Unit 5
Some a-declension nouns and adjectives have a stem that ends in -ja or -wa. If the stem ends in -ja, then it matters whether the word
is a long-stem or short-stem noun/adjective. The rules for long and short stems are a little complex, but fortunately it is easy to tell
long-stem words apart from short-stem because the nominative singular (nom. masc. sing. in the case of adjectives) of long-stems ends in
-eis. For example, andeis (end):
| Singular |
| Nom | andeis | end (subject) |
| Voc Acc | andi | end (direct object) |
| Gen | andeis | of an end |
| Dat | andja | to/for an end |
| Plural |
| Nom | andjōs | ends (subject) |
| Voc Acc | andjans | ends (direct object) |
| Gen | andjē | of ends |
| Dat | andjam | to/for ends |
Some other nouns declined like andeis are:
| asneis | servant |
| aúrkeis | cup, jug |
| bōkareis | scribe |
| faúra-maþleis | ruler, prince |
| haírdeis | herdsman |
| ƕáiteis | wheat |
| láisareis | teacher |
| lēkeis | physician |
| mōtareis | toll taker |
| ragineis | counsellor |
| sipōneis | disciple |
Short-stem nouns decline like harjis, army:
| Singular |
| Nom | harjis | army (subj) |
| Voc Acc | hari | army (obj) |
| Gen | harjis | of an army |
| Dat | harja | to/for an army |
| Plural |
| Nom | harjōs | armies (subj) |
| Voc Acc | harjans | armies (obj) |
| Gen | harjē | of armies |
| Dat | harjam | to/for armies |
Other nouns declined like harjis include andastaþjis (adversary) and niþjis (kinsman).
Neuter nouns almost always follow the short stem declension: kuni (race), kunjis, kunja; plural kunja, kunjē, kunjam. Also declined this
way are:
| andbahti | service, ministry |
| arbi | heritage |
| badi | bed |
| faírguni | mountain |
| fastubni | observance |
| fraþi | understanding |
| garūni | counsel |
| gawaírþi | peace |
| gawi | region, district (stem gáuj-) |
| hawi | hay (stem háuj-) |
| kunþi | knowledge |
| nati | net |
| reiki | power |
| taui | deed, work (stem tōj-) |
| þiubi | theft |
| ufar-mēli | superscription |
| wadi | pledge |
| waldufni | power |
In an earlier stage of the language, neuters preserved the distinction of short and long stems, and a few words do have both forms side
by side, such as andbahti gen. sing. andbahteis or andbahtjis; gawaírþi gen. sing. gawaírþeis, gawaírþjis.
For adjectives, the long stem forms are:
| | Masc |
| Nom | wilþeis hunds | wild dog (subject) |
| Acc | wilþjana hund | wild dog (direct object) |
| Gen | wilþeis hundis | of a wild dog |
| Dat | wilþjamma hunda | to/for a wild dog |
| | Fem |
| Nom | wilþi haírda | wild herd (subject) |
| Acc | wilþja haírda | wild herd (direct object) |
| Gen | wilþjáizōs haírdōs | of a wild herd |
| Dat | wilþjái haírdái | to/for a wild herd |
| | Neut |
| Nom/Acc | wilþjata gras | wild grass |
| Gen | wilþeis grasis | of wild grass |
| Dat | wilþjamma grasa | to/for wild grass |
Here, wilþjata is the pronominal form which is never used predicatively. Its nominal form is wilþi, e.g. þata gras ist wilþi (the grass
is wild). The genitive wilþeis is the more likely form, but based on comparative linguistics it's possible that the genitive is wilþjis.
Since no neuter genitive singulars are attested of these adjectives, it is not possible to be certain.
In the plural, these adjectives decine the same as pure a-stem adjectives such as mikils: wilþjái, wilþjans, wilþjáizē, etc.
Other adjectives declined like wilþeis include:
| aírzeis | astray |
| alþeis | old |
| faírneis | old |
| wōþeis | sweet, kind |
For short stem adjectives, we have the example of aljis, other:
| Singular: |
| | Masc |
| Nom | aljis wigs | other way (subj) |
| Acc | aljana wig | other way (obj) |
| Gen | aljis wigis | of another way |
| Dat | aljamma wiga | to/for another way |
| | Fem |
| Nom | alja aƕa | other river (subj) |
| Acc | alja aƕa | other river (obj) |
| Gen | aljáizōs aƕōs | of another river |
| Dat | aljái aƕái | to/for another river |
| | Neut |
| Nom Acc | aljata barn | other child |
| Gen | aljis barnis | of another child |
| Dat | aljamma barna | to/for another child |
Plurals are decined the same as mikils: aljái, aljans, aljáizē, etc. Adjectives declined like aljis include:
| fullatōjis | perfect |
| gawiljis | willing |
| midjis | middle |
| niujis | new |
| sunjis | true |
| ubiltōjis | evildoing |
| unsibjis | lawless |
Additionally, freis (free) has the nom. masc. sing. of a long-stem but is declined like a short-stem: frijana, frijis, frijamma, etc.
