accidence

Accidence

Gothic has five cases. Their normal uses are:

NOMINATIVE: subject of sentence, dictionary form

VOCATIVE: form of address

ACCUSATIVE: direct object of sentence

GENITIVE: of

DATIVE: to, with, etc.

Note: Vocative plural of nouns always = nominative. Vocative singular = accusative in the following classes of noun: a-, ja-, wa-, i- & u-stems, nd-stems (and miscellaneous consonant stems?), except that the u-stems have an alternative vocative singular which has the same form as the dative singular. In all other classes of noun, vocative singular = nominative. Adjectives in the vocative have the same ending as the nominative, and are almost always declined "weak".

Nouns

masculine a-stems

neuter a-stems

SINGULAR

N dags
A dag
G dagis
D daga

PLURAL

N dagos
A dagans
G dage
D dagam

SINGULAR

N waúrd
A waúrd
G waúrdis
D waúrda

PLURAL

N waúrda
A waúrda
G waúrde
D waúrdam

masculine ja-stems

(1) SHORT/OPEN STEM-SYLLABLE*

(2) CLOSED/MULTIPLE STEM-SYLLABLE**

SINGULAR

N harjis
A hari
G harjis
D harja

PLURAL

N harjos
A harjans
G harje
D harjam

SINGULAR

N haírdeis
A haírdi
G haírdeis
D haírdja

PLURAL

N haírdjos
A haírdjans
G haírdje
D haírdjam

* (1) Nouns with short stem-syllable or long open stem-syllable (e.g. niþjis, anda-staþjis)
** (2) nouns with long closed stem-syllable, or if the stem (apart from any prefix) is of more than one syllable (e.g. hváiteis, asneis, siponeis, bokareis, faúra-maþleis).

neuter ja-stems

SINGULAR

N kuni
A kuni
G kunjis
D kunja

PLURAL

N kunja
A kunja
G kunje
D kunjam

Note: Unlike masculines, the genitive singular is always -jis.

masculine wa-stems

neuter wa-stems

SINGULAR

N þius
A þiu
G þiwis
D þiwa

PLURAL

N þiwos
A þiwans
G þiwe
D þiwam

SINGULAR

N triu
A triu
G triwis
D triwa

PLURAL

N triwa
A triwa
G þiwe
D þiwam

o-stems (all feminine)

Note:

Declined like giba are WO-STEMS (nidwa, triggwa, friaþwa).

SINGULAR

N giba
A giba
G gibos
D gibái

PLURAL

N gibos
A gibos
G gibo
D gibom

Also declined like giba are SHORT JO-STEMS, i.e. with a short root syllable (halja) except that short vowel + semivowel counts as long, thus mawi and þiwi are treated as LONG JO-STEMS and declined like bandi--see next section.

jo-stems (all feminine)

long

short

SINGULAR

N bandi
A bandja
G bandjos
D bandjái

PLURAL

N bandjos
A bandjos
G bandjo
D bandjom

SINGULAR

N halja
A halja
G haljos
D haljái

PLURAL

N haljos
A haljos
G haljo
D haljom

i-stems

masculine i-stems

feminine i-stems

SINGULAR

N gasts
A gast
G gastis
D gasta

PLURAL

N gasteis
A gastins
G gaste
D gastim

SINGULAR

N ansts
A anst
G anstáis
D anstái

PLURAL

N ansteis
A anstins
G anste
D anstim

abstract i-stems from weak verbs (all feminine)

Class 1

Class 2 (-ons) & 3 (-áins)

SINGULAR

N naseins
A nasein
G naseináis
D naseinái

PLURAL

N naseinos
A naseinins
G naseino
D naseinim

SINGULAR

N salbons, libáins
A salbon
G salbonáis
D salbonái

PLURAL

N salboneis
A salbonins
G salbone
D salbonim

Note: Nouns derived from Class 2 & 3 weak verbs are regular i-stems. Nouns from Class 1 weak verbs differ only in the nominative & genitive plural (i.e. where the ending is a long vowel), which take o-stem endings.

u-stems

feminine (=masculine)

neuter

SINGULAR

N handus
V handu, handáu
A handu
G handáus
D handáu

PLURAL

N handjus

A handuns
G handiwe
D handum

SINGULAR

N faíhu
V faíhu, faíháu
V faíhu
G faíháus
D faíháu

No plural forms occur.

These are the etymologically "correct" forms, but u and áu (us and áus) are often confused in the singular endings of this declension, especially in those parts of the corpus which show other spelling anomalies. This may be due to a loss of distinction in unstressed vowels, or an analogical confusion specific to this declension, caused by the two vocative forms. u and áu aren´t generally confused elsewhere in native words.

Masculine loanwords from Greek or Latin which end in nsg. -us, generally follow the u-declination except for their nominative & genitive plurals, which are like i-stems. Exceptions in the nominative plural: aggiljus 'angels' (x3), beside np. aggileis (x1), diakaúnjus 'deacons', galiugaxristjus 'false messiahs'. There are no genitive plurals in -iwe for such nouns. The name Mattaþius has gs. Mattaþiwis by analogy with þius, but also Mattaþiáus. The other exception is Iesus 'Jesus' (possibly with long [u:], as in Greek? N Iesus; A Iesu; G Iesuis; D Iesua, Iesu.

Note: aba, gpl. abne; auhsa, gpl. auhsne.

n-stems ("weak nouns")

an-stems (masculine)

feminine on-stems

neuter on-stems

SINGULAR

N hana
A hanan
G hanins
D hanin

PLURAL

N hanans
A hanans
G hanane
D hanam

SINGULAR

N tuggo
A tuggon
G tuggons
D tuggon

PLURAL

N tuggons
A tuggons
G tuggono
D tuggom

SINGULAR

N haírto
A haírton
G haírtins
D haírtin

PLURAL

N haírtona
A haírtona
G haírtone
D haírtam

in-stems (feminine)

manna (masculine)

SINGULAR

N managei
A managein
G manageins
D managein

PLURAL

N manageins
A manageins
G manageino
D manageim

SINGULAR

N manna
A mannan
G mans
D mann

PLURAL

N mans, mannans
A mans, mannans
G manne
D mannam

Strong Consonant Stems

r-stems (masculine & feminine)

nd-stems (masculine)

SINGULAR

N broþar

A broþar

G broþrs

D broþr

PLURAL

N broþrjus

A broþruns

G broþre

D broþrum

SINGULAR

N frijonds

A frijond

G frijondis

D frijond

PLURAL

N frijonds

A frijonds

G frijonde

D frijondam

Miscellaneous Consonant Stems (masculine & feminine)

Neuter Consonant Stems

SINGULAR

N baúrgs

A baúrg

G baúrgs

D baúrg

PLURAL

N baúrgs

A baúrgs

G baúrge

D baúrgim

SINGULAR

N fon

A fon

G funins

D funin

Exceptions: mgs. reikis; mdp. reikam; mdp. menoþum; fdp. nahtam (probably by analogy with dagam).

waíhts & dulþs almost always declined as i-stems. But ds. dulþ (J 7,14); ap. waíhts (Sk 2). Also sometimes neuter ni waíht, beside feminine ni waíhts.

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