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A Grammar of Proto-Germanic

Winfred P. Lehmann

Jonathan Slocum, ed.

III. INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY

3.A.1. Introduction on Syntax

For understanding the syntax of Proto-Germanic it is highly important to note that Pre-Indo-European was an Active Language, and that the change to Accusative structure in Proto-Indo-European and its dialects was gradual. Moreover, Germanic separated early from the other Indo-European dialects, as I pointed out in 1953 and as others have since; more traits of Active Language structure were maintained in it than in the dialects that had been assumed to be the most archaic, that is, Indo-Iranian and Greek, on which Brugmann's Indo-European forms were based. While the reconstructions of Brugmann and later Indo-Europeanists have been predominant in subsequent handbooks of the parent language and also for explaining forms in the dialects, many of them do not apply to Proto-Germanic.

Moreover, the features that Germanic shares with Celtic on the one hand, Italic on the other, and with Balto-Slavic are chiefly lexical and relatively late, such as the adoption of the word for iron from Celtic; these will be discussed in the chapter on semantics. It is also important to note that there are no innovations common to these four dialects, a further indication that Germanic was independent of them in its early phase. Proto-Germanic must accordingly be treated as a stage in the development from Pre-Indo-European through Proto-Indo-European to distinct dialects.

Some characteristics of Active languages are stated here; others will be discussed in the chapters dealing with derivational morphology and with sentence structure. Active languages have three word classes: nouns, verbs, and particles. Nouns and verbs fall into two classes, either active/animate or inactive/stative. Some examples of the earlier active structure have survived throughout the Indo-European dialects in twofold designations for items that may be considered to be either in action or at rest. Among these are the two words for fire. The active word, reflected by Lat. ignis, Skt agnís, Lith. ugnìs, OCS ognь, indicated actual burning; its active role is supported by the use of the Sanskrit word also for the god of fire. The word reflected by Hitt. pahhuwar, Gk pûr, Umb. pir, Arm. hur, Toch. A por, as well as by the Germanic words as maintained by NE fire, indicated a state, as supported by its neuter gender. Other examples will be given in the chapter on semantics. When the dialects shifted from active to accusative structure, the reason for maintaining two words was lost, and typically only one was maintained.

As another characteristic of Active languages, sentences are constructed for the most part by pairing active nouns with active verbs and stative nouns with stative verbs, that is, through agreement rather than government. Accordingly, transitivity is not a characteristic and there is no inflection as for an accusative case. Relationships among nouns, also with verbs, are indicated by means of particles; furthermore, there is no distinct "adposition" part of speech.

In the course of time, agreement structure was gradually replaced by government structure in Proto-Indo-European and its dialects. Explanations for such changes are speculative; in my view, the linguistic change resulted from cultural change: as civilization developed, speakers began to understand causal relationships. For example, they began to account for increase in productivity of crops through proper planting, watering, and application of fertilizer, rather than through prayer to a crop deity. To represent such causal effects in the language, specific particles came to be joined to nouns and to verbs, some of which indicated transitivity; these and others provided the bases of inflection. Through accentuation, such groups of base words and particles became units. In time, loss of unaccented syllables and other changes clouded earlier structures, obscuring their origins, but residues are still evident in the dialects as noted below. By means of such events, the shift to government structure can be more readily understood.

Some of the particles remained independent, maintaining their function of indicating relationships of nouns and of verbs, while others were affixed to these (cf. Brugmann, Gdr. 1.3/2: 964-1009, Lehmann 2002: 87-99). Examples of reflexes in the Germanic languages that remained independent are: Go. ak, OE ac 'but'; OE and OHG nu 'now'. Among examples that were suffixed are: Go. -ei, a particle suffixed to demonstrative pronouns to produce relative pronouns as in the accusative singular þan-ei 'whom, which'; Go. -u and -uh, a question particle that is placed after words, as in:

Mark 10:38        maguts-u driggkan stikl  þanei ik driggka?
                 can-you-two ?  drink      cup  which  I  drink
                   "Can you two drink the cup which I drink?"

Other particles were adapted as prepositions, such as Go. af and OE of 'of', Go. bi, OE and OHG bī 'at, around', OHG zi 'to', which Hirt equated with the suffix in Gk oĩkon-de 'homeward' (Hirt 1932, II: 103).

In addition to the particles that have been maintained as independent forms, some have survived in suffixes and endings. It is assumed that the earliest such suffixes added were the single consonants called determinatives. Because they were added to roots in early Proto-Indo-European, their meanings are for the most part no longer distinguishable. Among examples are forms made from the Proto-Indo-European root *wer- 'turn, bend', as in the nouns Lat. vermis, Go. waúrms 'worm' and possibly the Lith. vérti 'to bend' (Pokorny 1959:1152-1160). Among forms derived from the root *wer- with determinatives are: Gk rémbō 'turn about in a circle,' Go. wairpan, ON verpa, OE weorpan, OHG werfen 'throw < turn' with PIE -b-determinative; Skt vartati 'turns', Go. wairþan, OHG werden 'become' with -t- determinative. Many such verbs made with determinatives could be cited, e.g. Go. giutan, ON gjóta, OHG giozzan 'pour', made with the -t- determinative from the root PIE gʰew- as in Gk khéō 'I pour'. But a semantic basis for its addition in the two roots and others cannot be identified.

