuter a-stems

NEUT
sg N/A
Gen
Dat
pl N/A
Gen
Dat

PGmc *barna- child< PIE *bh or-no

Old English
Old Norse
Gothic
bearn
barn
barn
bearnes
barns
barnis
bearne
barni
barna
bearn
bo
rn
barna
bearna
barna
barn
e
bearnum
bo
rnum
barnam

In short stems and disyllabic neut, OE shows a nom acc pl ending in

-u. In ON, the only possible dierence between sg and pl is the presence of
u-umlaut in the pl.
NEUT
sg N/A
Gen
Dat
pl N/A
Gen
Dat
7.1.3

PGmc *skipa- ship

Old English Old Norse
scip
skip
scipes
skips
scipe
skipi
scipu
skip
scipa
skipa
scipum
skipum

PIE *kh2 p-ut- head

Old English Old Norse
h
eafod
ho
fu
h
eafodes
ho
fus
h
eafode
ho
fui
h
eafdu
ho
fu
h
eafoda
ho
fua
h
eafodum
ho
fuum

ia-stems

In originally short ia-stems, *j only appears before a back vowel, though it

causes i-umlaut throughout the paradigm.
M/N PGmc *sagja- m. man, hero PGmc *kunja- n. clan, kin
O. English
Old Norse
O. English
Old Norse
sg Nom secg
seggr
cyn(n)
kyn
Gen secges
seggs
cynnes
kyns
Dat secge
seggi
cynne
kyni
Acc secg
segg
cyn(n)
kyn
pl Nom secg(e)as
seggir
cyn(n)
kyn
Gen secg(e)a
seggja
cynna
kynja
Dat secg(i)um
seggjum
cynnum
kynjum
Acc secg(e)as
seggi
cyn(n)
kyn
Originally long ia-stems maintain *j throughout the paradigm. Note that
OE here is treated as long, while ON herr is short. Also notice ON gen sg in
the ia-stems appears as -s or -jar.

25

M/N
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
7.1.4

PIE *kor-io m. army, host

O. Eng.
Old Norse
here
herr
heriges
herjar
herige
her
here
her
herigas
herir
heriga
herja
herigum
herjum
herigas
heri

PGmc *rkjaO. Eng.

rce
rces
rce
rce
rcu
rca
rcum
rcu

n. kingdom, realm
Old Norse
rki
rkis
rki
rki
rki
rkja
rkjum
rki

ua-stems

The original *w appears in OE in nal position as u after consonants. In ON v

only appears before vowels, but causes u-umlaut throughout the paradigm.
M/N
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

PGmc *barwa- m. grove

O. Eng.
Old Norse
bearu
bo
rr
bearwes
bo
rvar
bearwe
bo
rvi
bearu
bo
r
bearwas
bo
rvar
bearwa
bo
rva
bearwum
bo
rvum
bearwas
bo
rva

PGmc *melwa- n. meal, our

O. Eng.
Old Norse
meolu
mjo
l
meolwes
mjo
ls
meolwe
mjo
lvi
meolu
mjo
l
meolu
mjo
l
meola
mjo
lva
meolwum
mjo
lvum
meolu
mjo
l

The vocalization of *w > *u in nal, post-vocalic position created a long

diphthong in OE. Often the w was replaced by analogy.
M/N
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

7.2
7.2.1

PIE *snoigwh -o m. snow

O. Eng.
Old Norse
sn
a(w)
snr
sn
awes
snvar
sn
awe
snvi
sn
a(w)
sn
sn
awas
snj(v)ar
sn
awa
snj(v)a
sn
awum
snvum
sn
awas
snj(v)a

PIE * gn-u- n. knee

O. Eng.
Old Norse
cn
eo(w)
kn
cneowes
kns
cneowe
kn
cn
eo(w)
kn
cn
eo(w)
kn
cneowa
knj
cneowum
knjm
cn
eo(w)
kn

o-stems
Feminine
o-stems

The long and short o-stems dier in OE only in the nom sg, where *u is lost
after long stems. Note the presence of u-umlaut in the ON paradigm.

26

FEM
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

Old English
giefu
giefe
giefe
giefe
giefa/-e
giefa/-ena
giefum
giefa/-e

PGmc *geb
o- gift
Old Norse
gjo
f
gjafar
gjo
f
gjo
f
gjafar/-ir
gjafa
gjo
fum
gjafar/-ir

Gothic
giba
gib
os
gibai
giba
gib
os
gib
o
gib
om
gib
os

Disyllabic o-stems may or may not show syncope in the OE paradigm.

FEM
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl N/A
Gen
Dat
7.2.2

PGmc *fer
o- feather
O. Eng.
Old Norse
feer
fjo
r
feere
fjarar
feere
fjo
r
feere
fjo
r
feera/-e
fjarar/-ir
feera
fjara
feerum
fjo
rum

PGmc *saiwal
o- soul
O. Eng.
Old Norse
s
awol
sl
s
awle
slar
s
awle
sl
s
awle
sl
s
awla/-e
slar/-ir
s
awla
sla
s
awlum
slum

i
o-stems

Like the masc and neut ia-stems, the fem i

o-stems are characterized by iumlaut throughout the paradigm. The OE feminine endings -ness and -en as in
e.g. swiftness swiftness and fyxen vixen follow this declination. These endings
are included in the table below.
FEM
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl N/A
Gen
Dat
7.2.3

PGmc *ahwj
o- island
O. Eng.
Old Norse
eg
ey
ege
eyjar
ege
ey(ju)
ege
ey
ega/-e
eyjar
ega
eyja
egum
eyjum

OE -ness
O. Eng.
-nes(s)
-nesse
-nesse
-nesse
-nessa/-e
-nessa
-nessum

OE -en
O. Eng.
-en(n)
-enne
-enne
-enne
-enna/-e
-enna
-ennum

u
o-stems

The presence of u and w in OE follow the same pattern as masc ua-stems.

27

FEM
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl N/A
Gen
Dat

7.3
7.3.1

PGmc *badw
o battle
O. Eng.
Old Norse
beadu
bo

beadwe
bo
var
beadwe
bo

beadwe
bo

beadwa/-e
[sto
var]20
beadwa
[sto
va]
bead(w)um [sto
vum]

i-stems
Masculine i-stems

MASC
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
7.3.2

PGmc *st
ow
o (re)place
O. Eng.
Old Norse
st
o(w)
st
st
owe
star
st
owe
st
st
owe
st
st
oowa/-e
star
st
owa
sta
st
owum
stum

Old English
stede
stedes
stede
stede
stedas/-e
stedi(ge)a
stedum
stedas/-e

PGmc *stadi- place, stead

Old Norse
Gothic
star
stas
stas
stadis
stai
stada
sta
stad
stair
stadeis
staa
stad
e
sto
um
stadim
stai
stadins

Feminine i-stems
FEM

sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

Old English

est

este

este

est

este/-a

esta

estum

este/-a

PGmc *ansti- favor, love

Old Norse
Gothic
st
ansts
star
anstais
st
anstai
st
anst
stir
ansteis
sta
anst
e
stum
anstim
stir
anstins

20 ON sto
place, stead < PGmc *stadw
o-. The (chiefly poetic) term bo
is only found in
the sg in ON.

28

7.4
7.4.1

u-stems
Masculine u-stems

MASC
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
7.4.2

Old English
magu
maga
maga
maga
maga
maga
magum
maga

Feminine u-stems
FEM

sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

7.5
7.5.1

Old English
hand
handa
handa
hand
handa
handa
handum
handa

PGmc *handu- hand

Old Norse
Gothic
ho
nd
handus
handar
handaus
ho
nd
handau
ho
nd
handu
hendr
handjus
handa
handiw
e
ho
ndum
handum
hendr
handuns

n-stems (Weak Declension)

Masculine an-stems

MASC
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
7.5.2

PGmc *magu- boy

Old Norse
Gothic
mo
gr
magus
magar
magaus
megi
magau
mo
g
magu
megir
magjus
maga
magiw
e
mo
gum
magum
megi
maguns

Old English
hona
honan
honan
honan
honan
honena
honum
honan

PIE *kh2 n-n- rooster

Old Norse
hani
hana
hana
hana
hanar
hana
ho
num
hana

Gothic
hana
hanins
hanin
hanan
hanans
hanan
e
hanam
hanans

Neuter
on-stems

NEUT
sg N/A
Gen
Dat
pl N/A
Gen
Dat

PGmc *aug
on- eye
O. Eng.
Old Norse

eage
auga

eagan
auga

eagan
auga

eagan
augu

eagena
augna

eagum
augum
29

PGmc *auz
on- ear
O. Eng.
Old Norse

eare
eyra

earan
eyra

earan
eyra

earan
eyru

earena
eyrna

earum
eyrum

7.5.3

Feminine
on-stems
FEM

sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl N/A
Gen
Dat
7.5.4

Old English
tunge
tungan
tungan
tungan
tungan
tungena
tungum

PGmc *tung
on- tongue
Old Norse
Gothic
tunga
tugg
o
tungu
tugg
ons
tungu
tugg
on
tungu
tugg
on
tungur
tugg
ons
tungna
tugg
on
o
tungum
tugg
om

Feminine n-stems

A number of abstracts are formed with the sux *-n, such as PGmc *aln
(old) age. In ON these fem abstracts are indeclineable, and found only in the
sg, e.g. elli old age. The OE paradigm is nom sg ieldu, gen dat acc sg
ielde; nom acc pl ielda/-e, gen pl ielda, dat pl ieldum.