Wa-stem nouns are declined the same as plain a-stems, but there is a rule that when the word would end with -iw or -iws, the spelling
of iw changes to iu.
| Masculine: |
| Singular |
| Nom | þius | servant (subj) |
| Voc Acc | þiu | servant (obj) |
| Gen | þiwis | of a servant |
| Dat | þiwa | to/for a servant |
| Plural |
| Nom | þiwōs | servants (subj) |
| Voc Acc | þiwans | servants (obj) |
| Gen | þiwē | of servants |
| Dat | þiwam | to/for servants |
| Neuter: |
| Singular |
| NVA | kniu | knee |
| Gen | kniwis | of a knee |
| Dat | kniwa | to/for a knee |
| Plural |
| NVA | kniwa | knees |
| Gen | kniwē | of knees |
| Dat | kniwam | to/for knees |
Few nouns are declined in this way: masc. snáiws (snow) is declined snáiws, snáiw, snáiwis, snáiwa, etc;
neut. triu (wood) is declined the same as kniu.
Some neuter nouns such as fráiw (seed) retain the w in the n.v.a. singular, and are otherwise declined like waúrd;
these include:
| gáidw | want, lack |
| hláiw | grave |
| lēw | occasion |
| waúrstw | work (as in a thing one has created) |
Wa-stem adjectives are poorly attested but probably are declined like the nouns. In the masculine singular: fáus (small), fáu, fawis,
fawamma, and the other numbers and genders the same as mikils but with the stem faw-. It's probable that qius (alive) is similarly
declined (qius, qiu, qiwis, qiwamma; stem qiw-) but none of these forms are attested. We do however have attested lasiws (weak) where
we would have expected *lasius. This might represent a grammatical oddity or might simply be a case of the scribe misspelling it.
Some verbs take their direct and/or indirect object in the genitive. These include:
| brūkjan | to use |
| fraíhnan | to ask (a question) (both objects) |
| fulljan | to fill (genitive of contents; either acc. or dat. of container) |
| fullnan | to become full |
| gaírnjan | to long for |
| ga-hráinjan | to clean |
| ga-þarban | to abstain from |
| háiljan | to make whole |
| hilpan | to help |
| niutan | to enjoy |
| þaúrban | to need (irregular; conjugation covered in unit 13.3) |
Verbs ending in -jan often have their second and third person singular endings in -eis, -eiþ and
second person plural in -eiþ, including all of the -jan verbs in the table above.
In unit 9.3 we'll cover this class of verb in more detail.
Certain adjectives also govern the genitive, for example kunþjis fulls, full of knowledge. Here's a list:
| filu | much |
| freis | free (from) |
| fulls | full (of) |
| láus | empty, devoid |
| waírþs | worthy |
| wans | lacking, wanting |
One common use of filu is with a genitive to mean "a lot of" something, e.g.
fiske filu, a great many fishes;
manageins filu, a great multitude (see 11.3 for the declension of managei).
| 1. Hilpa þizē tōjē þis bōkareis untē nist fullatōjis. |
I help the work of the scribe because he is not perfect. |
| 2. Gawiljana sipōni gawaírþi láisjiþ. |
S/he teaches peace to a willing disciple. |
| 3. Barnisk ist stáinam waírpan du andastaþja. |
It's childish to throw stones at an adversary. |
| 4. Farōs gaþarba in daga fullamma snáiwis. |
I am abstaining from travel in a day full of snow. |
| 5. Gawaírþeis gaírneiþ in ƕeilái saúrgōs. |
S/he longs for peace in time of sorrow. |
Translate from Gothic:
| 6. Þamma faúra-maþlja jah þamma andastaþja ist niujata fraþi. |
| 7. Þata gawi ist fri þiubjis. |
| 8. Fara du þamma lēkja in þamma maúrgina. |
| 9. Sa snáiws ana þamma faírgunja ist kalds. |
| 10. Ni sind wanái kunþjis þái raginjōs. |
Answers
| 6. The ruler and the adversary have a new understanding. |
| 7. The region is free of theft. |
| 8. I'm going to the physician in the morning. |
| 9. The snow upon the mountain is cold. |
| 10. The counsellors are not lacking in knowledge. |
Translate into Gothic:
| 11. The physician is making sick children whole. |
| 12. I enjoy new languages. |
| 13. She fills the cup with wine. |
| 14. He lies in a cold grave. |
| 15. The army comes to the counsellor's district. |
Answers
| 11. Sa lēkeis siukáizē barnē háileiþ. |
| 12. Niujáizō razdō niuta. |
| 13. Aúrkja fulleiþ si weinis. |
| 14. In kaldamma hláiwa ligiþ is. |
| 15. Qimiþ sa harjis du þizái fērái þis ragineis. |
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