Some particles developed into suffixes consisting of syllables that have survived with specific uses or meanings, such as the -to- and -no- suffixes on participles. Subsequently, many suffixes were based on full words, for example the widely used NE -hood, Du. -heid, NHG -heit suffix that indicates state or condition, as in childhood. The noun also remained independent in the older Germanic dialects, as in Go. háidus 'manner', OHG heit 'rank, state, condition'.

Besides their adaptations in derivational morphology, particles were also the basis of inflectional endings, such as -s, the nominative singular ending as in Go. dags 'day'. In his discussion of such developments, Hirt pointed out that Bopp had already equated the -s ending with the Proto-Indo-European particle *so 'here', with reflexes in Skt sa, Go. sa, Gk ho; *so also became the basis of pronouns (Hirt 1932, II:9; cf. also Hirt 1927, 3:13-14; Lehmann 2002: 148-149). Hirt assumed that *so was the source of another case ending as well, that of the genitive singular as in Go. broþrs 'of the brother'. Then at the conclusion of his treatment he proposed that it was also the source of a derivational s- suffix, as maintained in NHG Fuchs 'fox', but he did not explain the basis of its development. We assume that, in the active stage of Pre-Indo-European and early Proto-Indo-European, *so was placed after nouns to indicate the subject and also the agent of reference in genitive constructions; when Proto-Indo-European became an Accusative language, it was attached as an ending, with eventual loss of the -o.

Comparable to the -s ending that came to indicate relationships for nouns, the -m ending that came to indicate first person in verbs has been related to the personal pronoun m- forms. Such combinations became fixed, so that nouns and verbs consisted of roots and endings. Some nominal residues from this period consisting only of root and ending survive among common words; they are referred to as root nouns (Brugmann 1906, II.1:130-146). PGmc fōts, Gk pōs, Lat. pēs, Skt pad- < PIE ped- is among the few nominal examples; PGmc ist, Lat. est < PIE ?es-t- is a verbal example. But most nouns and verbs have an additional suffix between the root or base and the ending, among them even reflexes of root nouns. While a reflex of PGmc fōts is maintained in OE fōt 'foot' without the subject marker, the Gothic cognate was an expanded u-stem noun, fotus. A reason for adding such suffixes may be illustrated by noting Latin verb forms: the common verb fer- < PIE bʰer- has as second and third singular forms fers, fert. If these endings were added directly to most Latin verb roots, e.g. laudare in the first conjugation and habēre in the second, the forms would be *lauds, *laudt and *habs, *habt, or more likely modified forms of them in view of the final consonant combinations. The inclusion of the suffixes -ā/a- and -ē/e- in these conjugations between the root and the endings, as in Lat. laudās, laudat 'praises', habēs, habet 'has', yielded transparent stems and endings.

The most frequent such suffix added to nouns and to verbs, PIE -e/o-, is not associated with any meaning. Its wide application may be understood when forms like those cited above are compared; endings may no longer be modified, as are those added directly, such as Lat. es, Gk eîs < PIE es-si 'thou art'. Already in Proto-Indo-European, most nouns and verbs included such affixes when inflected, whether simple vowels like -e/o-, -i-, -u-, or longer suffixes like -yo-, -wo-, -no-. Nominal and verbal inflections were labeled by them on the basis of the Indo-European form of the suffix, e.g. o-stems, yo-stems, etc. Eventually many of them became indistinct, especially in dialects that, like Germanic, introduced a strong stress accent on roots which led to weakening or loss of final syllables.

3.A.2. Inflectional Morphology; Classes of Words

The Proto-Germanic lexicon consists of two classes of inflected words and a number of uninflected classes. The two inflected classes are substantives and verbs. The uninflected classes are conjunctions, adverbs, interjections, and prepositions (earlier, postpositions).

Substantives, including nouns, pronouns, adjectives and numerals, are inflected primarily for case, secondarily for gender and number. The sub-class of nouns is inflected for case, gender and number. The sub-class of pronouns is inflected for case, but only defectively for number and gender as well as person. The sub-class of adjectives is inflected for gender, as well as for case and number; it is further distinguished by addition of suffixes to indicate comparison. Cardinal numerals have defective inflection in all three categories. Ordinal numerals are inflected like adjectives, e.g. Go. þridja as n-stem for the numeral 'third'.

Verbs are inflected for person and number, tense, mood and voice.

3.1. Inflection of Substantives.

Five cases are reconstructed for Proto-Germanic, with traces of a sixth; these are: nominative, vocative, genitive, dative, accusative, and instrumental. The nominative is the case used to indicate the subject, and never follows a preposition. The vocative is the case of address. The genitive indicates relationships among substantives, often possession. In addition to being governed by specific prepositions, the dative indicates the indirect object; the accusative, the direct object. The instrumental case has a distinct form in only one paradigm; it indicates a relationship involving means, similar to that of adverbs. Two further cases are reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European: the locative, which according to some specialists has left reflexes in certain Germanic paradigms, and the ablative, to which certain Germanic adverbs have been related.

There are three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. These categories are primarily grammatical, although there is also relationship to sex. That distinction is found largely with nouns referring to animate beings, as in Go. niþjis 'male relative', niþjō 'female relative'; frijōnds 'friend', frijōndi 'woman friend'; ON Freyr 'the god Frey', Freyja 'the goddess'. Gender distinction is also found in the third person pronouns.