7.6

Root Nouns
M/F

sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl N/A
Gen
Dat

7.7

PIE *pod- m. foot

O. Eng.
Old Norse
f
ot
ftr
f
otes
ftar
f
et
f
ti
f
ot
ft
f
et
f
tr
f
ota
fta
f
otum
ftum

PGmc *b
ok- book
O. Eng.
Old Norse
b
oc
bk
b
ec/b
oces
bkar
b
ec
bk
b
oc
bk
b
ec
b
kr
b
oca
bka
b
ocum
bkum

r-stems
M/F

sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl N/A
Gen
Dat

PGmc fader father

O. Eng.
Old Norse
fder
fair
fder(es)
fo
ur(s)
fder
fo
ur
fder
fo
ur
fderas
fer
fdera
fderum

fera
ferum

PGmc *m
oder mother
O. Eng.
Old Norse
m
odor
mir
odor
mur
m
m
eder
mur
m
odor
mur
m
odor
m
r
/-dra/-dru
m
odra
m
ra
m
odrum
m
rum

Inected like m
odor, mir are br
oor, brir brother and dohtor,
dttir daughter, while also sweostor, systir sister without umlaut.

30

7.8

Old English s-stems

NEUT
N/A
Gen
Dat

O. Eng. sg
lamb, lemb
lambes
lambe

PGmc *lambiz- lamb

O. Norse sg O. Eng. pl
lamb
lambru
lambs
lambra
lambi
lambrum

O. Norse pl
lo
mb
lamba
lo
mbum

Adjectives

8.1

Strong Declension

MASC
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

Old English
blind
blindes
blindum21
blindne
blinde
blindra
blindum
blinde

PGmc *blinda/
o- blind
Old Norse
Gothic
blindr
blinds
blinds
blindis
blindum
blindamma
blindan
blindana
blindir
blindai
blindra
blindaiz
e
blindum
blindaim
blinda
blindans

NEUT
sg N/A
Gen
Dat
pl N/A
Gen
Dat

Old English
blind
blindes
blindum
blind
blindra
blindum

Old Norse
blint
blinds
blindu
blind
blindra
blindum

Gothic
blind(ata)
blindis
blindamma
blinda
blindaiz
e
blindaim

Old English
blind
blindre
blindre
blinde
blinda/-e
blindra
blindum

Old Norse
blind
blindrar
blindri
blinda
blindar
blindra
blindum

Gothic
blinda
blindaiz
os
blindai
blinda
blind
os
blindaiz
o
blindaim

FEM
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl N/A
Gen
Dat

Note the appearance of OE and ON sound laws in the adjectival paradigm:

21 Note

the OE instr blinde

31

O. Eng. sg
gld
glades
gladum
gldne

PGmc *glada/
o- glad
O. Norse sg O. Eng. pl
glar
glade
glas
gldra
glo
um
gladum
glaan
glade

O. Norse pl
glair
glara
glo
um
glaa

O. Eng. sg
gld
glades
gladum

O. Norse sg
glatt
glas
glo
u

O. Eng. pl
gladu
gldra
gladum

O. Norse pl
glo

glara
glo
um

O. Eng. sg
gladu
gldre
gldre
gladu

O. Norse sg
glo

glarar
glari
glo

O. Eng. pl
glada/-e
gldra
gladum
glada/-e

O. Norse pl
glaar
glara
glo
um
glaa

MASC
Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
NEUT
N/A
Gen
Dat
FEM
Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

32

8.2

Weak Declension

MASC
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl N/A
Gen
Dat

Old English
blinda
blindan
blindan
blindan
blindan
blindra/-ena
blindum

PGmc *blinda/
o- blind
Old Norse
Gothic
blindi
blinda
blinda
blindins
blinda
blindin
blinda
blindan
blindu
blindans
blindu
blindan
e
blindu(m)
blindam

NEUT
sg N/A
Gen
Dat
pl N/A
Gen
Dat

Old English
blinde
blindan
blindan
blindan
blindra/-ena
blindum

Old Norse
blinda
blinda
blinda
blindu
blindu
blindu(m)

Gothic
blind
o
blindins
blindin
blind
ona
blindan
e
blindam

Old English
blinde
blindan
blindan
blindan
blindra/-ena
blindum

Old Norse
blinda
blindu
blindu
blindu
blindu
blindu(m)

Gothic
blind
o
ons
blind
on
blind
blind
ons
blind
on
o
om
blind

FEM
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
pl N/A
Gen
Dat

8.3

The Comparative Degree

PGmc possessed two suxes for the comparison of adjectives, namely *-iz- and
*-
oz. The latter form appears in OE as -(o)r- and ON as -(a)r-. In OE,
the vowel only appears in the independent, adverbial form (heador harder),
while inected adjectives syncopate (heardra nsm harder). In ON, the vowel
appears in monosyllabic stems (harari nsm harder) and syncopates in polysyllables (kunnigri nsm more known).
Comparative adjectives are inected as weak, although in ON the paradigm
diers slightly:22
ADJ
Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

MASC
-ari
-ara
-ara
-ara

PGmc *-
oz- -er
NEUT
FEM
-ara
-ari
-ara
-ari
-ara
-ari
-ara
-ari

22 Modern

PLURAL
-ari
-ari
-ari
-arum

Icelandic has levelled this paradigm further, with -ari in the masc, fem and all
pl forms, and -ara in the neut sg only.

33

The PGmc sux *-iz causes i-umlaut in OE and ON comparatives:

ADJ
old
young
long
high

PGmc *-iz- -er

Old English
Old Norse
eald
ieldra
(gamall)
eldri
geong
gingra
ungr
yngri
lang
lengra
langr
lengri
h
eah
herra
hr
hr(r)i

Finally, a number of adjectives show irregular or suppletive comparatives:

ADJ

8.4

good

g
od

bad
great
little

yfel
micel
l
ytel

Irregular/Suppletive
Old English
Old Norse
bet(e)ra,
gr
betri
s
elra
wiersa
illr
verri
m
ara
mikill
meiri

lssa
ltill
minni

The Superlative Degree

The PGmc superlative degree was formed by the two suxes *-ist- and *-
ost-,
corresponding to *-iz- and *-
oz-, respectively. The latter sux appears in OE
as -ost- (occasionally -ust- or -ast) as in heardost(a) hardest. In ON, the
sux -ast- is susceptible to u-umlaut, e.g. masc harastr, fem ho
rust.
Unlike in the comparative degree, adjectives in the superlative degree can
be inected as strong or weak, although in OE the strong forms are conned to
the nom sg (and, by extension, asn).
The sux *-ist- appears in OE as -est- and ON as -st-, and causes i-umlaut
in both languages:
ADJ
old
young
long
high

PGmc *-ist- -est

Old English
Old Norse
eald
ieldest
(gamall)
elztr
geong
gingest
ungr
yngstr
lang
lengest
langr
lengstr
h
eah
hehst
hr
hstr

The superlative also shows irregular or suppletive forms:

ADJ
good

g
od

bad
great
little

yfel
micel
l
ytel

Irregular/Suppletive
Old English
Old Norse
betst,
gr
beztr
s
elest
wier(re)st
illr
verstr

mst
mikill
mestr

lst
ltill
minnstri

34

Spatial Adverbs

OE and ON adverbs were normally formed from nouns or adjectives (OE ON

stund hour, time, stundum sometimes, occasionally). However, the spatial
adverbs inected for (1) location, (2) motion towards, and (3) motion away
from. A few examples are given:

here
there
in
out

Motion
OE
hionan
anan
innan
u
tan

From
ON
han
aan
innan
tan

OE
her
r

inne
u
te

Location
ON
hr
ar
inni
ti

Motion Towards
OE
ON
hider
hinga
ider
anga
inn
inn
u
t
t

Likewise, the cardinal directions used adverbially had separate forms for
motion towards and motion from:
Motion Towards
OE nor s
u east west ON norr sur austr vestr
Motion From
OE noran s
uan eastan westan ON noran sunnan austan vestan

10

Numerals

10.1

Cardinal Numbers

In OE and ON the cardinal numbers 1-3 (ON 1-4) inected for case, number,
and gender.
NUM
MASC
OE
ON
Nom
an
einn
Gen
anes
eins
Dat
anum
einum
Instr
ane

Acc nne
einn

PGmc *aina/
o- one
NEUT
OE
ON

an
eitt

anes
eins

anum
einu

ane

an
eitt

OE

an

anre

anre

anre

ane

FEM
ON
ein
einnar
einni
eina

Note that ON einn can also be declined in the pl, with the meaning of one
pair/set of (einir sokkar a pair of socks) or with nouns that are only found in
the pl (einar dyrr one door).
NUM

Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

MASC
OE
ON
tw
egen
tveir
tw
egra
tveggja

twm
tveim(r)
tw
egen
tv

PGmc *twa- two

NEUT
OE
ON
tw
a, t
u
tvau
tw
egra
tveggja

twm
tveim(r)
tw
a, t
u
tvau
35

OE
tw
a
tw
egra

twm
tw
a

FEM
ON
tvr
tveggja
tveim(r)
tvr

NUM

Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

MASC
OE
ON
re
rr
r
eora
riggja
rim
rim(r)
re
rj

PGmc *r- three

NEUT
OE
ON
r
eo
rj
r
eora
riggja
rim
rim(r)
r
eo
rj

OE
r
eo
r
eora
rim
r
eo

FEM
ON
rjr
riggja
rim(r)
rjr

ON fjrir four also declines, unlike OE f

eower:
NUM
Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

10.2

MASC
fjrir
fjo
gurra
fjrum
fjra

PGmc *fedwar- four

NEUT
fjo
gur
fjo
gurra
fjrum
fjo
gur

FEM
fjrar
fjo
gurra
fjrum
fjrar

Ordinal Numbers

The OE and ON forms of rst derive from and decline as superlatives: OE r

ere, before and rest

rst; formest, fyrmest foremost; fyrest rst; ON
fyrr before and fyrstr rst.
PGmc *anara- other, second declines for case, number, and gender:
NUM

Nom
Gen
Dat
Inst
Acc
Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

PGmc *anara- other, second

MASC
NEUT
FEM
OE
ON
OE
ON
OE
ON

oer
annarr
oer
annat
oeru
o
nnur

ores
annars
ores
annars
oere
annarrar

orum
o
rum
orum
o
ru
oere
annarri

ore
ore
oere

oerne
annan
oer
annat
ore
ara

ore
arir
oru
o
nnur
ora
arar

oerra
annarra
oerra
annarra
oerra
annarra

orum
o
rum
orum
o
rum
orum
o
rum

ore
ara
oru
o
nnur
ora
arar

The remaining ordinal numbers were formed from their cardinals with the
PIE superlative sux *-to-, and are declined as weak adjectives.

36

Old English
Cardinal
Ordinal
3 r
ridda
4 f
eower
f
eora
5 ff
ffta
6 si(e)x
si(e)xta
7 seofon
seofoa
8 eahta
eahtoa
9 nigon
nigoa
10 ten
t
eoa
11 en(d)leofan
en(d)leofta
12 twelf
twelfta
NUM
Old English
Cardinal
Ordinal
13 r
eotene
r
eot
eoa
14 f
eowertene
f
eowert
eoa
15 fftene
fft
eoa
16 si(e)xtene
si(e)xt
eoa
17 seofontene
seofont
eoe
18 eahtatene
eahtat
eoa
19 nigontene
nigont
eoe

NUM

10.3

Old Norse
Ordinal
rii23
fjri
mmta
stti
sjaundi
tti, ttandi
nundi
tundi
ellifti
tlfti
Old Norse
Cardinal
Ordinal
rettn
rettndi
fjrtn
fjrtndi
mmtn
mmtndi
sextn
sextndi
sjautjn24
sjautjndi
tjn
tjndi
ntjn
ntjndi

Cardinal
rr
fjrir
mm
sex
sjau
tta
nu
tu
ellifu
tlf

Decades

The decades 30-110 were formed with the PGmc sux *-tegu- multiple of ten.
In OE -tig is indeclinable, while the ON -tigr declined as a strong adjective. In
later ON -tigr developed into the indeclinable -tigi (Modern Icelandic -tu) as
shown below. In OE the decades 70-90 began with hund- which could be left
out immediately following hund 100, e.g. hund and seofontig 170 but hund
and seofon and hundseofontig 177.
Old English
Cardinal
Ordinal
20 twentig
twentigoa
30 rtig
trtigoa
40 f
eowertig
f
eowertigoa
50 fftig
fftigoa
60 siextig
siextigoa
70 hundseofontig (etc)
80 hundeahtatig
90 hungnigontig
100 hundt
eontig
110 hundendleofontig
120 hundtwelftig
NUM

Cardinal
tuttugu
rjtigi
fjrutigi
mmtigi
sextigi
sjautigi
ttatigi
nutigi
tutigi
ellifutigi
hundra

Old Norse
Ordinal
tuttugandi25
rtugandi
fjrtugandi26
mmtugandi
sextugandi
(etc)

Note that the earliest counting systems are duodecimal. In later usage, OE
23 ia-stem

(fem rija)
Icelandic sautjn(di)
25 Modern tuttugasti, rtugasti, etc.
26 also fertugandi
24 Modern

37

hund(red) and ON hundra came to mean 100. There are also pl forms
OE hundredu, ON hundru, while OE
usend thousand and ON sund
thousand, 1200 have the pl forms OE
usendu, ON sundir.

11
11.1
11.1.1

Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
First and Second Person

sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
du Nom
Gen
D/A
pl Nom
Gen
D/A
11.1.2

Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

PGmc
O. Eng.
ic
mn
m
e
me(c)
wit
uncer
unc
w
e
re
u
s
u

*eka I
Old Norse
ek
mn
mr
mik
vit
okkar
okkr
vr
vr
oss

PGmc *
u thou
O. Eng.
Old Norse

n
n

e
r
e(c)
ik
git
()it27
incer
ykkar
inc
ykkr
g
e
()r

eower
yar

eow
yr

Third Person
OE
h
e
his
him
hine

masc he
ON
hann
hans
honum
hann

OE
hit
his
him
hit

neut it
ON
at
ess
(v)
at

fem
OE
h
eo
hi(e)re
hi(e)re
he

she
ON
hon
hennar
henni
hana

The OE pl forms do not inect for gender, while the ON forms do:

Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
11.1.3

all
O. Eng.
he
hi(e)ra
him
he

masc
eir
eirra
eim

neut
Old Norse
r
eirra
eim
r

fem
au
eirra
eim
au

Possessive Pronouns

re, n,
The rst and second person possessive prounouns (OE mn, uncer, u
incer,
eower; ON mn, okkar, vr, n, ykkar, yar) all decline as strong
adjectives, as well as the third person possessive pronoun OE sn, ON sinn.
The rst person forms are given below:
27 The initial by metanalysis from the verb: Eru it > Eru it. This same change occurred
in the Mod Swedish ni you < ir (rin ir > rin nir).

38

MASC PGmc
OE
Nom mn
Gen mnes
Det mnum
Acc mne
Nom mne
Gen mnra
Dat mnum
Acc mne
NEUT
OE
N/A mn
Gen mnes
Dat mnum
N/A mn
Gen mnra
Dat mnum

PGmc *unkeraOE
ON
uncer
okkarr
uncres
okkars
uncrum okkrum
uncerne okkarn
uncre
okkrir
uncerra okkarra
uncrum okkrum
uncre
okkara

PGmc *unseraOE
ON
re
u
vrr
res
u
vrs
rum
u
vrum
rne
u
vr(a)n
re
u
vrir
rra
u
vrra
rum
u
vrum
re
u
vra

ON
mitt
mns
mnu
mn
minna
mnum

OE
uncer
uncres
uncrum
unceru
uncerra
uncrum

ON
okkart
okkars
okkru
okkur
okkarra
okkrum

OE
re
u
res
u
rum
u
ru
u
rra
u
rum
u

ON
vrt
vrs
vru
vr
vrra
vrum

ON
mn
mnar
minni
mna
mnar
minna
mnum

OE
unceru
uncerre
uncerre
uncre
uncra
uncerra
uncrum

ON
okkur
okkrar
okkarri
okkara
okkrar
okkarra
okkrum

OE
re
u
rre
u
rre
u
re
u
ra
u
rra
u
rum
u

ON
vr
vrrar
vrri
vra
vrar
vrra
vrum

*mnaON
minn
mns
mnum
mna
mnir
minna
mnum
mna

FEM
Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
N/A
Gen
Dat

11.2

OE
mn
mnre
mnre
mne
mna
mnra
mnum

Demonstrative Pronouns

The demonstrative pronoun paradigm in OE and ON reects the PIE *so, *seh2 ,
*tod (Greek , , ):
DEM
Nom
Gen
Dat
Inst
Acc

PIE *so m.
OE
ON
se, s
e
s
s
ess

m
eim

y
one
ann

PIE *tod n.
OE
ON
t
at
s
ess

m
(v)

y, on
t
at

PIE *seh2 f.
OE
ON
s
eo
s

re
eirrar

re
eirri

(re)

In OE the pl forms are nom acc

a, gen
ara, dat m,
whereas in ON
the pl forms are identical to the pl of the personal pronoun eir, au, r.
Both languages also preserve compound demonstrative based on *so plus a
deictic particle *-se, -si, with the meaning this one (closeby):

