Erik Smitterberg (SMG)
[email protected]
Department of English, Uppsala University
Inspirational Lecture, Autumn/Fall Term 2012
Some Old English Paradigms
Table 1. Declensions for the strong masculine noun wer ‘man’, the strong neuter noun scip ‘ship’,
the strong feminine noun ides ‘woman’, and the weak masculine noun oxa ‘ox’.
Number Case
wer ‘man’
(strong masc.)
scip ‘ship’
ides ‘woman’
(strong neuter) (strong fem.)
oxa ‘ox’
(weak masc.)
Singular Nominative
Accusative
Genitive
Dative
wer1
wer
weres
were
scip
scip
scipes
scipe
ides
idese
idese
idese
oxa
oxan
oxan
oxan
Plural
weras
weras
wera
werum
scipu
scipu
scipa
scipum
idesa
idesa
idesa
idesum
oxan2
oxan
oxena
oxum
Nominative
Accusative
Genitive
Dative
Old English also had several other declensions that are not given here; for example, the
nominative plural of hnutu ‘nut’ was hnyte, which does not match any of the declensions given
above. However, the declensions in Table 1 account for the vast majority of Old English nouns.
For the weak nouns, only the masculine inflections are given in Table 1, as gender
differences in the endings of weak nouns were very small:
 Weak feminine nouns such as sunne ‘sun’ are declined like oxa expect that they have -e
instead of -a in the nominative singular.
 Weak neuter nouns such as ēage ‘eye’ are declined like oxa except that they have -e instead
of -a in the nominative singular and -e instead of -an in the accusative singular.
This declension has given rise to our present-day system, with an -’s in the genitive singular from the -es
in weres and an -(e)s in the plural from the nominative/accusative plural -as in weras. (In contrast, today’s
genitive plural in -s’ is not descended from an Old English ending.)
2
This -an is the reason why we say two oxen today; almost all other nouns have joined the -s plural
declension.
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Erik Smitterberg (SMG)
[email protected]
Department of English, Uppsala University
Inspirational Lecture, Autumn/Fall Term 2012
Translation of Two Text Extracts
Notes on the translations:
1. Underlining represents words that had to be added owing to differences between Old
English and Present-day English.
2. [Square brackets] are used when the Old English version uses a word that is still current in
English, but whose meaning has changed so that another word fits better in the presentday version. In such cases, square brackets are used around the word that corresponds in
form to the Old English word. On line 1 of the extract from The Battle of Maldon, for
instance, the Old English version uses the equivalent of present-day shall; since shall meant
‘must’ in Old English, I use “must” in the translation and provide “shall” within square
brackets afterwards.
1 The Battle of Maldon
Our mind must [shall] be the harder,
our courage [mood] must [shall] be the greater [more],
Here lies our leader [elder],
Good man in [on] the dust.
Who from this battle-play
I am advanced in years;
But I myself by the side
By such a beloved man,
our hearts the braver,
the more our strength diminishes.
completely cut down,
Forever may he mourn
intends to depart.
away [from] I do not wish to go,
of my lord,
intend to lie.
2 The Canterbury Tales
When April with its [his] sweet showers
Has pierced the drought of March to the root,
And bathed every vein in such fluid [liquor]
Whose virtue quickens [engenders] the flower,
When Zephyr (= the west wind) also with his sweet breath
Has inspired in every forest and heath
Tender crops, and the young sun
Has run half its [his] course in Aries [the Ram]
And small birds [fowl] make melody
That sleep all through the night with open eyes
(thus [so] nature excites [pricks] them in their disposition [courage])
Then people [folk] long to go on pilgrimages,
And pilgrims to go to [seek] foreign [strange] shores,
To far-away saints, known in various [sundry] countries [lands]; […]
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