Substantives are inflected for three numbers: singular, plural, and dual. The dual is strongly represented only in pronouns and in PGmc was losing ground there. Like gender, number is also primarily a grammatical category, not always a category with literal meaning, as the following examples from Old Saxon indicate:

• OS to godes hūsun (pl.) 'to the house of God'
• OS uuas im helpono (pl.) tharf 'he needed help'
• OS briost (pl.) 'breast'
• OS giscapu (pl.) 'fate'

With the exception of gender, the categories of inflection were less distinct in Proto-Germanic than in Proto-Indo-European and were reduced further in the dialects, where some of them were ultimately lost, such as gender in English with covert usage persisting primarily in the use of personal pronoun 'he, she, it'. Similarly, except in the personal pronouns only two cases remain in English, the genitive and the unmarked case. Further, the category of number is overt only in the noun, in a few verb forms like am, is in contrast with are, and in the indication of person in the third singular present, e.g. writes as opposed to write in the plural and other categories.

Inflection is indicated through the suffixes known as endings. As noted above, in Proto-Indo-European and early Proto-Germanic the endings were suffixed directly to roots. But affixes were added to roots already in Proto-Indo-European to form bases, also known as stems, and the endings were attached to these. When the stress accent was introduced, it generally fell on the root; weakly stressed syllables then were often reduced, so that the endings in Proto-Germanic and its dialects consisted of merged suffixes and the early endings. Classes of inflections in late Proto-Germanic were labeled by these. Three declensions then resulted:

1. Root nouns (which are poorly attested);
2. Consonant stems;
3. Vocalic stems in two sets: the o/ā stems, and the vocalic resonant stems.

Reconstructed forms illustrating each of the noun classes are given in paradigms below. Reflexes in the dialects are included, to provide evidence for the Proto-Germanic forms that have been reconstructed. In the paradigms of the dialects attested forms are preferred. But our limited texts do not provide us with complete inflections for most nouns; accordingly some unattested forms are included without being starred, such as the Gothic nominative dags.

3.2. Inflection of Nouns

3.2.1. The Root Nouns

By the time of the Germanic dialects some of the endings had been lost, as in the nominative and accusative Old English forms of 'foot'. Others were replaced, such as that in the Gothic nominative singular fotus by u-stem endings. Old English and Old Norse have maintained enough of the inflection in some words, such as the word for 'foot', to reconstruct it for Proto-Germanic. In Old Norse, however, the genitive singular is based on that of the u-stems; in Old English it is based on that of the o-stems.

The endings of root nouns:

Sing.		PIE		PGmc		Plur.		PIE		PGmc
Nom.		-s		-s		Nom.		-es		-ez
Gen.		-es		-ez		Gen.		-ōm		-ōn
Dat.		-ey/-y		-i		Dat.		-mis		-miz
Acc.		-m		-un		Acc.		-ns		-unz

The forms of the word for foot:

Sing.		PGmc		ON		OE		Plur.		PGmc		ON		OE
Nom.		fōts		fōtr		fōt		Nom.		fōtez		fœtr		fēt
Gen.		fōtez		fōtar		fōtes		Gen.		fōtōn		fōta		fōta
Dat.		fōti		fœte		fēt		Dat.		fōtmiz		fōtum		fōtum
Acc.		fōtun		fōt		fōt		Acc.		fōtunz		fœtr		fēt

The inflection of the noun for fire, an Indo-European r/n-stem, is of interest in showing that the paradigm was maintained in early Proto-Germanic, but then modified by analogy. Only the nominative/accusative singular forms are given for Old Norse and the West Germanic languages because the two other cases have adopted forms from the o-stems. In the Gothic nominative singular the -n has been extended by analogy with the genitive and dative.

Sing.		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom/Acc.		fōr/fuir		fōn		fūrr, fȳrr, funi		fȳr		fiur
Gen.		funis		funins
Dat.		funi		funin

3.2.2. The Consonant Stems

In the consonant stems a suffix ending in a consonant was added to the root. The most prominent of these suffixes was -en. This varied from -en- to -n- to -on- in accordance with the accent. Moreover, some of the nouns to which it was added ended in a vowel, so that the variants -ēn- and -ōn- arose; if these stood finally in a word, the -n was lost, leading to a great variety of endings. Such phonological variation in a paradigm is open to analogical modification so that it is difficult to reconstruct the original paradigm. According to Meillet this is best reflected in Gothic as illustrated in its forms for 'ox', most of which are reconstructed (1937:301ff.). To illustrate the regularization in the dialects, examples of forms of the Greek words for 'male' and 'stone' are given here; one vowel has been generalized in these.

		PIE ending		Gothic 'ox'		Greek 'male'		Greek 'stone'
Nom.sg.		-ōn		auhsa*		ársēn		ákmōn
Dat.sg.		-en-i		auhsin*		árseni		ákmoni
Nom.pl.		-on-es		auhsans*		ársenes		ákmones
Gen.pl.		-n-		auhsne		arsénōn		akmónōn

3.2.3. The n- stems

To illustrate the inflection for masculine nouns a complete set of forms of the word for man is given here with the endings reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European. The Nom/Acc. forms for the neuter nouns are given below; their genitive and dative forms are like those of the masculine nouns.

The forms show instances of analogical regularization, as discussed in the notes.

