x

ABBREVIATIONS, ETC.

Goth.	= Gothic
Gr.	= Greek
HG.	= High German
Lat.	= Latin
MHG.	= Middle High German
NHG.	= New High German
OE.	= Old English
OHG.	= Old High German
OS.	= Old Saxon
P. Germ.	= Primitive Germanic
UF.	= Upper Franconian
UG.	= Upper German

The asterisk * prefixed to a word denotes a theoretical form, as MHG. wärmen from *warmjan, to warm.

In representing prehistoric forms the following signs are used:— þ (= th in Engl. thin), ð (= th in Engl. then), ƀ (= a bilabial spirant, which may be pronounced like the v in Engl. vine), ʒ (= g often heard in German sagen), χ (= NHG. ch and the ch in Scotch loch), ŋ (= n in Engl. sunk).

1

GRAMMAR

INTRODUCTION

§ 1.

MIDDLE HIGH GERMAN

Middle High German (MHG.) embraces the High German language from about the year 1100 to 1500. It is divided into three great dialect-groups: Upper German, Franconian, and East Middle German.

1. Upper German is divided into: (a) Alemanic, embracing High Alemanic (Switzerland), and Low Alemanic (South Baden, Swabia, and Alsace). (b) Bavarian, extending over Bavaria and those parts of Austria where German is spoken.

2. Franconian (West Middle German), which is subdivided into Upper Franconian and Middle Franconian. Upper Franconian consists of East Franconian (the old duchy of Francia Orientalis) and Rhenish Franconian (the old province of Francia Rhinensis), Middle Franconian extending over the district along the banks of the Moselle and of the Rhine from Coblence to Düsseldorf.

3. East Middle German, extending over: Thuringia, Upper Saxony, and Silesia.

Since it is impossible to deal with all these dialects in an elementary book like the present, we shall confine ourselves almost exclusively to Upper German, and shall only deal with that period of Middle High German which extends from about 1200 to 1300.

2

PHONOLOGY

CHAPTER I

THE VOWELS

§ 2. MHG. had the following simple vowels and diphthongs:—

Short vowels	a, ä, ë,	e, i, o, u, ö, ü.
Long vowels	ā, æ,	ē, ī, ō, ū, œ, iu.
Diphthongs		ei, ie, ou, uo, öu (eu), üe.

Note.— ë represents primitive Germanic e (= Gr. ε, Lat. e, as in Gr. δέκα, Lat. decem, MHG. zëhen, ten) and is generally written ë in Old and Middle High German grammars, in order to distinguish it from the OHG. umlaut-e (§ 10). The former was an open sound like the e in English bed, whereas the latter was a close sound like the é in French été. ä was a very open sound nearly like the a in English hat, and arose in MHG. from the i-umlaut of a (§ 10). Good MHG. poets do not rhyme Germanic ë with the umlaut-e, and the distinction between the two sounds is still preserved in many NHG. dialects. In like manner the modern Bavarian and Austrian dialects still distinguish between ä and ë. In the MHG. period ä, ë, and e were kept apart in Bavarian, but in Alemanic and Middle German ä and ë seem to have fallen together in ë or possibly ä, as the two sounds frequently rhyme with each other in good poets. MHG. texts do not always preserve in writing the distinction between the old umlaut-e and the MHG. umlaut-ä, both being often written e in the same text.

3

Pronunciation of the Vowels.

§ 3. The approximate pronunciation of the above vowels and diphthongs was as follows:—

a as in	NHG. mann	man, man.
ā„„	Engl. father	hāt, has.
ä„„	„man	mähte, powers.
æ„„	„air	lære, empty.
ë„„	„men	hëlfen, to help.
e„„	Fr. été	geste, guests.
ē„„	NHG. reh	sē, sea.
i„„	Engl. bit	biten, to beg.
ī„„	„ween	wīn, wine.
o„„	„pot	golt, gold.
ō„„	NHG. tot	tōt, dead.
u„„	Engl. put	guldīn, golden.
ū„„	„fool	hūs, house.
ö„„	NHG. löcher	löcher, holes.
œ„„	„schön	schœne, beautiful.
ü„„	„füllen	vüllen, to fill.
iu„„	„müde	hiuser, houses.
ei	= e + i	stein, stone.
ie	= i + e	knie, knee.
ou	= o + u	ouge, eye.
öu (eu)	= ö or e + ü	dröuwen, to threaten.
üe	= ü + e	grüeȥen, to greet.
uo	= u + o	bruoder, brother.

To the above list should be added the MHG. e in unaccented syllables, which mostly arose from the weakening of the OHG. full vowels, as OHG. zunga, tongue, hirti, shepherd, namo, name, fridu, peace = MHG. zunge, hirte, name, fride; OHG. habēn, to have, scōnī, beauty, salbōn, to anoint, zungūn, tongues = MHG. haben, schœne, salben, zungen. The e in this position was pronounced like the -e in NHG. zunge, name, friede, &c.

4

Phonetic Survey of the MHG. Vowel-system.

§ 4.

Palatal	Short ä, ë, e, i, ö, ü. Long æ,    ē, ī, œ, iu (= ü).
Guttural	Short a, o, u. Long ā, ō, ū.

The OHG. Equivalents of the MHG. Vowels.