39

DEM
Nom
Gen
Dat
Inst
Acc

PIE *so m.
OE
ON
es
essi28
isses
essa
issum
essum

ys
isne
enna

PIE *tod n.
OE
ON
is
etta
isses
essa
issum
essu

ys
is
etta

PIE *seh2 f.
OE
ON

eos
essi
isse
essar
isse
essi
(isse)

as
essa

Like in the personal pronouns, OE shows no gender distinction in the pl

forms:
PL
Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

11.3

all
O. Eng.

as
issa
issum

as

masc
essir
essa
essum
essa

neut
Old Norse
essi
essa
essum
essi

fem
essar
ssa
essum
essar

Old Norse Definite Article

In ON, the paradigm of hinn that one, the other one is identical to that of
the denite article inn. The latter can also be suxed on the noun, as is still
done in all the North Germanic languages.
ART
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

MASC
hinn
hins
hinum
hinn
hinir
hinna
hinum
hina

ON hinn that, the other

NEUT
FEM
hitt29
hin
hins
hinnar
hinu
hinni
hitt
hina
hin
hinar
hinna
hinna
hinum
hinum
hinar
hin

Suxed to the nouns mar m. man, barn n. child, and kona f. woman,
the forms are:
ART
sg Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

*mannan- man
MASC
marinn
mannsins
manninum
manninn
mennirnir
mannanna
mo
nnunum
mennina

*barna- child
NEUT
barnit
barnsins
barninu
barnit
bo
rnin
barnanna
bo
rnunum
bo
rnin

28 Commonly
29 hit

also masc fem sj

before an adjective; c.f. Modern Icelandic hitt vs. hi

40

*kwen
on- woman
FEM
konan
konunnar
konunni
konuna
konurnar
konanna
konunum
konurnar

11.4

Interrogative Pronouns

The OE interrogative pronouns hwa who and hwt what decline in the sg
only, whereas ON hverr who, what declines as a ia-stem adjective.
INT OE it hwa,
M/F
Nom hwa
Gen hws

Dat hwm
Inst
Acc hwone

hwt who, what

NEUT
hwt
hws

hwm
hw
y
hwt

ON hverr, hvat who, what

MASC
NEUT
FEM
30
hverr
hvat
hver
hvers
hvers
hverrar
hverjum31 hverju,
hverri
hv
hvern
hvat
hverja

In ON the pl forms are:

INT
pl Nom
Gen
Dat
Acc

12

MASC
hverir
hverra
hverjum
hverja

ON hverr, hvat who, what

NEUT
FEM
hver
hverjar
hverra
hverra
hverjum
hverjum
hver
hverjar

Verbs

12.1

Strong Verbs

12.1.1

Personal Endings

The PGmc personal endings of the strong verbs were a mixture of PIE thematic
and athematic endings, namely sg *-
o *-isi *-ii, pl *-amaz *-i *-ani. In
OE the 1 sg *-
o is still found in early texts and Anglian as -o or -u (bero,
beru I bear) although West Saxon took the ending -e from the sub (bere I
bear). The 2 sg and 3 sg endings as a rule syncopated after long stems in
OE, causing front mutation (helpest thou helpest > hilpst id), which was
then often generalized after short stems as well (birst thou bearest). The pl
ending -a was generalized from the 3 pl *-ani.
In ON the 1 sg ending disappeared completely. The 2 sg -r from a rhotacized *-izi spread to the 3 sg (and to all persons today in Mainland Scandinavian). This ending causes front mutation, which often spread to the 1 sg (held
I hold, heldr thou holdest/he holds from halda to hold). The pl forms
remain distinct in all persons.
The personal endings of strong verbs are as follows:
30 The
31 Or

form hvert also occurs

syncopated hveim

41

Old English
SUB
-e
-e
-e
-en
-en
-en

IND
-r
-r
-um
-i
-a

Old Norse
SUB
-a
-ir
-i
-im
-i
-i

IND
-e
-on
-on
-on

SUB
-e
-e
-e
-en
-en
-en

IND
-t
-um
-u
-u

SUB
-a
-ir
-i
-im
-i
-i

SG
-

PL
-a

SG
-

PL
-i

PRES
-ende

PAST
-en

PRES
-andi

PAST
-inn

PRES
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PRET
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
IMPV
2
PTC

12.1.2

IND
-e
-(e)st
-(e)
-a
-a
-a

Verbal Classes

Germanic strong verbs are divided into seven classes, based on their ablaut patterns. The seventh class, the historically reduplicating preterites, has diverged
too much in OE and ON to t into a single pattern; however, the rst six classes
still reect their PGmc patterns.
Ablaut patterns are divided into four principle parts (labelled I, II, III, IV).
They are:
I - The present stem, including the inf, the pres ind and sub, and the pres
ptc,
II - The pret sg,
III - The pret pl, including the pret sub sg and pl,
IV - The past ptc.
The ablaut patterns are as follows:
classsyll
PGmc
- ai - i - i
I CeiC
II CeuC
eu - au - u - u
IIIa CeRC e - a - u - u
IIIb CeNC i - a - u - u
-u
IV CeR
e-a-
-e
V CeC
e-a-
VI CoC
a-
o-
o-a

Old Engl.
-
a-i-i

eo -
ea - u - o
e - ea - u - o
i-a-u-u
-o
e--
-e
e--
a-
o-
o-a

42

Old Norse
- ei - i - i
j - au - u - o
e-a-u-o
i-a-u-u
e-a--o
e-a--e
a---a

12.1.3

Class I

This class derives from the PIE root structure *CeiC-, with the PGmc shift
from *ei > .
SI
PIE *reidh -; PGmc *rdana- to ride
PRES
Old English rdan
Old Norse ra
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
sg 1 rde
rde
r
ra
2 rtst
rde
rr
rir
3 rt(t)
rde
rr
ri
pl 1 rda
rden
rum
rim
2 rda
rden
ri
ri
3 rda
rden
ra
ri
PRET
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
sg 1 r
ad
ride
rei
ria
2 ride
ride
reitt
riir
3 r
ad
ride
rei
rii
pl 1 ridon
riden
rium
riim
2 ridon
riden
riu
rii
3 ridon
riden
riu
rii
IMPV
SG
PL
SG
PL
2 rd
rda
r
ri
PTC
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST
rdende
riden
randi
riinn

43

12.1.4

Class II

Class II verbs derive from the PIE root structure *CeuC-.

S II
PRES
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PRET
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
IMPV
2
PTC

PIE *gus-; PGmc *keusana- to choose

Old English c
eosan
Old Norse kjsa
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
c
eose
c
eose
ks
kjsa
cest
c
eose
ksr
kjsir
cest
c
eose
ksr
kjsi
c
eosa
c
eosen
kjsum
kjsim
c
eosa
c
eosen
kjsi
kjsi
c
eosa
c
eosen
kjsa
kjsi
IND
c
eas
cure
c
eas
curon
curon
curon

SUB
cure
cure
cure
curen
curen
curen

IND
kaus
kaust
kaus
kurum
kuru
kuru

SUB
kyra
kyrir
kyri
kyrim
kyri
kyri

SG
c
eos

PL
c
eosa

SG
kjs

PL
kjsi

PRES
c
eosende

PAST
curon

PRES
kjsandi

PAST
kjo
rinn,
kosinn

A number of verbs in this class show a present stem of *-

u- instead of *-eu-:

44

S II
PRES
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PRET
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
IMPV
2
PTC

PIE *leug-; PGmc *leukana-, *l

ukana- to close, to lock
Old English l
ucan
Old Norse lka
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
l
uce
l
uce
lk
lka
l
ycst
l
uce
lkr
lkir
l
yc
l
uce
lkr
lki
l
uca
l
ucen
lkum
lkim
l
uca
l
ucen
lki
lki
l
uca
l
ucen
lka
lki
IND
l
eac
luce
l
eac
lucon
lucon
lucon

SUB
luce
luce
luce
lucen
lucen
lucen

IND
lauk
laukt
lauk
lukum
luku
luku

SUB
lyka
lykir
lyki
lykim
lyki
lyki

SG
l
uc

PL
l
uca

SG
lk

PL
lki

PRES
l
ucende

PAST
locen

PRES
lkandi

PAST
lokinn

45

12.1.5

Class III

The third class of strong verbs derives from PIE roots with the structure *CeRC,
and can be divided into three subgroups. The rst group includes roots with a
nasal, which raised *e > *i, i.e. *CiNC.
S III
PIE *dh rengh -; PGmc drinkana- to drink
PRES
Old English drinkan
Old Norse drekka
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
sg 1 drince
drince
drekk
drekka
2 drincst
drince
drekkr
drekkir
3 drinc
drince
drekkr
drekki
pl 1 drinca
drincen
drekkum
drekkim
2 drinca
drincen
drekki
drekki
3 drinca
drincen
drekka
drekki
PRET
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
sg 1 dranc
drunce
drakk
drykka
2 drunce
drunce
drakkt
drykkir
3 dranc
drunce
drakk
drykki
pl 1 druncon
druncen
drukkum
drykkim
2 druncon
druncen
drukku
drykki
3 druncon
druncen
drukku
drykki
IMPV
SG
PL
SG
PL
2 drinc
drinca
drekk
drekki
PTC
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST
drincende
druncen
drekkandi
drukkinn
The second subgroup in this class is made of the root structure *CelC, except
for lk (OE lc).