Masculine		PIE		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom.sg.		-ēn,-ō		gumō		guma		gume		guma		gomo
Gen.sg.		-en-os		gumenaz		gumins		guma		guman		gomen
Dat.sg.		-en-i		gumeni		gumin		guma		guman		gomon
Acc.sg.		-on-m		gumanun		guman		guma		guman		gomon
Nom.pl.		-on-es		gumaniz		gumans		gumar		guman		gomon
Gen.pl.		-n-ōm		gumanōn		gumanē		guma		gumena		gomōno
Dat.pl.		(-on-mis)		gumanmiz		gumam		gumom		gumum		gomōm
Acc.pl.		(-ns)		gumanunz		gumans		guma		guman		gomon

Neuter		PIE		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom/Acc.sg.		-ō		augō		áugō		auga		ēage		ouga
Nom/Acc.pl.		-ōn-ā		augōnō		áugōna		augo		ēagan		ougon

Except for the genitive plural ending -ē, the Gothic forms support those reconstructed for Proto-Germanic. (It may be useful to note here again that e and o in Gothic indicate long vowels so that a macron is superfluous, though often added in this grammar to be explicit; the Gothic short vowel counterparts are indicated by ai and au, often distinguished from the ái and áu diphthongs by an acute accent on the second member, e.g. aí aú.)

Many of the forms in the other dialects show the results of analogical extension. In the singular the Old Norse and Old English genitive and dative forms were taken over from the accusative. In the nominative/accusative plural the Old High German -o- of the ending is generalized from the singular. The Old Norse nominative plural ending is based on that of the o-stems, as is also the accusative plural ending. In the other dialects the form of the nominative was generalized to the accusative. In the genitive plural the Old English and Old High German forms were taken over from the feminine, as was the dative plural in Old High German.

The Proto-Germanic forms of the feminine are reconstructed largely on the basis of those in Gothic. In the other dialects the forms influenced one another; some were introduced from other inflections.

Feminine		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom.sg.		tungōn		tuggō		tunga		tunga		zunga
Gen.sg.		tungōn(i)z		tuggōns		tungo		tungan		zungūn
Dat.sg.		tungōni		tuggōn		tungo		tungan		zungūn
Acc.sg.		tungōnun		tuggōn		tungo		tungan		zungūn
Nom.pl.		tungōniz		tuggōns		tungor		tungan		zungūn
Gen.pl.		tungōnom		tuggōnō		tungna		tungena		zungōno
Dat.pl.		tungomm(iz)		tuggōm		tungom		tungum		zungōm
Acc.pl.		tungōnz		tuggōns		tungor		tungan		zungūn

In the oblique cases the endings of the masculine may be compared with those of the feminine; except for the characteristic long stem vowel in the feminines, the two inflections are identical. In Old Norse the influence of the two inflections is reciprocal. Various explanations have been offered for the ū- vowel in the Old High German forms; by one of them it was introduced from the accusative singular in which the vowel resulted from u-modification, so that the Proto-Germanic accusative singular ending developed from -ōnum to -ūnum > -ūnu > -ūn. It then was taken over for the other cases in the singular and for the accusative plural.

3.2.4. The r- stems

In Proto-Indo-European the form of the stem in the r-stems varied considerably. With the strong tendency to regularization in Germanic, the variation gradually was eliminated; but regularization apparently was incomplete in Proto-Germanic: from the differing paradigms in the individual dialects, it seems that the process must have continued after the time of Proto-Germanic. Explanation of the individual forms is therefore problematic in the treatment of the dialects. The word atta has replaced the inherited word for father in Gothic except for one instance of the vocative form, fadar, so the word for brother is given here.

		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom.sg.		faðēr		brōþar		faþer		fæder		fater
Gen.sg.		faðrez		brōþrs		fǫþur		fæder(es)		fater(es)
Dat.sg.		faðer(i)		brōþr		feþr		fæder		fater(e)
Acc.sg.		faðerun		brōþar		fǫþur		fæder		fater
Nom.pl.		fað(e)riz		brōþrjus		feþr		fæderas		fatera
Gen.pl.		faðrōn		brōþrē		feþra		fædera		fatero
Dat.pl.		faðrumis		brōþrum		feþrum		fæderum		faterum
Acc.pl.		faðruns		brōþruns		feþr		fæderas		fatera

In the Gothic plural the nominative has adopted the u-stem ending, as have the dative and accusative, with -u- in the dative probably on the pattern of the accusative. In Old Norse the base vowel of the nominative plural was extended to the three other forms. The Old English and Old High German forms illustrate how endings of the o-stems were extended to other paradigms.

3.2.5. The nt- stems

A small number of nouns with the same suffix as that of the present participle preserved their autonomy in Proto-Germanic. The changes in base vowel in Old English provide evidence for the earlier inflection. In ON frændi 'relative' the back vowel of the nominative-accusative plural has been generalized to the other cases. The singular endings have been replaced by forms of the n-inflection; in Old English and Old High German the endings have been taken over from the o-stems as have the Gothic nominative and genitive singular, as well as the genitive and dative plural.

		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom.sg.		frijund		frijōnds		frændi		frēond		friunt
Gen.sg.		frijundiza		frijōndis		frænda		frēondes		friuntes
Dat.sg.		frijundi		frijōnd		frænda		frīend		friunte
Acc.sg.		frijundun		frijōnd		frænda		frēond		friunt
Nom.pl.		frijundiz		frijōnds		frændr		frīend		friunt
Gen.pl.		frijundōn		frijōndē		frænda		frēonda		friunto
Dat.pl.		frijundmiz		frijōndam		frændom		frēondum		friuntum
Acc.pl.		frijundunz		frijōnds		frændr		frīend		friunt

3.2.6. The s- stems

The s-inflection has been maintained even less distinctly than have the other consonantal declensions; it is chiefly of interest as a source of the prominent noun plural ending -er in Old High German and in the later language. While the stem suffix is attested in a few oblique singular forms in Old High German, one of them chalbire 'to the calf', the singular endings were in general replaced by those of the e/o-inflection, as also in Old English.