§ 5. The following are the OHG. equivalents of the MHG. short vowels, long vowels and diphthongs of accented syllables:—

1. The short vowels a, ë, e, i, o, u = the corresponding OHG. short vowels, as tac, day, gast, guest, bant, he bound, gap, he gave = OHG. tag, gast, bant, gab.

wëc, way, nëmen, to take, zëhen, ten = OHG. wëg, nëman, zëhan.

geste, guests, lember, lambs, vert, he goes = OHG. gesti, lembir, ferit.

wiȥȥen, to know, hilfe, I help, visch, fish = OHG. wiȥȥan, hilfu, fisk.

got, God, wol, well, geholfen, helped = OHG. got, wola, giholfan.

sun, son, wurm, worm, gebunden, bound = OHG. sunu, wurm, gibuntan.

ä is the umlaut of a before certain consonant combinations which prevented umlaut from taking place in OHG., as mähte, powers, hältet, he holds, wärmen, to warm = OHG. mahti, haltit, warmen from *warmjan (§ 10). It also occurs in derivatives ending in -līch and -līn, as mänlīch, manly, tägelīch, daily, väterlīn, dim. of vater, father; and in words which originally had an i in the third syllable, the vowel of the second syllable having become i by assimilation, as mägede, maids, zäher(e), tears = OHG. magadi, zahari.

5

ö is the umlaut of OHG. o, as löcher, holes, möhte, I might = OHG. lohhir, mohti; götinne, goddess, beside got, God.

ü is the umlaut of OHG. u, as dünne, thin, süne, sons, züge, I might draw = OHG. dunni, suni, zugi.

2. The long vowels ā, ē, ī, ō, ū = the corresponding OHG. long vowels, as sāt, seed, slāfen, to sleep, nāmen, we took, dāhte, he thought = OHG. sāt, slāfan, nāmum, dāhta.

sēle, soul, mēre, more, lēren, to teach = OHG. sēla, mēro, lēren.

wīp, wife, sīn, his, bīȥen, to bite = OHG. wīb, sīn, bīȥan.

ōre, ear, tōt, death, kōs, I chose = OHG. ōra, tōd, kōs.

hūs, house, tūsent, thousand, dūhte, it seemed = OHG. hūs, dūsunt, dūhta.

æ is the umlaut of OHG. ā, as lære, empty, næme, thou tookest = OHG. lāri, nāmi.

œ is the umlaut of OHG. ō, as schœne, beautiful, hœher, higher, hœren, to hear = OHG. scōni, hōhiro, hōren from *hōrjan older *hausjan.

iu = (1) OHG. iu (diphthong), as liute, people, kiuset, he chooses = OHG. liuti, kiusit.

iu = (2) the umlaut of OHG. ū, as hiuser, houses, briute, brides = OHG. hūsir, brūti.

3. The diphthongs ei, ou, uo = the corresponding OHG. diphthongs, as bein, bone, leiten, to lead, schreip, I wrote = OHG. bein, leiten, screib.

ouge, eye, houbet, head, bouc, I bent = OHG. ouga, houbit, boug.

bruoder, brother, stuont, I stood, vuor, I went = OHG. bruoder, stuont, fuor.

ie = (1) OHG. ie (diphthong) older ia, ea, ē (Germanic ē), as hier, here, miete, pay, reward, gienc, I went = OHG. hier, mieta, gieng.

6

ie = (2) OHG. io (Germanic eu), as bieten, to offer, liep, dear = OHG. biotan, liob.

ie = (3) the OHG. io which occurs in the preterite of the old reduplicated verbs whose presents have ou, ō, uo (§ 87), as inf. loufen, to run, stōȥen, to push, ruofen, to call, preterite lief, stieȥ, rief = OHG. liof, stioȥ, riof.

ie = (4) Upper German iu (OHG. io) before labials and gutturals, as liup, dear, tiuf, deep, siuch, sick, liugen, to tell a lie = liep, tief, siech, liegen.

öu (eu) is the umlaut of OHG. ou, as löuber, leaves, löufel, runner = OHG. loubir, loufil.

üe is the umlaut of OHG. uo, as grüene, green, güete, goodness, vüere, thou didst go = OHG. gruoni, guotī, fuori.

Unaccented Vowels and Umlaut.

§ 6. The two most characteristic differences between OHG. and MHG. are: (1) the spread of umlaut (§ 10); (2) the weakening and partial loss of vowels in unaccented syllables.

1. The Weakening of Unaccented Vowels.

§ 7. The short vowels a, i, o, u, and the long vowels ē, ī, ō, ū were weakened to e. This e was pronounced like the final -e in NHG. leute, see § 3. Examples are:—

gëba, gift, hërza, heart, zunga, tongue, taga, days = MHG. gëbe, hërze, zunge, tage; heilag, holy, neut. blindaȥ, blind, nëman, to take = MHG. heilec, blindeȥ, nëmen.

kunni, race, generation, gesti, guests = MHG. künne, geste; kuning, king, beȥȥisto, best, dat. pl. gestim, to 7 guests, gen. pl. lembiro, of lambs, nimit, he takes = MHG. künec, beȥȥest (beste), gesten, lember(e), nimet.

haso, hare, nom. acc. pl. fem. blinto, blind, gen. pl. tago, of days = MHG. hase, blinde, tage; acc. sing. hason, hare = MHG. hasen.

fridu, peace, dat. sing. gëbu, to a gift, nimu, I take = MHG. fride, gëbe, nime; dat. pl. tagum, to days, nāmum, we took = MHG. tagen, nāmen.