46

S III
PRES
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PRET
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
IMPV
2
PTC

PGmc *helpana- to help

Old English helpan
Old Norse hjalpa
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
helpe
helpe
help
hialpa
hilpst
helpe
helpr
hialpir
hilp
helpe
helpr
hialpi
helpa
helpen
hjo
lpum
hialpim
helpa
helpen
hjalpi
hjalpi
helpa
helpen
hjalpa
hjalpi
IND
healp
hulpe
healp
hulpon
hulpon
hulpon

SUB
hulpe
hulpe
hulpe
hulpen
hulpen
hulpen

IND
halp
halpt
halp
hulpum
hulpu
hulpu

SUB
hylpa
hylpir
hylpi
hylpim
hylpi
hylpi

SG
help

PL
helpa

SG
hjalp

PL
hjalpi

PRES
helpende

PAST
holpen

PRES
hjalpandi

PAST
holpinn

The nal subgroup consists of OE verbs with -rC, -hC, and lc.
S III
PRES
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PRET
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
IMPV
2
PTC

PIE *uert-; PGmc *werana- to become

Old English weoran
Old Norse vera
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
weore
weore
ver
vera
wierst
weore
verr
verir
wier
weore
verr
veri
weora
weoren
verum
verim
weora
weoren
veri
veri
weora
weoren
vera
veri
IND
wear
wure
wear
wuron
wuron
wuron

SUB
wure
wure
wure
wuren
wuren
wuren

IND
var
vart
var
urum
uru
uru

SUB
yra
yrir
yri
yrim
yri
yri

SG
weor

PL
weora

SG
ver

PL
veri

PRES
weorende

PAST
woren

PRES
verandi

PAST
orinn

47

12.1.6

Class IV

The fourth class of strong verbs derives from PIE roots of the structure *CeR.
The PGmc *u in the fourth principle part (i.e. the past participle) was raised to
*o in both OE and ON, unless the nal resonant was a nasal (OE boren born,
numen taken; ON borinn, numinn).
S III
PGmc *stelana- to steal
PRES
Old English stelan
Old Norse stela
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
sg 1 stele
stele
stel
stela
2 stilst
stele
stelr
stelir
3 stil
stele
stelr
steli
pl 1 stela
stelen
stelum
stelim
2 stela
stelen
steli
steli
3 stela
stelen
stela
steli
PRET
IND
SUB
IND
SUB

sg 1 stl
stle
stal
stla

2 stle
stle
stalt
stlir

3 stl
stle
stal
stli

pl 1 stlon
stlen
stlum
stlim

2 stlon
stlen
stlu
stli

3 stlon
stlen
stlu
stli
IMPV
SG
PL
SG
PL
2 stel
stela
stel
steli
PTC
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST
stelende
stolen
stelandi
stolinn
The conjugation of OE cuman to come, ON koma id shows irregularities
due to sound changes:

48

S III
PRES
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PRET
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
IMPV
2
PTC

32 or

PGmc *kwemana- to come

Old English cuman
Old Norse koma
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
cume
cume
km
koma
cymst
cume
kmr
komir
cym
cume
kmr
komi
cuma
cumen
komum
komim
cuma
cumen
komi
komi
cuma
cumen
koma
komi
IND
c(w)om
c(w)
ome
c(w)om
c(w)
omon
omon
c(w)
omon
c(w)

SUB
c(w)
ome
c(w)
ome
c(w)
ome
c(w)
omen
omen
c(w)
omen
c(w)

IND
kom
komt
kom
kvmum33
kvmu
kvmu

SUB
kvma32
kvmir
kvmi
kvmim
kvmi
kvmi

SG
cum

PL
cuma

SG
kom

PL
komi

PRES
cumende

PAST
cumen

PRES
komandi

PAST
kominn

kma throughout pret subj

kvmum, kmum

33 late

49

12.1.7

Class V

The fth class of strong verbs had the root structure *CeC, where the second
consonant was neither liquid nor nasal. This class also contained a number of
ja-verbs, e.g. OE biddan to pray ON bija id, which show -i- in the present
stem due to i-umlaut.
S III
PGmc *kweana- to say, tell
PRES
Old English cwean
Old Norse kvea
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
sg 1 cwee
cwee
kve
kvea
2 cwist
cwee
kver
kveir
3 cwi
cwee
kver
kvei
pl 1 cwea
cween
kveum
kveim
2 cwea
cween
kvei
kvei
3 cwea
cween
kvea
kvei
PRET
IND
SUB
IND
SUB

sg 1 cw
cwde
kva
kva

2 cwde
cwde
kvatt
kvir

3 cw
cwde
kva
kvi

pl 1 cwdon
cwden
kvum
kvim

2 cwdon
cwden
kvu
kvi

3 cwdon
cwden
kvu
kvi
IMPV
SG
PL
SG
PL
2 cwe
cwea
kve
kvei
PTC
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST
cweende
cweden
kveandi
kveinn

50

12.1.8

Class VI

The sixth ablauting class derives from the stem *CoC. In the past participle,
OE shows either -a- or --, with the former being reanalyzed from the present
stem. In ON, -e- often appears before g or k as in sleginn slain and tekinn
taken.
S III
PGmc *farana- to go, to travel
PRES
Old English faran
Old Norse fara
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
sg 1 fare
fare
fer
fara
2 frest
fare
ferr
farir
3 fre
fare
ferr
fari
pl 1 fara
faren
fo
rum
farim
2 fara
faren
fari
fari
3 fara
faren
fara
fari
PRET
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
sg 1 f
or
f
ore
fr
fra
ore
frt
frir
ore
f
2 f
ore
fr
fri
or
f
3 f
pl 1 f
oron
f
oren
frum
frim
2 f
oron
f
oren
fru
fri
3 f
oron
f
oren
fru
fri
IMPV
SG
PL
SG
PL
2 far
fara
far
fari
PTC
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST
farende
faren
farandi
farinn

51

12.1.9

Class VII

The nal class of strong verbs can only be considered a class historically, as
they initially were the reduplicating preterites like Gothic haihait was called
from haitan to be called. True reduplication no longer existed in OE or ON,
so this once homogenous group went several dierent directions. Here, I will
distinguish six dierent subgroups of Class VII.
The rst subgroup consists of a fairly homogenous ablauting pattern: OE
ea - eo - eo - ea alongside ON a - e - e - a. Two examples are PGmc *fallanato fall and *haldana- to hold:
inf
past sg
past pl
past ptc
feallan
f
eoll
f
eollon
feallen
falla
fell
fellu
fallinn
healdan
halda

h
eold
helt

h
eoldon
heldu

healden
haldinn

The second subgroup is somewhat similar, consisting of a long vowel or

PGmc diphthong in the inf. Here the ablauting pattern in both languages is
V: - e - e - V:. Examples of this subgroup are PGmc *haitana- to be called
and PGmc ltana
to let:
inf
past sg
past pl
past ptc
h
atan
h
et
h
eton
h
aten
heita
ht
htu
heitinn
l
atan
lta

l
et
lt

l
etu
ltu

l
aten
ltinn

The third subgroup consists of verbs with the consonant sequence -*nh- and
its Verner variant -ng-. The peculiarities of this group can be explained by the
loss of the sequence *-nh- with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel.
Examples are PGmc *fanhana- to get, to seize and PGmc *hanhana- to hang:
inf
past sg
past pl
past ptc
f
on
f
eng
f
engon
fangen
f
fekk
ngu, fengu
fenginn
h
on
hanga

h
eng
hekk

h
engon
hengu

hangen
hanginn

The fourth subgroup shows the reex of PGmc *eu in the pret, likely
through contraction. Examples are PGmc *hlaupana- to leap, to run and
PGmc *hawwana- to hew:
inf
past sg
past pl
past ptc
hl
eapan
hl
eop
hl
eopon
hl
eapen
hlaupa
hljp
hljpu
hlaupinn
h
eawan
ho
ggva

h
eow
hj

h
eowon
hjggum

h
eawen
ho
ggvinn

The nal subgroup consists of the ON rhotacizing preterites. It is thought

this group arose mainly from two verbs, ON s to sow and ra to row, where

52

the reduplicated preterites *se-z

o and *re-r
o > ON sera, rera provided a basis
of analogy for other verbs. In OE these verbs inect like the second subclass.
Examples are PGmc *sawana- to sow and PGmc *gr
oana- to grow:
inf
past sg
past pl
past ptc
s
awan
s
eow
s
eowon
s
awen
s
sera
seru
sinn
gr
awan
gra