		PGmc		OE		OHG
Nom/Acc.sg.		lambaz		lamb		lamb
Gen.sg.		lambezaz		lambes		lambes
Dat.sg.		lambizi		lambe		lambe
Nom/Acc.pl.		lambazō		lombru		lembir
Gen.pl.		lambizōn		lombra		lembiro
Dat.pl.		lambizumiz		lombrum		lembirum

3.3. The Vowel Stems

In the vowel stems the endings were attached to specific vowels or to suffixes ending in vowels. In these declensions the forms developed distinctive endings. The resultant forms became the most prominent in the Germanic dialects. In masculine and neuter nouns the vowel was e/o; in the feminine nouns the vowel was ā in Proto-Indo-European. These have come to be used in the labels for the declensions concerned. Besides being suffixed to the roots of nouns, these vowels were also combined with resonants, to yield the suffixes -ye/o-, -yā- and -we/o-, -wā-. These came to have distinctive inflections in keeping with the allophonic variation of the resonants, e.g. [i y iy].

3.3.1. The o- stems

Masculine		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom.sg.		dagaz		dags		dagr		dag		tag
Gen.sg.		dagaza		dagis		dags		dages		tages
Dat.sg.		dagai		daga		dege		dæge		tage
Acc.sg.		dagan		dag		dag		dag		tag
Nom.pl.		dagōzez		dagōs		dagar		dagas		taga
Gen.pl.		dagōm		dagē		daga		daga		tago
Dat.pl.		dagamaz		dagam		dǫgom		dagum		tagum
Acc.pl.		daganz		dagans		daga		dagas		taga

Neuter		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom/Acc.sg.		wordan		waúrd		orð		word		wort
Nom/Acc.pl.		wordō		waúrda		orð		word		wort

The full reflex of the Proto-Germanic nominative singular ending is found in Runic inscriptions, e.g. Krogstad stainaz 'stone', and of the accusative singular, as in the form staina from the Tune inscription.

The genitive singular ending of the o-stems was -sa. It was added to both stem-vowels -a- and -e-. The -asa form has reflexes in the general North Germanic form, as in the Valsfjorden example godagas, and also in Old Saxon, e.g. dagas. The -esa form has reflexes in Gothic, and in the other West Germanic forms.

The dative form has the ending -i; PGmc -ai > -a in Gothic and -e in the other dialects. The accusative form underwent regular development.

In Old High German and Old Saxon some forms in -u are attested that are considered relic forms of the instrumental; the ending is derived from PIE -ō.

The nominative plural forms in Gothic, Old Norse, and Old High German are regular reflexes of the Proto-Germanic form. The Old English and Old Saxon forms on the other hand must have been derived from a longer form, such as PGmc -ōzez, which is parallel to the Vedic extended plural -āsas. By another explanation, the Germanic form may have arisen independently as a double plural like that in children.

The genitive plural forms reflect PIE -o-om > -ōm except for that of Gothic with -ēm. Numerous explanations have been proposed for -ēm, as from other PIE forms than genitives, but since the form occurs in Gothic alone it must have an explanation from patterning there. I assume it was a spontaneous change in which the front vowel ē was introduced in contrast with the back vowel of the nominative (Lehmann 1968).

The dative plural forms must be derived from the Proto-Indo-European instrumental ending -mis in view of the forms of the personal names Vatvims and Aflims recorded in inscriptions and Runic, e.g. Stentoften dat. pl. hagestumz 'stallions'.

The accusative plural forms in Gothic, Old Norse, and Old High German are direct reflexes of PIE -ons; the Old English form is based on the nominative.

The nominative/accusative neuter has the same origin as the accusative singular masculine; the -a is preserved in Gallehus horna. Similarly, the nominative/accusative plural has the same origin as the nominative singular feminine, i.e. PIE -ā > PGmc -ō. In North Germanic it developed first to -u, as indicated in the form bǫrn < *barnu; it was also maintained in the West Germanic dialects after short syllables, as in OE hofu. The genitive and dative neuter forms are like those of masculine nouns. The neuter genitive and dative forms are like those of masculine nouns.

3.3.2. The ā- stems

The suffix of the ā-stems developed in early Indo-European from -e/o- followed by a laryngeal. Initially, then, their inflection was like that of the e/o-stems, since the laryngeal consonant was comparable to others like s. As the laryngeal that modified vowels, it changed the preceding vowel to a, e.g. ah₂ > ā. The combination of the contracted ā with the endings led to considerable differences, as the following illustrate.

		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom.sg.		gebō		giba		gjǫf		giefu		geba
Gen.sg.		gebōz		gibōs		gjafar		giefe		gebā
Dat.sg.		gebāy		gibái		gjǫf		giefe		gebu
Acc.sg.		gebōn		giba		gjǫf		giefe		geba
Nom.pl.		gebōz		gibōs		gjafar		giefa		gebā
Gen.pl.		gebōn		gibō		gjafa		giefa		gebōno
Dat.pl.		gebōmiz		gibōm		gjǫfom		giefum		gebōm
Acc.pl.		gebōz		gibōs		gjafar		giefa		gebā

As these examples may indicate, most of the forms of this declension underwent regular changes in the dialects, though some forms within the declension were replaced, such as the Old Norse and Old English dative singular; the Old High German genitive singular was replaced by analogy with the Old High German accusative. In West Germanic, -u was lost after long syllables, as in OE ār 'honor'. The expected ending -u was preserved in the Opedal Runic form liubu 'dear'.