Nom. sing. masc. blintēr, blind, unsēr, our, habēn, to have, nëmēm, we may take = MHG. blinder, unser, haben, nëmen.

scōnī, beauty = MHG. schœne; sālīg, blessed, nāmīm, we might take = MHG. sælec, næmen.

salbōn, to anoint, suohtōs(t), thou soughtest, dat. pl. gëbōm, hërzōm = MHG. salben, suohtes(t), gëben, hërzen.

Gen. dat. acc. sing., nom. acc. pl. zungūn = MHG. zungen.

§ 8. The vowel in suffixal and derivative syllables was generally weakened to e just as in the inflexional syllables, but in some suffixal and derivative syllables which had a secondary accent the vowel was not weakened to e. This was especially the case with derivatives in -ære (denoting nomina agentis), -inne, -inc (-ing), linc (-ling), diminutives in -īn and -līn, abstract nouns in -nisse (-nusse, -nüsse), -unge. In others the vowel fluctuated between the full vowel and e, as in -isch beside -esch; -ic (= OHG. -ag, and -ī̆g) beside -ec; superlative of adjectives -ist (= OHG. -ist) beside -est (= OHG. -ōst); -sal beside -sel. Beside the full forms -līch, -rīch occurred the shortened forms -lich, -rich.

The OHG. endings of the present participle -anti, -enti, -ōnti, ēnti regularly became -ende, but -ant occurs in a few old participles which had become nouns, as heilant, Saviour, wīgant, warrior, vīant beside vīent (vīnt), fiend, 8 enemy. Examples are: gartenære, gardener, schepfære, creator, schrībære, scribe.

küneginne, queen, vriundinne, female friend, wirtinne, mistress.

edelinc, son of a nobleman, hendelinc, glove, vingerlinc, ring; müedinc, unhappy man.

magedīn, little girl, vingerīn, ring; kindelīn, little child, vogelīn, little bird.

hindernisse, hindrance, verdërbnisse, destruction, vinsternisse, darkness, vancnüsse, captivity.

beȥȥerunge, improvement, handelunge, action, mëldunge, announcement.

himelisch, heavenly, irdisch, earthly, kindisch, childish, beside -esch.

heilic (OHG. heilag), holy, honic (OHG. honag, honig), honey, künic (OHG. cuning, cunig), king, manic (OHG. manag), many a, sælic (OHG. sālīg), blessed, beside -ec.

oberist beside oberest, highest.

kumbersal, distress, trüebsal, gloom, wëhsal beside wëhsel, change.

bitterlīch, bitterly, sicherlīch, surely, wīslīch, wisely, beside -lich.

Dietrīch, Heinrīch, beside -rich.

The OHG. pronominal ending of the nom. sing. fem. and the nom. acc. pl. neuter remained unweakened, as OHG. blintiu = MHG. blindiu (§ 55).

2. The Loss of Unaccented Vowels.

§ 9. The weakened e regularly disappeared:—

1. After l and r in dissyllables with short stems, as ar, older are (OHG. aro), eagle, acc. gen. dat. arn, beside name, name, namen; wol, older wole (OHG. wola), well; gar (OHG. garo), ready, milch (OHG. milih), milk, zal (OHG. zala), number; kil, quill, gen. kil(e)s, dat. kil, 9 pl. nom. acc. kil, dat. kil(e)n, beside tac, day, gen. tages, dat. tage, pl. nom. acc. tage, dat. tagen; bërn, to bear, stëln, to steal, nern, to rescue, pres. sing. stil, stils(t), stilt; ner, ners(t), nert, beside hœren, to hear, pres. sing. hœre, hœres(t), hœret.

2. After liquids and nasals in trisyllabic and polysyllabic forms with long stems, as sælde (OHG. sālida), blessedness, hērsen, hërsen (OHG. hērisōn), to rule, zierde (OHG. ziarida), adornment, wandelte (OHG. wantalōta), I wandered, zwīfeln (OHG. zwīfalōn), to doubt, wundern (OHG. wuntarōn), to wonder, schœnste (OHG. scōnisto), most beautiful, diente, diende (OHG. dionōta), I served; dienest, service, gen. dienstes; engel, angel, gen. engel(e)s, dat. engel(e), pl. nom. acc. gen. engel(e), dat. engel(e)n, and similarly with words like acker, acre, lūter, clear, buosem, bosom, heiden, heathen; grœȥer (OHG. grōȥiro), greater, fem. dat. sing. grœȥer (OHG. grōȥiru); dat. sing. blindem(e), blind, guotem(e), good = OHG. blintemu, guotemu; gen. pl. blinder(e) = OHG. blintero. After the analogy of forms with long stems it was also dropped in forms with short stems, as pl. nagel, nails, vogel, birds, beside nagele, vogele; wider beside widere (OHG. widaro), wether, dat. sing. disem(e), this, vadem(e), thread, gen. vadem(e)s.