12.2

gr
eow
grera

gr
eowen
greru

gr
awen
grinn

Weak Verbs

Uniquely Gmc is the formation of a preterite with the dental sux *-d-, of
obscure origin. While in Gothic there are more classes, in WGmc and NGmc it
is possible to divide the weak verbs into three classes, based on their formations
with a medial vowel *-i, *-
o, or *-e.
12.2.1

Personal Endings

The personal endings of the weak verbs are as follows. Note that the pret sux
OE -d- ON -- changes to -t- after voiceless stops.
IND
-e
-(e)st
-(e)
-a
-a
-a

Old English
SUB
-e
-e
-e
-en
-en
-en

IND
-de
-dest
-de
-don
-don
-don

SUB
-de
-de
-de
-den
-den
-den

IND
-a
-ir
-a
-um
-u
-u

SUB
-a
-ir
-i
-im
-i
-i

SG
-

PL
-a

SG
-

PL
-i

PRES
-ende

PAST
-ed

PRES
-andi

PAST
-r

PRES
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PRET
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
IMPV
2
PTC

53

Old Norse
IND
SUB
-, -i, -a
-a
-r, -ir, -ar
-ir
-r, -ir, -ar
-i
-um
-im
-i
-i
-a
-i

12.2.2

Class I

In both OE and ON it is important to separate this class of weak verbs into

long stems and short stems. The long stems show i-umlaut throughout the
paradigm, and form the pret with the sux OE -de, ON -a.
S III
PRES
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PRET
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
IMPV
2
PTC

PGmc *hauzjana- to hear

Old English heran
Old Norse heyra
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
here
here
heyri
heyra
herst
here
heyrir
heyrir
her
here
heyrir
heyri
hera
heren
heyrum
heyrim
hera
heren
heyri
heyri
hera
heren
heyra
heyri
IND
herde
herdest
herde
herdon
herdon
herdon

SUB
herde
herde
herde
herden
herden
herden

IND
heyra
heyrir
heyri
heyrum
heyru
heyru

SUB
heyra
heyrir
heyri
heyrim
heyri
heyri

SG
her

PL
hera

SG
heyr

PL
heyri

PRES
herende

PAST
hered

PRES
heyrandi

PAST
heyrr

In short stems, OE displays i-umlaut throughout the paradigm, with the

pret sux -ede. ON forms the pret with the sux -a and rckumlaut, i.e.
a reversal of the i-umlaut found in the pres.

54

S III
PRES
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PRET
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
IMPV
2
PTC

PGmc *framjana- to further, to perform

Old English fremman
Old Norse fremja
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
fremme
fremme
frem
fremja
fremmest
fremme
fremr
fremir
fremme
fremme
fremr
fremi
fremma
fremmen
fremjum
fremim
fremma
fremmen
fremi
fremi
fremma
fremmen
fremja
fremi
IND
fremmede
fremmedest
fremmede
fremmedon
fremmedon
fremmedon

SUB
fremmede
fremmede
fremmede
fremmeden
fremmeden
fremmeden

IND
frama
framir
framir
fro
mum
fro
mu
fro
mu

SUB
frema
fremir
fremi
fremim
fremi
fremi

SG
freme

PL
fremma

SG
frem

PL
fremi

PRES
fremmende

PAST
fremmed

PRES
fremjandi

PAST
fram(i)r

Note that verbs with original *-wj- in PGmc behave as short stems in OE
(gierwan to prepare, pret gierede) but as long stems in ON (grva, gra
to do, to make, pret gra).
A special subclass of weak -i-verbs shows no connecting vowel in the pret,
and therefore no umlaut.

55

S III
PRES
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PRET
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
IMPV
2
PTC

PGmc *s
okjana- to seek
Old English s
ecan
Old Norse skja
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
s
ece
s
ece
ski
skja
s
ecest
s
ece
skir
skir
s
ece
s
ece
skir
ski
s
eca
s
ecen
skjum
skim
s
eca
s
ecen
ski
ski
s
eca
s
ecen
skja
ski
IND
s
ohte
s
ohtest
s
ohte
s
ohton
ohton
s
ohton
s

SUB
s
ohte
s
ohte
s
ohte
s
ohten
ohten
s
ohten
s

IND
stti
sttir
stti
sttum
sttu
sttu

SUB
skta
sktir
skti
sktim
skti
skti

SG
s
ec

PL
s
eca

SG
sk

PL
ski

PRES
s
ecende

PAST
s
oht

PRES
skjandi

PAST
sttr

56

12.2.3

Class II

The class of weak verbs with a PGmc *-

o- or *-
oj- shows no i-umlaut anywhere
in the OE or ON paradigm. The OE pret sux for this class was -ode-, while
in ON the sux was -aa-. Note that a number of ON verbs moved to this
class, including the inchoative verbs ending in -na (vakna to waken, pret
vaknaa) and monosyllabic verbs in - (sp to prophesy, pret spa).
Wk
PGmc *lub
ona- to praise
PRES
Old English loan
Old Norse lofa
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
sg 1 loe
loe
lofa
lofa
2 lofast
loe
lofar
lor
3 lofa
loe
lofar
lo
pl 1 loa
loen
lofum
lom
2 loa
loen
lo
lo
3 loa
loenn
lofa
lo
PRET
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
sg 1 lofode
lofode
lofaa
lofaa
2 lofodest
lofode
lofair
lofair
3 lofode
lofode
lofai
lofai
pl 1 lofodon
lofoden
lofuum
lofaim
2 lofodon
lofoden
lofuu
lofai
3 lofodon
lofoden
lofuu
lofai
IMPV
SG
PL
SG
PL
2 lofa
loa
lofa
lo
PTC
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST
loende
lofod
lofandi
lofar

57

12.2.4

Class III

This class of weak verbs had the PGmc sux *-e- which did not cause i-umlaut
anywhere in the paradigm. Note that the ON pres sg has a later fronting after
*e > i in unstressed position. This class formed the pret with the sux OE
-de and ON -a.
Wk III
PGmc *habena- to seek
PRES
Old English habban
Old Norse hafa
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
sg 1 hbbe
hbbe
he
hafa
2 hfst
hbbe
her
her
3 hf
hbbe
her
he
pl 1 habba
hbben
ho
fum
ham
2 habba
hbben
ha
ha
3 habba
hbben
hafa
ha
PRET
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
sg 1 hfde
hfde
hafa
hafa
2 hfdest
hfde
hafir
hafir
3 hfde
hfde
hafi
hafi
pl 1 hfdon
hfden
ho
fum
hafim
2 hfdon
hfden
ho
fu
hafi
3 hfdon
hfden
ho
fu
hafi
IMPV
SG
PL
SG
PL
2 hafa
habba
haf
ha
PTC
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST
hbbende
hfd
hafandi
hafr

58

12.3

Preterite-Present Verbs

A number of common verbs fall into the Preterite-Present class, meaning the
pres of the verb is conjugated like the pret of strong verbs. All six of the
ablaut series are represented, although Class 2 contains only OE dugan to
avail. Verbs from the other ve ablaut series are given below:
PP I
PGmc *witana- to know
IND
Old English witan
Old Norse vita
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST
sg 1 w
at
wiste
veit
vissi
2 w
ast
wistest
veizt
vissir
3 w
at
wiste
veit
vissi
pl 1 witon
wiston
vitum
vissum
2 witon
wiston
viti
vissu
3 witon
wiston
vita
vissu
PTC
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST
witende
witen
vitandi
vitar
PP III
IND
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PTC

PGmc *kunnana- to know

Old English cunnan
Old Norse kunna
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST
cann
c
ue
kann
kunni
canst
c
uest
kannt
kunnir
cann
c
ue
kann
kunni
cunnon
c
uon
kunnum
kunnum
cunnon
c
uon
kunni
kunnu
cunnon
c
uon
kunna
kunnu
PRES
cunnende

PP IV
IND
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3

PAST
c
u

PRES
kunnandi

PAST
kunnar

PGmc *skulana- shall

Old English sculan
Old Norse skulu
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST
sceal
sceolde
skal
skyldi
scealt
sceolde
skalt
skyldir
sceal
sceolde
skal
skyldi
sculon
sceoldon
skulum
skyldum
sculon
sceoldon
skulu
skyldu
sculon
sceoldon
skulu
skyldu

59

PP V
IND
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PP VI
IND
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3

PGmc *magana- may

Old English magan
Old Norse mega
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST
mg
meaht
m
mtti
meaht
meaht
mtt
mttir
mg
meaht
m
mtti
magon
meahton
megum
mttum
magon
meahton
megu
mttu
magon
meahton
megu
mttu
PGmc *aigana- to own
Old English
agan
Old Norse eiga
PRES
PAST
PRES
PAST

ah
ahte

tti

ahst
ahte
tt
ttir

ah
ahte

tti

agon
ahton
eigum
ttum

agon
ahton
eigu
ttu

agon
ahton
eigu
ttu

60

12.4

The Verb To Be

The copula is suppletive in all of Gmc, taking the pres forms from the PIE
copula *h1 es- to be and the pret from PIE *h2 ues- to stay.
In ON the original form of the verb was vesa, with a number of forms in -s:
es(t), vas(t), etc. In the table below the rhotacized forms are given.
OE also had a paradigm from a third PIE source, namely *bh uH- to grow,
strikingly similar in form and function to Welsh bydd, the habitual present (he)
is as opposed to yw, the copular (he) is. The OE forms are inf b
eon; pres
sg b
eo, bist, bi; pres pl b
eo; subj sg b
eo; and subj pl b
eon.
PRES
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
PRET
sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3
IMPV
2
PTC