Other forms were replaced by those of another inflection. The Old Norse inflection introduced i-stem forms in the nominative and accusative plural gjafar. The Old High German genitive plural was taken over from the n-stems.

3.3.3. The yo- and yā- stems

The two suffixes were frequent in Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Germanic and did not lead to separate declensions until the allophonic system of the resonants broke down and the resultant phonemes underwent separate developments. Distinct declensions resulted, not only for the nouns ending in these suffixes as opposed to those ending in -o/ā-, but also for nouns with short as opposed to long stem syllables; /y/ would have had the allophone [y] after short stem syllables, [iy] after long. The paradigms illustrate the developments.

Masculine nouns with long stem vowels and -iyo-; PGmc herdiyas 'shepherd'

Long Stem		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom.sg.		herdiyas		haírdeis		hirðer		hierde		hirti
Gen.sg.		herdiyeza		haírdeis		hirðes		hierdes		hirtes
Dat.sg.		herdiyai		haírdja		hirðe		hierde		hirte
Acc.sg.		herdiyam		haírdi		hirðe		hierde		hirti
Nom.pl.		herdiyōzez		haírdjōs		hirðar		hierdas		hirte/-â
Gen.pl.		herdiyōm		haírdjē		hirða		hierda		hirt(e)o
Dat.pl.		herdiyamiz		haírdjam		hirðom		hierdum		hirtum
Acc.pl.		herdiyanz		haírdjans		hirða		hierdas		hirte/-a

Masculine nouns with short stem vowels and -yo-; PGmc heryaz 'army'

Short Stem		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom.sg.		heryaz		harjis		herr		here		heri (Neut.)
Gen.sg.		haryeza		harjis		herz		herijes		heries
Dat.sg.		haryai		harja		her		herije		herie
Acc.sg.		haryam		hari		her		here		heri
Nom.pl.		haryoz		harjos		hariar		herijas		heris
Gen.pl.		haryom		harje		heria		herija		herio
Dat.pl.		haryamiz		harjam		heriom		herijum		herium
Acc.pl.		haryanz		harjans		haria		herijas		heris

The difference between nouns with long and short stems is most clearly evident in the genitive singular forms. Upon the loss of the final vowel, the -e- before -s became -i-, yielding -iyis, -yis. In -iyis the -y- was lost, and the -ii- fell together with -ī-, as indicated by Gothic -ei-. In the short stems, -yis was maintained.

These inflections are also of interest in indicating the effects of analogy as sound changes disrupt the original alignments. In Gothic the nominative singular form harjis was remodeled on the form of the genitive after the pattern of the long stems. In Old High German the nominative singular form was probably taken over from the accusative. By the ninth century the -j- was lost; except for the mutated stem vowel and the nominative singular, the forms agreed with those of the o-stems.

3.3.4. The wo- and wā- stems

By the time of the dialects, these stems had merged with the -o/ā-stems. Old Norse stem vowels, however, illustrate the modifying effect of the suffix consonant, e.g. hǫrr < PGmc harwas 'flax'. Although subsequent sound changes and analogical modifications have given rise to complex paradigms, the Proto-Germanic inflections can be reconstructed with allophonic variations of -w- parallel to those of -y-. Proto-Germanic forms for harwas are given here; after long bases, the suffix would have been -uw-.

PGmc		Singular		Plural
Nom.		harwaz		harwōz
Gen.		harweza		harwōm
Dat.		harwai		harwamiz
Acc.		harwam		harwanz

3.3.5. The i- and u- stems

The -i- and -u- stems are comparable to the -o- stems, with -i- and -u- occupying the place of -o-. Their combinations with other vowels, however, led to differences. If the principal accent came to stand on the stem-vowel, the syllables would have had the shape -ey- in Proto-Indo-European; in this way the nominative plural differed from that of the o-stems, and is reconstructed as -ey-es. The suffix could also have o-grade, as in the feminine genitive singular, reconstructed as -oy-so-. The dative singular was taken over from the o-stems in Gothic.

i-stems		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom.sg.		gastis/z		gasts		gestr		gæst		gast
Gen.sg.		gastez		gastis		gests		gæstes		gastes
Dat.sg.		gastai		gasta		gest		gæste		gaste
Acc.sg.		gastin		gast		gest		gæst		gast
Nom.pl.		gastiyiz		gasteis		gester		gæstas		gesti
Gen.pl.		gastiyōn		gastē		gesta		gæsta		gestio
Dat.pl.		gastimz		gastim		gestom		gæstum		gestim
Acc.pl.		gastinz		gastins		geste		gæstas		gesti

The full reflex of the Proto-Germanic nominative ending is found only in Runic inscriptions, e.g. Gallehus hlewagastiz. In Old High German the stem vowel was lost after long stems before modification of the base vowel, so that the singular does not have umlaut. The feminine survives in a few forms, but in general it has merged either with the masculine or with other declensions.

u-stems		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom.sg.		sunuz		sunus		sunu		sunu		sun(u)
Gen.sg.		sunauz		sunáus		suna		suna		sunes
Dat.sg.		sunāu		sunáu		suna		suna		sune
Acc.sg.		sunun		sunu		sun		sunu		sun(u)
Inst.sg.		suniway								suniu
Nom.pl.		suniwiz		sunjus		suna		suna		suni
Gen.pl.		suniwōn		suniwē		suna		suna		suneo
Dat.pl.		sunumiz		sunum		sunum		sunum		sunim
Acc.pl.		sununz		sununs		suna		suna		suni

In the Tomstad Runic inscription the full ending of the nominative singular was maintained in waruz 'protection', and the accusative singular in the Kjølevig inscription form magu 'kinsman'. The singular endings are as expected, though the Old English dative is taken over from the genitive. The vocative singular, which survives in Gothic, has the same form as the accusative singular. The plural forms are also as expected, though with influences among them; the Old High German nominative has been taken over in the accusative, which, however, is still reflected in the form situ 'custom' in Otfrid.