There was however a strong tendency in MHG. for the medial vowel to disappear in trisyllabic forms with long stems irrespectively as to whether they contained a liquid or a nasal, as market, market, gen. marktes; rīchsen (OHG. rīchisōn), to rule, ahte (OHG. ahtōta), he observed, wartte, warte (OHG. wartēta), he waited, vrāgte beside vrāgete (OHG. frāgēta), he asked, dancte beside dankete (OHG. dankōta), he thanked. See § 92.

3. In the medial syllable of trisyllabic forms with long stems having liquids or nasals in successive syllables, as dīme beside dīneme (OHG. dīnemu), dat. of dīn, thy; 10 eime beside ein(e)me (OHG. einemu), dat. of ein, one; hērre, hërre (OHG. hēriro), master; minre beside minner(e) (OHG. minniro), less; tiurre (OHG. tiuriro), dearer.

4. Finally after a nasal, and medially after a nasal before a following t, in forms with short stems, as han(e), cock, nam(e), name, sun (OHG. sun, sunu), son, won(e), I dwell; man(e)t, he admonishes, won(e)t, he dwells, scham(e)t, he shames, nim(e)t, he takes, nëm(e)t, ye take; pret. won(e)te, scham(e)te. In these and similar forms the e was often restored through the influence of forms which regularly preserved the e.

Note.— The e, when not preceded by a nasal, was sometimes dropped in verbal forms ending in t. This was especially the case in wirst, wirt older wirdes(t), wirdet; siht, he sees, sëht, ye see, older sihet, sëhet; and often in forms like gilt, vint, spricht, sticht beside giltet, vindet, sprichet, stichet.

5. The superlative of adjectives often has double forms, the one with the loss of the medial e, and the other with the loss of the final e, as beste, best, ērste, first, grœste, greatest, leste, last, min(ne)ste, least, wir(se)ste, worst, beside beȥȥest(e), ērest(e), grœȥest(e), leȥȥest(e), minnest(e), wirsest(e), OHG. beȥȥisto, ēristo, grōȥisto, leȥȥisto, minnisto, wirsisto.

6. In the unstressed forms of dissyllables, as adv. ane, abe, mite, obe beside the prepositions an, on, ab, of, mit, with, ob, over; dat. sing. dëme, wëme, ime, beside dëm, wëm, im; unde, and, wande, for, because, beside und (unt), wan(d); hërre, vrouwe, beside hër, vrou before proper names and titles.

7. The e in the unaccented verbal prefixes be-, ge- often disappeared before l, n, r, as blīben, to remain, glīch, like, glit, member, glouben, to believe, gnāde, favour, gnanne, namesake, gnuoge, many, grade, quick, grëch, straight, 11 beside belīben, gelīch, gelit, gelouben, genāde, genanne, genuoge, gerade, gerëch; it disappeared before vowels during the OHG. period, as bange, anxious: ange, anxiously, gëȥȥan p.p. of ëȥȥan, to eat, gunnan, MHG. gunnen, günnen, to grant.

3. Umlaut.

§ 10. By umlaut is meant the modification (palatalization) of an accented vowel through the influence of an ī̆ or j which originally stood in the following syllable. The only vowel which underwent this change in OHG. was a, which became close e (§ 2, note).

The change is first met with in OHG. monuments about the middle of the eighth century. In the ninth century the process was practically complete except when the a was followed by certain consonant combinations which prevented umlaut from taking place. These consonant combinations were:—

1. ht, hs, or consonant + w, as maht, power, pl. mahti; wahsit, he grows, inf. wahsan; bi-scatwen from *-scatwjan, to shade.

2. In Upper German before l + consonant, before hh, ch (= Germanic k), and often before r + consonant, and before h (= Germanic h), as Upper German haltit beside Upper Franconian heltit, he holds, inf. haltan; UG. altiro beside UF. eltiro, older; UG. sachit beside UF. sehhit, he quarrels, inf. sachan, Goth. sakan; UG. warmen beside wermen, Goth. warmjan, to warm; UG. slahit beside slehit, he strikes, inf. OHG. slahan, Goth. slahan.

3. In words ending in -nissi, -nissa, or -līh, as firstantnissi, understanding; infancnissa, assumption; kraftlīh, strong; tagalīh, daily.

Umlaut must have taken place earlier in the spoken language than it is expressed in late OHG. and early 12 MHG. manuscripts, because the ī̆ which caused the umlaut was weakened to e in MHG. (§ 7) and j had disappeared except between vowels. The vowels and diphthongs which underwent umlaut in MHG. are a, o, u, ā, ō, ū, ou, uo. The umlaut of all these sounds was completed by about the year 1200.

a > e: gast, guest, pl. geste (OHG. gesti); lamp, lamb, pl. lember (OHG. lembir); inf. graben, to dig, pres. second and third pers. sing. grebes(t), grebet (OHG. grebis, grebit); lanc, long, beside lenge (OHG. lengī), length; brennen, Goth. brannjan, to burn; bette (OHG. betti), bed.