12.5

PGmc *wesana- to be
Old English wesan
Old Norse vera
IND
SUB
IND
SUB
eom
se
em
s
eart
se
ert
sr
is
se
er
s
sind(on)
sen
erum
sum
sind(on)
sen
eru
su
sind(on)
sen
eru
su
IND
ws

wre
ws

wron

wron

wron

SUB

wre

wre

wre

wren

wren

wren

IND
var
vart
var
vrum
vru
vru

SUB
vra
vrir
vri
vrim
vri
vri

SG
wes

PL
wesa

SG
ver

PL
veri

PRES
wesende

PAST

PRES
verandi

PAST
verit

Old Norse Reflexive Verbs

The verbal paradigm in ON was expanded by the possibility of conjugation

with the suxed reexive pronoun sik. Because of the multiple uses of this
conjugation (explained below under Syntax), it is called reexive, reciprocal,
middle, or medio-passive (Modern Icelandic mimynd middle).

sg 1
2
3
pl 1
2
3

IND
-umk
-(a)sk
-(a)sk
-um(s)k
-izk
-ask

pres
SUB
-umk
-isk
-isk
-im(s)k
-izk
-isk

61

IND
-umk
-isk
-isk
-um(s)k
-uzk
-usk

pret
SUB
-umk
-isk
-isk
-im(s)k
-izk
-isk

PartIV

Syntax
13

Word Order

Both OE and ON show a word order which was much more variable than Modern
English and Modern Danish, for example, largely because of the use of cases
to distinguish agent from patient. It is furthermore important to remember
that both languages come down to us in writing, which can often be freer than
spoken language for stylistic purposes. Finally, it is important to remember that
a large amount of the corpora in both languages are translations of e.g. Latin,
with a dierent word order.
The basic, unmarked word order of OE and ON is, like the Germanic languages today, [subject] [verb] [object]. In ON, however, the order [verb]
[subject] [object] is just as common, and also unmarked:
OE lfrc munuc grett elweard ealdormann ea-m
odlce34 The monk lfric
greets the aldorman elweard humbly.
ON eir fundu konung or Fundu eir konung35 They met the king.
Other elements of the sentence could hold the rst position of the sentence
in marked word order (called fronting). In many Gmc languages, the nite verb
must hold the second position of the sentence (called V2-constraint), and while
in ON this is mostly the case (except when the verb is in the rst position), in
OE this was only a tendency, not a requirement:
OE
a bec
om he t
o Westseaxan36 Then he came to the West Saxons.
37
fter issum wordum he ge-wende t
o m
rendracan

After these words

he returned to the messenger.

ON Er jarl heyri etta, var hann reir mjo

k38 When the earl heard this, he
became very angry.
As in Modern English, OE fronted the verb in yes/no-questions as in Canst

u temian hg?39 Can you tame them? In ON, however, such a word order
could also be a declarative sentence, and so the question marker hvrt whether
was often used to introduce a question as in Hvrt er Gunnarr heima?40 Is
Gunnarr home?
In subordinate clauses, OE tended to remove the nite verb to the end of the
clause, as in Modern German. In ON the nite verb followed the subordinating
conjunction and another sentence element (of whatever kind):
OE ...t he woruldh
ad
anforlete41 ...that he should forsake worldliness.
34 From
35 From
36 From
37 From
38 From
39 From
40 From
41 From

Davis (1974:79)
Barnes (2008a:224)
Hogg (2002:88)
Davis (1974:83)
Barnes (2008a:227)
Hogg (2002:89)
Barnes (2008b:367)
Hogg (2002:91)

62

ON ...er vr ko
llum sa ttir, er byggt hafa sgar ok au rki, er ar liggja
til42 ...which we call the clann of the sir, who have built sgarr and
the kingdoms which belong to it.
Non-nite verbs were even more mobile in OE and ON than nite verbs.
In OE non-nite forms were commonly found at the end of the clause, as in
German, or attached to the nite verb, as in Modern English. In ON non-nite
forms could also be fronted, as shown above. A few examples are given:
OE Ic lfric wolde
as lytlan b
oc
a-wendan t
o Engliscum43 I, lfric, wished
to translate this little book to English.
N
u habba ge gehyred
a H
algan rynesse44 Now ye have heard the Holy
Trinity.
ON ...at hefr gert hr annnan kappa ar er Ho
ttr er45 ...that you have made
another champion here where Hottr is.
Ekki skulu mnir menn tta hyggja46 My men shall not think of eeing.
Direct and indirect objects could appear in either order in OE and ON, as
their function was clearly visible by the acc and dat case markings, respectively:
OE Cdmon, sing me hwthwugu47 Cdmon, sing me something.
...t he forgeafe godne willan am seocan henan48 ...that he granted the
sick heathen good will.
ON Ok n gaf konungr honum silfr mjo
k mikit49 And now the king gave him
much silver.
segir Hjo
rvarr rendi sitt konungi50 Then Hjorvarr tells the king his
mission.

14

Use of the Cases

Primary Functions
The primary functions of the four cases are nom as the subject, gen as the
possessor, dat as the indirect object, and acc as the direct object:
OE Englalands cyning geaf him ff beagas.
ON Konungr Englands gaf honum mm bauga.
The king of England gave him ve rings.
42 From

Barnes (2008a:225)
Davis (1974:78)
44 From Hogg (2002:92)
45 From Barnes (2008b:14)
46 From Barnes (2008b:65)
47 Whitelock (1975:46)
48 lfrics Homilies I.31.474.33 qtd. in Fischer et.al. (2004:51)
49 From Barnes (2008b:206)
50 Hervarar saga ok Heireks 2
43 From

63

Place
The dat is used to indicate location: OE in issum lande ON essu landi in
this land.
The acc is used for motion towards: OE Heo c
omon on t land ON eir
kvmu at land They came to that land.
The dat is used for motion away from: OE fram m
lande ON fr landinu
from the land.
Time
The acc is used for a duration of time: OE ealne dg ON allan dag all day.
The acc is also used for one point in time: OE on one dg ON ann dag
on that day.
The dat is used for a span of time: OE on hiera dagum ON eirra do
gum
in their days.
Numbers
The numbers hundred and thousand, which derived from nouns, take the
gen: OE feower
usend wera ON fjrar sundir manna four thousand
men.
The gen is also used with time: OE ftig wintra ON mmtigir vetra fty
winters (i.e. fty years).
The gen is sometimes used in the partitive sense: OE hwelc hiera ON hvrr
eirra which of them.

15
15.1

Verbal Syntax
Old Norse Reflexive Verbs

As shown above under morphology, ON possessed a verbal conjugation with

the suxed pronoun sik, called the reexive or middle. This conjugation served
four major functions:
Lexical Some reexive verbs were fully lexicalized. This included verbs with
no non-reexive counterpart, such as grnask to become green, from
the adj grnn green. Other verbs had a non-reexive counterpart, but
with little or no immediate semantic connection, such as andask to die,
from the verb anda to breathe.
Anaphoric The conjugation had a true reexive or anaphoric function as in
austrmarinn kvezk at vst vilja51 the eastman said (that) he truly
wanted it. The same reexivity could be expressed with a separate pronoun sik, as in Svasi [...] kva sik vera ann Finninn52 Svasi said (that)
he was that Finn. The same -sk sux, though originally from the acc,
51 Gunnlaugs

saga ormstungu 3.7 qtd. in Faarlund (2004:124)

I.133.6 qtd. in Faarlund (2004:124)

52 Heimskringla

64

could be used with verbs which normally take dat: hlfask protect (oneself) has no dierence in meaning as hlfa sr. Finally, some impersonal
verbs (see Impersonal Constructions below) could be made reexive
with no dierence in meaning, such that honum tti it seemed to him,
he thought means the same as hann ttisk.
Reciprocal With plural subjects the conjugation could take a reciprocal meaning each other. This is often found in phrases such as eir mttusk
they met each other, or the common Modern Icelandic expression vi
sjumst we (will) see each other.
Medio-Passive With some verbs a true medio-passive reading is possible, such
as hann fddisk upp he was raised alongside the active meaning in
hon fddi barn she bore/raised a child. The verb grask is often found
with the meaning to become, to happen as in gerisk hann sv harr ok
frekr53 He became so hard and strict or the common phrase grisk sv
til, at... it came to pass, that...

