CHAPTER 5

originally had an ending containing an i-sound (either a vowel or its equivalent [y]) that caused the mutation of the root vowel but was lost afterwards   consonantal

MODERN SURVIVALS OF CASE AND NUMBER In all declensions, the genitive plural form ended in -a. This ending survived as [al (written -e) in Middle English in a construction called the "genitive of measure, and its effects continue in Modern English (with loss of [a], which dropped away in all final positions) in such phrases as a sixty-mile drive and six-foot tall (rather than miles and feet). Though feet may occur in the latter construction, only often foot is idiomatic in three-foot board and six-foot man. Mile and foot in such expressions are historically genitive plurals derived from the Old English forms mila and fõta, rather than the irregular forms they now appear to be.

The dative plural, which was -um for all declensions, survives in the antiquated form whilom, from Old English hwilum 'at times,' and in the analogical seldom (earlier seldan). The dative singular ending -e, characteristic of the majority of Old English nouns, survives in the word alive, from Old English on life. The Old English voiced f between vowels, later spelled v, is preserved in the Modern English form, though the final vowel is no longer pronounced.

There are only a very few relics of Old English feminine genitives without-s, for instance, Lady Chapel and ladybird, for Our Lady's Chapel and Our Lady's bird. The feminine ō-stem genitive singular ended in -e, which was completely lost in pronunciation by the end of the fourteenth century, along with all other final e's of whatever origin.

The forms discussed in these paragraphs are about the only traces left of Old English noun inflections, other than the plural and genitive singular forms ins (along with a few mutated plurals). One of the most significant differences between Old English and Modern English nouns is that Old English had no device for indi- cating plurality alone-apart from case. It was not until Middle English times that the plural nominative-accusative -es (from OE -as) drove out the other case forms of the plural (save for the comparatively rare genitive of measure construction dis cussed above).

MODIFIERS Pres

DEMONSTRATIVES

There were two demonstratives in Old English. The more frequent was that used where we might have a definite article; it can be translated as either 'the' or 'that, those.' Its forms were as follows:

Nom.

Acc.

Gen.

Dat.

Ins.

Masculine

sẽ, se

bone

pæs

pæm

Neuter

bæt

bæt

bæs

bæm

Feminine

seo ba

Plural

ba

ba

bære

pære

bāra

þy, þon, þë

þy, þon, þe

þæm