a > ä: From the twelfth century onwards the umlaut of a also occurs—often beside forms without umlaut—in words containing the consonant combinations which prevented umlaut from taking place in OHG., as pl. mähte (OHG. mahti), powers; geslähte (OHG. gislahti), race, generation; wähset (OHG. wahsit), he grows; wärmen (OHG. warmen, older *warmjan), to warm; Upper German älter (OHG. altiro), older; kälte (OHG. kaltī), coldness; hältet (OHG. haltit), he holds; äher (OHG. ahir), ear of corn; slähet (OHG. slahit), he strikes. It also occurs in derivatives ending in -līch, -līn, as mänlīch, manly, schämelīch, shameful, tägelīch, daily, väterlīch, fatherly, väterlīn, dim. of vater, father. It is likewise met with in MHG. words which originally had an i in the third syllable, the vowel of the second syllable having become i by assimilation, as frävele (OHG. frafali), bold, pl. mägede (OHG. magadi), maids, pl. zäher(e) (OHG. zahari), tears. See § 2, Note.

o > ö: Although ö, the umlaut of o, is common in MHG. and still commoner in NHG., yet all words containing this umlaut are really new formations due to levelling or analogy, because primitive Germanic u (§ 15) did not become o in OHG. when followed by an ī̆ or j in 13 the next syllable. Examples are: boc, he-goat, beside dim. böcklīn (OHG. pochilī); dorf, village, beside pl. dörfer; got, God, beside götinne, goddess; hof, court, beside hövesch, courtly; loch (OHG. loh), hole, beside pl. löcher (OHG. lohhir); tohter, daughter, beside dim. töhterlīn; pret. subj. möhte (OHG. mohti), I might; törste (OHG. torsti), I might dare.

u > ü: dünne (OHG. dunni), thin; künne (OHG. kunni), race, generation; pl. süne (OHG. suni), sons; tür (OHG. turi), door; pret. subj. züge (OHG. zugi), inf. ziehen, to draw.

Note.— In Upper German certain consonant combinations often prevented umlaut from taking place where it might be expected. Of these the principal are:—

1. Before a liquid + consonant, as hulde (OHG. huldī), favour; schuldec (OHG. sculdīg), guilty; gedultec (OHG. gidultīg), indulgent; burge (OHG. burgi), dat. of burc, city; sturbe (OHG. sturbi), pret. subj. of stërben, to die; wurfe (OHG. wurfi), pret. subj. of wërfen, to throw, cp. 2 above.

2. u fluctuates with ü when followed by a nasal + consonant, as dunken, to seem, umbe, about, wunne, joy, beside dünken, ümbe (OHG. umbi), wünne. This fluctuation is especially common in the pret. subjunctive, as bunde, sunge, beside bünde, sünge, inf. binden, to bind, singen, to sing.

3. u fluctuates with ü when followed by gg, ck, pf, tz, ȥȥ, st, ch, and g, as brugge, brügge, brucke, brücke, bridge; mugge, mügge, mucke, mücke, midge; drucken, drücken, to press; hupfen, hüpfen, to hop; schupfen, schüpfen, to push; nutzen, nützen, to use; pret. subj. fluȥȥe, flüȥȥe; schuȥȥe, schüȥȥe, inf. flieȥen, to flow, schieȥen, to shoot; pl. bruste, brüste, breasts; kuchen, küchen, kitchen; pret. subj. fluge, flüge, inf. fliegen, to fly.

ā > æ: lære (OHG. lāri), empty; mære (OHG. māri), renowned; sæjen (OHG. sājan), to sow; pret. subj. næme (OHG. nāmi), pl. næmen (OHG. nāmīm), inf. nëmen, to take.

14

ō > œ: hœher (OHG. hōhiro), higher; hœhest (OHG. hōhisto), highest; hœren (OHG. hōren, from older *hōrjan), to hear; schœne (OHG. scōni), beautiful.

ū > iu: pl. briute (OHG. brūti), brides; hiuser (OHG. hūsir), houses.

Traces of the umlaut of ū, written iu (= ǖ), occur in late OHG. monuments of the tenth century. It is common in the writings of Notker († 1022), as hiute older hūti, skins; chriuter older chrūtir, herbs. In other writings of the tenth to the twelfth century the umlaut of ū is seldom found. Umlaut did not take place in Upper German before a following m, as rūmen from *rūmjan, to make room; sūmen from *sūmjan, to tarry.

ou > öu, often written eu, rarely oi, öi: löufel (OHG. loufil), runner; löuber (OHG. loubir), leaves.

Umlaut of ou did not take place in the combination ouw = OHG. ouw, auw, West Germanic aww, primitive Germanic awj, as frouwe (OHG. frouwa, prim. Germanic *frawjō-), woman; ouwe (OHG. ouwa, auwia, prim. Germanic *a(ʒ)wjō-), meadow; frouwen (OHG. frouwen, prim. Germanic *frawjan), to rejoice, and similarly douwen, to digest, drouwen, to threaten, strouwen, to strew. Forms like fröuwen, döuwen, dröuwen, ströuwen were analogical formations due to the influence of the pres. second and third pers. singular and the preterite which regularly had umlaut; see the Author’s Historical German Grammar, § 232.

Umlaut of ou did not take place in Upper German before labials and g, as erlouben, to allow, gelouben, to believe, houbet, head, koufen, to buy, troumen, to dream, toufen, to baptize, bougen, to bend, ougen, to show, beside Middle German erlöuben, gelöuben, höubet, köufen, tröumen, töufen, böugen, öugen.

uo > üe: grüene (OHG. gruoni), green; güete (OHG. guotī), goodness; vüeȥe (OHG. fuoȥi), feet; pret. pl. subj. 15 vüeren (OHG. fuorīm), we might go, inf. varn, to fare, go; buoch, book, dim. büechlīn; muoter, mother, dim. müeterlīn.