Forms of neuter u-stems are found only in the singular in Gothic, e.g. nominative faíhu, genitive faíháus, dative faíháu 'cattle'; cf. also filu 'much'. In the other dialects they have fallen together with other declensions, or survive in relic forms.

3.3.6. Development of Noun Inflection in Proto-Germanic

The forms given above indicate the general course of development of noun inflection in Proto-Germanic: whereas in the early period the endings clearly distinguished the various cases, after the stress accent was introduced the endings were weakened and some were lost. As one result, the root noun inflection was virtually eliminated.

But as endings were lost, markers for case and number evolved from what were originally derivational suffixes. New inflections developed from these, such as the ye/yo-stems and especially the n-stems. Loss also contributed to a reduction of case forms. Evidence for the vocative survived only in Gothic and for the instrumental in a few paradigms, so these forms must have been reduced in use by late Proto-Germanic. While some scholars have assumed that the locative was the basis of many Proto-Germanic dative forms, it is more likely, in accordance with Meillet (1964:294), that a zero-grade form of the dative was the basis of these, so that the locative need not be recognized for Germanic generally. Similarly, the ablative need not be recognized on the basis of the few adverbial forms that have been accounted for as reflexes of it; the adverbial endings may have been independent of the ablative case, as supported by semantic evidence.

The changes in inflection of nouns were paralleled by those in pronouns, although these were more conservative in the retention of inherited categories. Both of these influenced the inflection of adjectives, as will be noted below.

3.4. Inflection of Pronouns

From comparison of the forms in the various Indo-European dialects, it is obvious that in early Proto-Indo-European there was no pronominal inflection paradigm, but instead a series of forms. For example, the base changes from the nominative to that of oblique forms, e.g. I vs. me, and what is more, the form of some of the most frequent pronouns, e.g. that for I, varies from dialect to dialect, cf. Skt ahám, Gk égō. Further, as a complete paradigm of demonstratives was introduced, the base selected varied from dialect to dialect; for example, the bases in Germanic differ from those in Italic. As a result of the relatively recent emergence of pronominal inflection in Indo-European, etyma are reconstructed here in Proto-Germanic for the pronouns actually attested, rather than on the basis of reconstructions in Proto-Indo-European.

It is instructive to recall the structural reasons for the infrequency of pronouns in early Proto-Indo-European; most important of these is the indication of subjects by verbal endings in the early language. When verb forms no longer distinguished subjects unambiguously, as when the first and third singular preterite indicative merged, pronouns came to be used more frequently. Similarly, as the affixes marking nominal cases merged, agreement was indicated by pronouns, and subsequently also by pronominal adjectives, which developed full inflections in the individual Indo-European dialects.

Moreover, the development of a strongly structured paradigm of the noun led to a similar paradigm for pronouns, in which various particles were added, such as ge in Greek (e)mége and Proto-Germanic mek(e) in the accusative, and by the "freezing" of a form in the genitive of personal pronouns, and so on.

The non-paradigmatic set of pronouns in Indo-European can be understood most readily from scrutiny of the Hittite pronoun, which was largely clitic. Although pronouns in Germanic maintain traces of their former clitic uses, in that they generally occupy positions in the sentence that do not carry primary stress, they may also be fully stressed. By the time copious material in the dialects becomes available, pronouns are among the most frequent forms, with fully developed paradigms; the forms reconstructed here for Proto-Germanic are based on these, even though they may be relatively recent, having become regularized as the pronominal paradigms emerged.

3.4.1. Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns are those without a noun as antecedent, as a consequence of which they lack gender. A full inflection, including dual forms, existed for first and second person; in addition the third person had three singular forms, used as reflexives, also for first and second person.

First Person Pronouns

1st Person		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom.sg.		eka		ik		ek		ic		ih
Gen.sg.		mīnō		meina		mīn		mīn		mīn
Dat.sg.		miza		mis		mēr		mē		mir
Acc.sg.		mike		mik		mik		mec, mē		mih
Nom.pl.		weys		weis		vēr		wē		wir
Gen.pl.		unserō		unsera		vār		ūser, ūre		unsēr
Dat.pl.		uns		uns(is)		oss		ūs		uns
Acc.pl.		uns		uns(is)		oss		ūs(ic)		unsih
Nom.du.		wet		wit		vit		wit
Gen.du.		unkerō		ugkara		okkar		uncer		unker
Dat.du.		unke		ugkis		okkr		unc
Acc.du.		unke		ugk(is)		okkr		unc(it)

The nominative singular posited is probably a reflex of PIE egom. In Runic inscriptions, besides the simple form ek, variants are attested, as in hate-ka 'my name is' (Lindholm) and haite-ga (Kragehul). The Kragehul form may be related to the Indo-European form with -gh, cf. Skt ahám. The Germanic variation in vowel reflects forms with primary stress, ON ek, and those with lesser degrees of it, OE ic.

