2.6.3. Consonant Stems: Weak Declension, Minor Declensions

2.6.3.1. n-stems (weak declension)

n-stems (weak declension) comprised many masculine and feminine nouns and only a few nouns of neuter gender: OE ēaʒe (eye) and OE ēare (ear). They had only two forms in the singular: one form for the nominative case and the other – for genitive, dative and accusative (homonymy of case endings). Masculine n-stems in the nominative singular ended in –a, feminine and neuter ones - in –e.

oxa (ox), ēare (ear), heorte (heart)

	Masculine gender		Neuter gender		Feminine gender
Case	Sg number	Pl number	Sg number	Pl number	Sg number	Pl number
Nom.	oxa	oxan	ēare	ēaran	heorte	heortan
Gen.	oxan	oxena	ēaran	ēarena	heortan	heortena
Dat.	oxan	oxum	ēaran	ēarum	heortan	heortum
Acc.	oxan	oxan	ēaran	ēaran	heortan	heortan

The element -n was originally a stem-building suffix, which has acquired a new grammatical function. Cf.

OE ox-en-a, Russian: им-ен-а, имен; сем-ен-а, сем-ян.

The ModE plural ending -en in oxen comes back to the OE -an in oxan plural. The ending –an (ModE -en) was later extended to some nouns of other declensions, e.g. children, brethren.

2.6.3.2. r-stems

r-stems include five masculine and feminine nouns denoting relationship: fæder (father), brōþor (brother), mōdor (mother), dohtor (daughter), sweostor (sister). The dative case singular of the nouns brōþor, mōdor, dohtor has mutation.

fæder (father), brōþor (brother)

Masculine gender
Case	Sg number	Pl number	Sg number	Pl number
Nom.	fæder	fæderas	brōþor	brōþor
Gen.	fæder, -es	fædera	brōþor	brōþra
Dat.	fæder	fæderum	brēþer	brōþrum
Acc.	fæder	fæderas	brōþor	brōþor

mōdor (mother), dohtor (daughter,) sweostor (sister)

Feminine gender
Case	Sg number	Pl number	Sg number	Pl number	Sg number	Pl number
Nom.	mōdor	mōdru, -a	dohtor	dohtor,-tra,-tru	sweostor	sweostor
Gen.	mōdor	mōdra	dohtor	dohtra	sweostor	sweostra
Dat.	mēder	mōdrum	dehter	dohtrum	sweostor	sweostrum
Acc.	mōdor	mōdru	dohtor	dohtor,-tra,-tru	sweostor	sweostor

r-stems correspond to the Russian nouns мать, дочь and to the Latin nouns of the 3-rd declension: pater, māter; r-stems are probably the only stems that have survived in ModE.

2.6.3.3. es-stems

Es-stems comprised nouns of the neuter gender, though this [s] had long changed into [r] due to rhotacism. In the singular they were declined like neuter a-stems, but in the plural they had a specific inflection, not found outside that group.

lamb (lamb), cealf (calf), cild (child)

Neuter gender
Case	Sg number	Pl number	Sg number	Pl number	Sg number	Pl number
Nom.	lamb	lambru	cealf	cealfru	cild	cild,cildru
Gen.	lambes	lambra	cealfes	ceafra	cildes	cild(r)a
Dat.	lambe	lambrum	cealfe	cealfrum	cilde	cildrum
Acc.	lamb	lambru	cealf	cealfru	cild	cild,cildru

Note. «Cild» had also an uninflected Nom. Acc. Pl. «cild». In ME «cildru» changed into «childre» and acquired an additional plural ending by analogy with the n-stem, hence children.

Later the endings of the a-stems spread to all the forms of the es-stems nouns. Es-stems correspond to the Russian es-stems nouns: небо – небecа, чудо - чудеса, слово – словеса and to Latin nouns of the 3-rd declension: genus sg – genera pl (gender), opus sg – opera pl (work).