The MHG. Equivalents of the OHG. Vowels.

§ 11. OHG. had the following short vowels, long vowels, and diphthongs:—

Short Vowels	a, e, ë,	i,	o,	u.
Long Vowels	ā, ē,	ī,	ō,	ū.
Diphthongs	ei,	ie (ia, ea), io (eo),     iu.	ou (au),	uo.

The following are the MHG. equivalents of the above simple vowels and diphthongs in accented syllables:—

1. The short vowels: Apart from the changes caused by umlaut, viz. a to ä, o to ö, u to ü (§ 10), and of ë to e before certain consonants, the OHG. short vowels remained in MHG., as

a = (1) MHG. a, as OHG. fater, father, tag, day, faran, to go = MHG. vater, tac, varn.

a = (2) MHG. ä, in words containing the consonant combinations which prevented umlaut from taking place in OHG., as OHG. mahti, powers, kaltī, coldness, ahir, ear of corn, warmen, to warm = MHG. mähte, kälte, äher, wärmen, see § 10.

e = MHG. e, as OHG. gesti, guests, lembir, lambs, brennen, to burn = MHG. geste, lember, brennen.

ë = (1) MHG. ë, as OHG. wëg, way, hëlfan, to help, stëlan, to steal = MHG. wëc, hëlfen, stëln.

ë = (2) MHG. e, before st, sch, and palatal g, as OHG. nëst, nest, swëster, sister = MHG. nest, 16 swester; and similarly, gestern, yesterday, deste, all the more, weste, I knew, dreschen, to thrash, leschen, to go out, degen, warrior; and also in a few words before a following l, as helm, helmet, vels, rock, welch, which, &c.

i = MHG. i, as OHG. fisk, fish, nimu, I take, wiȥȥan, to know = MHG. visch, nime, wiȥȥen.

o = (1) MHG. o, as OHG. got, God, p.p. giholfan, helped, tohter, daughter = MHG. got, geholfen, tohter.

o = (2) MHG. ö, as OHG. lohhir, holes, mohti, I might = MHG. löcher, möhte.

u = (1) MHG. u, as OHG. sunu, sun, son, butum, we offered, buntum, we bound = MHG. sun, buten, bunden.

u = (2) MHG. ü, as OHG. dunni, thin, suni, sons = MHG. dünne, süne.

2. The long vowels: Apart from the changes caused by umlaut, viz. ā to æ, ō to œ, and ū to iu (§ 10), the OHG. long vowels remained in MHG., as

ā = (1) MHG. ā, as OHG. sāt, seed, slāfan, to sleep, dāhta, I thought = MHG. sāt, slāfen, dāhte.

ā = (2) MHG. æ, as OHG lāri, empty, nāmi, I might take = MHG. lære, næme.

ē = MHG. ē, as OHG. ēra, honour, lēren, to teach, sēla, soul = MHG. ēre, lēren, sēle.

ī = MHG. ī, as OHG. sīn, his, wīb, woman, snīdan, to cut = MHG. sīn, wīp, snīden.

ō = (1) MHG. ō, as OHG. ōra, ear, tōd, death, kōs, I chose = MHG. ōre, tōt, kōs.

ō = (2) MHG. œ, as OHG. hōhiro, higher, hōren, to hear, scōni, beautiful = MHG. hœher, hœren, schœne.

ū = (1) MHG. ū, as OHG. hūs, house, rūm, room, dūhta, it seemed = MHG. hūs, rūm, dūhte.

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ū = (2) MHG. iu, as OHG. hūsir, houses, brūti, brides = MHG. hiuser, briute.

3. The diphthongs:

ei = MHG. ei, as OHG. bein, bone, leiten, to lead, sneid, I cut = MHG. bein, leiten, sneit.

ie (older ia, ea = Germanic ē) = MHG. ie, as OHG. hier, here, mieta, reward, hielt, I held, hieȥ, I called, slief, I slept = MHG. hier, miete, hielt, hieȥ, slief.

io (eo) = Germanic eu (§ 16), and the io (eo) in the preterites of the old reduplicated verbs whose presents have ou, ō, uo (§ 87).

io (eo) = MHG. ie, as OHG. liob, dear, biotan, to offer = MHG. liep, bieten; OHG. liof, I ran, stioȥ, I pushed, riof, I called = MHG. lief, stieȥ, rief.

iu = MHG. ǖ written iu, as OHG. liuti, people, kiusit, he chooses = MHG. liute, kiuset.

ou (older au) = (1) MHG. ou, as OHG. ouga, eye, boug, I bent, loufan, to run = MHG. ouge, bouc, loufen.

ou (older au) = (2) MHG. öu (eu), as OHG. loubir, leaves, loufil, runner = MHG. löuber, löufel.

uo = (1) MHG. uo, as OHG. bruoder, brother, muoter, mother, stuont, I stood = MHG. bruoder, muoter, stuont.

uo = (2) MHG. üe, as OHG. gruoni, green, fuoȥi, feet, = MHG. grüene, vüeȥe.

Ablaut (Vowel Gradation).