15.2

Passive and Impersonal Constructions

Both OE and ON contained a number of possible sentence structures if the

subject of the sentence was not the agent. Apart from a true passive construction
which is still common in Modern Gmc languages, remnants of the other types
survive in the English methinks and the Danish drmte mig en drm i nat.
The passive was formed in OE with the verbs b
eon/wesan or weoran
and the past ptc, in ON with vera (occasionally vera) and the past ptc.
In both languages the subject was nom if the verb took an acc object in the
active, whereas the subject remained dat if the verb took a dat object.
Nom subjects:
OE r wurdon gehled t re halgan byrgene eahta untrume men54
Eight inrm men were healed there at that holy tomb.
onne wron ealle a dura betyneda55 then all the doors were closed.
ON Var s ho
ggvinn fyrr, er sar gekk56 He who walked behind was
slain rst.
Fjrir hleifar braus eru honum frir hvern dag57 Four loaves of bread
are brought to him every day.
Dat subjects:
OE Forgyfa, and eow bi forgyfen. Sylla, and eow bi geseald58 Forgive, and ye will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you.
ON Honum var heitit bana59 He was threatened with death.
53 Heimskringla

II.52.10 qtd. in Faarlund (2004:127)

Lives of Saints I.21.132 qtd. in Fryd (2009:277)
55 Orosius 59.10 qtd. in Fryd (2009:278)
56 From Barnes (2008a:251)
57 From Barnes (2008a:252)
58 From Bosworth-Toller lmesse
59 From Barnes (2008a:235)
54 lfrics

65

Var honum sagt at Arinbjo

rn sat yr matbori60 He was then told
that Arinbjorn was sitting at the table.
Finally, ON possessed another construction with no nom or dat, but a prepositional phrase:
ON var lagt at jarlskipinu61 Then there was an attack at the jarls
ship (literally: then was attacked at jarls ship).
Impersonal verbal constructions, like passives, were used when the subject
of the sentence was not the agent. The subject could be the experiencer as in
drmte mig en drm i nat, which was either in the acc or dat, or the subject
was a semantically void ller as in it is raining. In OE and ON, three such
constructions are distinguished:
Null subject or semantically empty subject, common for weather verbs or narrative setting:
OE a cwom r micel snaw [and] swa miclum sniwde swelce micel ys
feolle62 And it snowed so heavily, as if a lot of eece was falling.
Swa hit her beforan sg63 As said here before.
ON Frost var veurs, en r hafi snjfat no
kkut64 The weather was
frosty, and it had snowed a bit before.
at var einn dag/morgin... It was one day/morning...
The subject is an experiencer in the acc (more common in ON than OE):
65
OE Hit gelamp t hine mtte...

It happened that he dreamed...

ON Ragnhildi drttning dreymi drauma stra66 Queen Ragnhildr dreamed

big dreams.
skal hana engan hlut skorta67 Then she shall lack nothing.
The subject is an experiencer in the dat:
OE Him ofhreow s mannes68 He felt pity for the man.
him uhte, t...69 he thought that...
ON Hvat er r, Hjalmarr?70 What is wrong, Hjalmarr?
mr er kalt ho
ndunum71 My hands are cold.
60 Egils

Saga Skallagrmssonar qtd. in Gordon (1956:107)

Barnes (2008a:232)
62 Alexanders Letter to Aristotle qtd. in Fischer et.al. (2004:39)
63 Orosius qtd. in Fischer et.al. (2004:24)
64 From Barnes (2004:230)
65 Genesis 37:5 qtd. in Bosworth-Toller mtan

66 From Barnes (2008a:263)

67 From Barnes (2004:233)
68 lfrics Homilies I.13.192.16 qtd. in Fischer et.al. (2004:23)
69 Bede 28.362.32 qtd. in Fischer et.al. (2004:46)
70 Hervarar Saga 3
71 Orkneyingarsaga qtd. in Cleasby-Vigfsson kaldr
61 From

66

16

Negation

The basic negative particle OE ne ON ne or n not was normally place immediately before the verb being negated:
OE Ic ne dyde72 I did not.
OE Sl at n vissi, mni at n vissi, stjo
rnur at n vissu73 The sun did not
know it, the moon did not know it, the stars did not know it.
The same particle could be doubled ne...ne to mean neither...nor. In ON
the rst n could be replaced with hvrgi neither (hvrki id if there are three
or more negatives) or another negative pronoun:
OE Ne ic ne herige ne ic ne tle
74 I neither praise nor blame.
ON hvrki gott n illt75 neither good nor bad.
In OE the particle ne combined with verbs and pronouns beginning in a
vowel (n
an none < ne
an), h (nabban have not < ne habban), or w (nolde
didnt want < ne wolde). The particle could therefore appear often in a single
sentence:
OE Ne geseah ic nfre

a burg, ne ic one sea n

at76 I have never seen the
city, nor do I know the pit.
In ON the pronoun hvrgi, hvrki neither is derived from the pronoun hvrr
whether, both, either and the sux -gi (-k after original -t in hvrt-ki), which
can be placed on pronouns, adverbs, and verbs to create a negative meaning:
sva-gi so not, hver-gi nowhere, mann-gi no one, etc. Common terms with
this sux are eigi and ekki < *eitt-gi, both used adverbially as not, and aldrei
< alrig(i) never.
In ON poetry the negative sux -at is frequently found after verbs: var-at
sandr n sr77 There was neither sand nor sea. This sux can occur alongside
a suxed pronoun in e.g. veitka < veit-ek-at I know not.

PartV

Bibliography
17

Dictionaries

Proto-Germanic
Kroonen, Guus (2013) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic. Leiden:
Brill.
72 Bosworth-Toller

ne
ne
74 Bosworth-Toller ne
75 Cleasby-Vigfusson ne
76 From Davis (1974:58)
77 Vo
lusp 3
73 Cleasby-Vigfusson

67

Orel, Vladimir (2003) A handbook of Germanic Etymology. Leiden: Brill.

Old English
Bosworth, Joseph and T. Northcote Toller (1898, 1921) An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Oxford: University Press.
Old Norse
Cleasby, Richard and Gudbrand Vigfusson (1874) An Icelandic-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Hellquist, Elof (1922) Svensk Etymologisk Ordbok. Lund: Gleerups.
Magnsson, sgeir Blndal (1989) slesnk Orsifjabk. Reykjavik: Orabk
Hsklans.
Steensland, Lars (2010) lvdalsk Ordbok lvdalen: Ulum Dalska.

18

Introductions and Grammars

PIE and PGmc

Beekes, Robert S.P. (1995) Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Davis, Norman (1974) Sweets Anglo-Saxon Primer. Ninth edition. Oxford:
Clarendon.
Fortson, Benjamin W., IV (2004) Indo-European Language and Culture: An
Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
Ringe, Don (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. Oxford:
University Press.
Old English
Barber, Charles, Joan C. Beal, and Philip A. Shaw (2009) The English Language: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge: University Press.
Campbell, Alistair (1959) Old English Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon.
Fischer, Olga, Ans van Kemenade, Willem Koopman, and Wim van der Wur
(2004) The Syntax of Early English. Cambridge: University Press.
Freeborn, Dennis (1992) From Old English to Standard English: A Course
Book in Language Variation Across Time. London: MacMillan.
Hogg, Richard (2002) An Introduction to Old English. Edinburgh: University
Press.
Mitchell, Bruce (1995) An Invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England.
Cambridge: Blackwell.
Sievers, Eduard (1963) Abriss der altenglischen (angelschsischen) Grammatik.
16. durchgesehene Auage von Karl Brunner. Tbingen: Max Niemeyer.
68

Singh, Ishtla (2005) The History of English. London: Hodder.

Smith, Jeremy J. (2009) Old English: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge:
University Press.
Quirk, Randolph and C.L. Wrenn (1955) An Old English Grammar. London:
Methuen and Co.
Whitelock, Dorothy (1975) Sweets Anglo-Saxon Reader in Verse and Prose.
Oxford: University Press.
Wright, Joseph and Elizabeth Mary Wright (1914) Old English Grammar Second edition. Oxford: University Press.
Old Norse
Barnes, Michael (2008a) A New Introduction to Old Norse. Part I: Grammar.
London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
Barnes, Michael (2008b) A New Introduction to Old Norse. Part II: Reader.
London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
Faarlund, Jan Terje (2004) The Syntax of Old Norse. Oxford: University Press.
Gordon, E.V. (1956) An Introduction to Old Norse. Second Edition revised by
A.R. Taylor. Oxford: Clarendon.
Karlsson, Stfan (2004) The Icelandic Language. Translated by Rory McTurk.
London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
Larsen, Erling Georg (1969) Norrn Grammatik. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Noreen, Adolf (1904) Altschwedische Grammatik: mit Einschluss des Altgutnischen. Halle: Max Niemeyer.
Noreen, Adolf (1923) Altislndische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und
Flexionslehre) unter Bercksichtung des Urnordischen. Halle: Max Niemeyer.
Wessn, Elias (1958) Islndsk Grammatik. Andra upplagan. Lund: Norstedts.

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