The genitive singular form is based on the possessive adjective extended by a suffix, the source of which is unclear. In the dative singular PIE me was extended by a suffix that cannot be determined with assurance, possibly -so as in Umbrian seso. As noted above the accusative forms are reflexes of PIE me to which a particle -ge was added. Old English mē is taken over from the dative.

The nominative plural is based on PIE wey-, cf. Skt vay-ám 'we', to which the plural suffix was added in Germanic. In the genitive plural of the dialects other than Old Norse, the adjectival suffix -ero- was added to the base ns-, and the final -o was lengthened in parallel to that of the genitive singular. In Old Norse the suffix was added to the nominative base we(y)-. The different forms indicate the lateness of the formation. In the dative and accusative plurals, -is was extended from the dative in Gothic to the reflex of PIE ns-, cf. Skt nas, and -ih from the accusative in Old English and Old High German. These forms are instructive in indicating how Germanic pronominal forms were expanded.

The nominative dual form is based on PIE wed; similar reflexes are found in OCS vě and Lith. vèdu 'both of us'. Forms of the dual are not attested in Old High German, apart from one isolated instance, but reflexes of them survive in the contemporary Bavarian second plural: nominative os, genitive enker, accusative enk. The genitive dual has the same affix as the genitive plural. The dative and accusative dual endings were extended in Gothic and Old Norse by that of the dative plural.

Second Person Pronouns

The second singular forms are remarkably parallel to those of the first singular in development. Only the forms with special change will be discussed.

2nd Person		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Nom.sg.		þū		þū		þū		þū		dū, du
Gen.sg.		þīn		þeina		þīn		þīn		dīn
Dat.sg.		þeza		þus		þēr		þē		dir
Acc.sg.		þeke		þuk		þik		þe(c)		dih
Nom.pl.		yūs		jus		ēr		gē, gīe		ir
Gen.pl.		izwerō		izwara		yð(u)ar		ēower		iuwēr
Dat.pl.		(w)izwiz		izwis		yðr		ēow		iu
Acc.pl.		(w)izwiz		izwis		yðr		ēow(ic)		iuwih
Nom.du.		yut		jut		it		git
Gen.du.		inkerō		igqara		ykkar		incer
Dat.du.		inke		igqis		ykkr		inc
Acc.du.		inke		igqis		ykkr		inc(it)

In the accusative singular the -ge particle was added to te, as in the first person; in Gothic the vowel of the nominative was extended to the accusative.

For the nominative plural compare Avestan yūs, Lith. jū̃s. The vowel was modified after that of the first person in the dialects other than Gothic. In the dative and accusative plural forms PGmc wiz < PIE wes was reduplicated, possibly to distinguish it from the first person plural nominative. The initial w was lost by dissimilation, with *iRwiR > *iðwiR > yþr in Old Norse. In pre-Old English and Old High German *izwis > *iwis and thereupon the forms attested.

In the dual, the vowel of the nominative was modified after that of the first person pronoun in the dialects other than Gothic, while the oblique cases have the same suffixes as the first person pronouns.

The Reflexives

As in the other Indo-European dialects, the reflexive was used for all numbers and genders in the third person. It was not maintained, however, in Old English. For the first and second person, forms of the personal pronoun were employed, e.g. mik. For the third person PIE se- was extended with the endings of the first and second singular pronouns. The accusative was taken over for the dative in Old High German.

		PGmc		Go.		ON		OHG
Gen.		sīnō		seina		sīn		sīn
Dat.		sezo		sis		sēr		sih
Acc.		seke		sik		sik		sih

3.4.2. Demonstrative Pronouns

The most widespread demonstratives as well as definite articles in the Indo-European dialects are based on *so-/to-. Forms from *so- occur only in the masculine and feminine nominative singular; forms from *to-, elsewhere. These roots were originally sentence connectives, as application of their reflexes in Hittite and to some extent in Sanskrit show. In late Proto-Indo-European and early Proto-Germanic, endings were added to them and their forms were modified by analogy, especially in the Germanic dialects.

The demonstrative constructed on Proto-Germanic *sa-, *þa-

		PIE		PGmc		Go.		ON		OE		OHG
Masc.Nom.sg.		so		sa		sa		sā		sē		der
Masc.Gen.sg.		teso		þeza		þis		þess		þæs		des
Masc.Dat.sg.		tosmai		þam(m)ē/ō		þamma		þeim		þǣm		demu
Masc.Acc.sg.		tam		þan(ōn)		þana		þann		þone		den
Masc.Nom.pl.		toy		þay		þái		þeir		þā		dē, die
Masc.Gen.pl.		toyzōm		þayzōn		þizē		þeira		þǣra		dero
Masc.Dat.pl.		toymiz		þaymiz		þáim		þeim		þǣm		dēm
Masc.Acc.pl.		tonz		þanz		þans		þā		þā		dē, die
Neut.Nom/Acc.sg.		tod		þatō(m)		þata		þat		þæt		daz
Inst. (or Dat.) Sg.		tei		þ(i)ē/ō		þē		Dat. þvī, þī		Dat. þỹ		diu
Neut.Nom/Acc.pl.		tā		þō		þō		þau		þā		diu
Fem.Nom.sg.		sā		sō		sō		sū		sēo		diu
Fem.Gen.sg.		tesās		þezōz		þizōs