§ 12. By ablaut is meant the gradation of vowels both in stem and suffix, which was chiefly caused by the primitive Indo-Germanic system of accentuation. See the Author’s Historical German Grammar, § 23.

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The vowels vary within certain series of related vowels, called ablaut-series. In MHG. there are six such series, which appear most clearly in the stem-forms of strong verbs. Four stem-forms are to be distinguished in a MHG. strong verb which has vowel gradation as the characteristic mark of its different stems:—(1) the present stem, to which belong all the forms of the present, (2) the stem of the first or third person of the preterite singular, (3) the stem of the preterite plural, to which belong the second person of the preterite singular and the whole of the preterite subjunctive, (4) the stem of the past participle.

By arranging the vowels according to these four stems we arrive at the following system:—

	i.	ii.	iii.	iv.
I.	ī	ei, ē	i	i
II.	ie	ou, ō	u	o
III.	i, ë	a	u	u, o
IV.	ë	a	ā	o
V.	ë	a	ā	ë
VI.	a	uo	uo	a

Note.—1. On the difference between ei and ē, see § 17; ou and ō, § 18; and in Series III i and ë, § 14; u and o, § 15.

2. Strong verbs belonging to Series II have iu in the indicative pres. singular; and strong verbs belonging to Series III-V with ë in the infinitive have i in the indicative pres. singular (§§ 14, 16).

Examples.

I.	snīden, to cut	snīde	sneit	sniten	gesniten;
	līhen, to lend	līhe	lēch	lihen	gelihen.
II.	biegen, to bend	biuge	bouc	bugen	gebogen;
	sieden, to seethe	siude	sōt	suten	gesoten.
III.	binden, to bind	binde	bant	bunden	gebunden;
	hëlfen, to help	hilfe	half	hulfen	geholfen.
19 IV.	nëmen, to take	nime	nam	nāmen	genomen.
V.	gëben, to give	gibe	gap	gāben	gegëben.
VI.	graben, to dig	grabe	gruop	gruoben	gegraben.

For further examples see the various classes of strong verbs §§ 76-86. Class VII of strong verbs embracing the old reduplicated verbs (§ 87) has been omitted from the ablaut-series, because the exact relation in which the vowel of the present stands to that of the preterite has not yet been satisfactorily explained.

Other Vowel Changes.

§ 13. Most of the following vowel changes took place in prehistoric times; but as they play an important part in the verbs and word-formation, &c., we shall give them here.

§ 14. ë (= Indo-Germanic e) became i in the prehistoric period of all the Germanic languages:—

1. Before a nasal + consonant, as OE. wind, OHG. MHG. wint, Lat. ventus, wind; OHG. fimf, finf, Gr. πέντε, five. This explains why verbs like MHG. binden, to bind, rinnen, to run, singen, to sing, belong to the same ablaut-series as hëlfen, to help, wërden, to become.

2. Before other consonants when followed by an ī̆ or j in the next syllable, and further in OHG. when followed by an u in the next syllable, as OHG. MHG. ist, Gr. ἐστί, is; OHG. fihu, Lat. pecu, cattle; ërde (OHG. ërda), earth, but irdīn, earthen; ligen (OHG. liggen from *ligjan), to lie down, sitzen (OHG. sitzen from *sitjan), to sit, but p.p. gelëgen (OHG. gilëgan), gesëȥȥen (OHG. gisëȥȥan). This explains why strong verbs belonging to the fourth (§§ 12, 82) and fifth (§§ 12, 83) ablaut-series have i throughout the present singular, and similarly in verbs belonging to the third (§§ 12, 81) series with ë in the infinitive, as

20

OHG. nëman, to take,	three persons sing.	nimu, nimis(t), nimit.
MHG. nëmen,„	„„„	nime, nimes(t), nimet.
OHG. gëban, to give,	„„„	gibu, gibis(t), gibit.
MHG. gëben,„	„„„	gibe, gibes(t), gibet.
OHG. hëlfan, to help,	„„„	hilfu, hilfis(t), hilfit.
MHG. hëlfen,„	„„„	hilfe, hilfes(t), hilfet.

§ 15. u, followed originally by an ā̆, ō̆, or ē in the next syllable, became o when not protected by a nasal + consonant or an intervening ī̆ or j; hence the interchange between u and o in the preterite plural and past participle of verbs belonging to the second ablaut-series (§§ 12, 78), as bugen (OHG. bugum), we bent, p.p. gebogen (OHG. gibogan); in the p.p. of verbs belonging to the third ablaut-series (§§ 12, 81), as gebunden (OHG. gibuntan), but geholfen (OHG. giholfan); in weak verbs as fürhten (OHG. furhten from *furhtjan), to fear, beside pret. vorhte (OHG. forhta); hügen (OHG. huggen from *hugjan) beside hogen (OHG. hogēn), to think; in preterite presents like durfen (OHG. durfum), we dare, beside pret. dorfte (OHG. dorfta); in many nouns and adjectives, as wolle (OHG. wolla), wool, beside wüllīn, wullīn, woollen; wolf (stem *wulfo-), wolf, beside wülpinne, she-wolf; vol, full, beside vülle (OHG. fullī), fulness; golt, gold, beside guldīn, golden.

