Proto-Germanic/Nouns and adjectives

Welcome to the second lesson of Proto-Germanic!

Nouns

Masculine nouns

Ending in *-az

	*dagaz "day"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*dagaz	*dagōz
Vocative	*dag
Accusative	*dagą	*daganz
Genitive	*dagas *dagis	*dagǭ
Dative	*dagai	*dagamz
Instrumental	*dagō

Note that nouns containing *-e- always umlauted to *-i- before all endings containing *-i- in first syllable (nominative *berg-az "mountain, hill", but genitive *birg-is). Noun stems ending in *-j- or *-ij- have their own declensions with unique genitive singular ending (there are two variants of genitive singular, however):

Nominative singular	*harjaz "army"	*hirdijaz "shepherd"
Genitive singular	*harjas	*hirdijas
	*haris	*hirdīs

So, all of the expected sequences *-ji- and *-iji- instead becoming *-i- and *-ī- as a result of regular sound changes.

Feminine nouns

Ending in *-ō

	*gebō "day"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*gebō	*gebōz
Vocative
Accusative	*gebǭ	*gebōz
Genitive	*gebōz	*gebǭ
Dative	*gebōi	*gebōmz
Instrumental	*gebō

Neuter nouns

Note that nouns in the neuter gender have syncretism in nominative, vocative, and accusative cases.

Ending in *-ą

	*wurdą "word"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative Vocative Accusative	*wurdą	*wurdō
Genitive	*wurdas *wurdis	*wurdǭ
Dative	*wurdai	*wurdamz
Instrumental	*wurdō

Ending in *-az

	*lambaz "lamb"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative Vocative Accusative	*lambaz	*lambizō
Genitive	*lambizz	*lambizǭ
Dative	*lambizī	*lambizumz
Instrumental	*lambizē

Retention of neuter -az declension is a complex issue. Anglian dialect of Old English fully preserved this declension (see lamb), while the rest of West Germanic only in the plural (the singular endings were replaced by more common masculine counterparts, e.g. dative *lambai from earlier *lambizī). Old Norse and Gothic fully merge this to the masculine -az declension.