§ 16. From primitive Germanic eu were developed two different diphthongs in OHG., viz. eu became eo (cp. § 15), later io, when originally followed by an ā̆, ō̆, or ē in the next syllable, and this io was regularly developed to ie 21 in MHG.; whereas eu became iu in OHG. when originally followed by an ī̆, j or u in the next syllable, and this iu became ǖ (written iu) in MHG., even after the ī̆, j or u had been weakened to e. This law explains the difference between the diphthong ie in the infinitive and the simple vowel iu (= ǖ) in the three persons singular of the present indicative of verbs belonging to the second ablaut-series (§§ 12, 78), as

OHG. biogan, to bend,	pres. sing.	biugu, biugis(t), biugit;
MHG. biegen,„	„„	biuge, biuges(t), biuget.

Cp. further tief (OHG. tiof), deep, beside OHG. tiufī, depth; lieht (OHG. lioht), a light, beside liuhten (OHG. liuhten from *liuhtjan), to light.

Note.— The iu in the above and similar examples must not be confounded with the iu in the OHG. and MHG. combination iuw which arose from prim. Germanic eww (= euw), and ewj, as triuwe (OHG. triuwi, Goth. triggws), true; triuwen, trūwen, to trust, pret. triuete, triute, trūte; riuwe (OHG. riuwa), regret, bliuwen (OHG. bliuwan, Goth. bliggwan), to strike, and similarly, briuwen, to brew, kiuwen, to chew, riuwen, to regret; niuwe (OHG. niuwi, Goth. niujis, prim. Germanic stem-form *newja-), new. This iu before w never interchanged with MHG. ie from prim. Germanic eu, and explains why the strong verbs bliuwen, &c. have iu in all forms of the present.

§ 17. Accented primitive Germanic ai (= Goth. ái) became ē in OHG. before r, w, Germanic h (cp. § 23, 1), and finally; in MHG. it appears also as ē before the same consonants and finally, as mēre, mēr (OHG. mēro, Goth. máiza), more, lēren (OHG. lēren, Goth. láisjan), to teach; sēle (OHG. sēla, older sēula, Goth. sáiwala), soul; snē (OHG. snēo, Goth. snáiws), snow, gen. OHG. and MHG. snēwes; spīwen, to spit, pret. spē (OHG. spēo, Goth. spáiw); dīhen, to thrive, pret. dēch (OHG. dēh, Goth. dáih); wē (OHG. wē, Goth. wái), woe!; in all other cases ai became ei in both OHG. and MHG., as stein 22 (Goth. stáins), stone, heiȥen (OHG. heiȥan, Goth. háitan), to call; snīden, to cut, pret. sneit (OHG. sneid, Goth. snáiþ). This accounts for the difference between the ei and ē in the preterite singular of strong verbs belonging to the first ablaut-series (§§ 12, 76).

§ 18. Primitive Germanic au became ō in OHG. before the consonants d, t, ȥ, s, n, r, l, and Germanic h (cp. 23, 1). Before other consonants and finally au became ou in the ninth century. Hence the difference between ō and ou in the preterite singular of strong verbs belonging to the second ablaut-series (§§ 12, 78), as:—

Infinitive	bieten, to offer,	pret. sing.	bōt
„	sieden, to seethe,	„„	sōt
„	kiesen, to choose,	„„	kōs
„	dieȥen, to roar,	„„	dōȥ
„	vliehen, to flee,	„„	vlōch (OHG. flōh);
but„	biegen, to bend,	„„	bouc
„	klieben, to cleave	„„	kloup.

CHAPTER II

THE CONSONANTS

1. Pronunciation of the Consonants.

§ 19. The MHG. consonant-system was represented by the following letters: b, c, ch, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, sch, t, v, w, (x), z, ȥ.

The letters k, l, m, n, p, t, w, (x) had nearly the same sound-values as in English. The remaining letters require special attention.

When the pronunciation of consonants merely differs in the intensity or force with which they are produced, 23 they are called fortes or lenes according as they are produced with more or less intensity or force. In MHG. the consonants b, d, g were not voiced explosives like English b, d, g, but were voiceless lenes, and only differed from the fortes p, t, k in being produced with less intensity or force, see § 33. A similar difference in pronunciation existed between antevocalic and intervocalic v, s and final f, s, see § 33.

c and k represented the same sound. The latter was generally used at the beginning, and the former at the end of a syllable, as kunst, art; trinken, to drink, senken, to sink (trans.), pret. tranc, sancte.

ch had the same sound as in NHG. nacht, noch, as sprechen, to speak, pret. sprach; hōch, high.

f had a twofold pronunciation in the oldest HG. It was a labiodental when it arose from Germanic f (cp. OHG. fater, English father), and bilabial when it arose from Germanic p (cp. inf. OHG. slāfan, English sleep), but during the OHG. period the bilabial f became labiodental. The two kinds of f did not however completely fall together in pronunciation. f = Germanic f became a lenis initially before and medially between vowels, and was often written v in the former and generally v in the latter position, but remained a fortis—written f—when final. In MHG. it was also often written f initially before l, r, u, as fliehen, to flee, fride, peace, fünf, five, beside vliehen, vride, vünf. On the other hand f = Germanic p (§ 23, 1), which only occurred medially and finally, was a fortis and was always written f (ff), as slāfen, to sleep, pret. slief; tief, deep, schif (gen. schiffes), ship, offen, open. The two f sounds thus fell together when final, but the distinction between the two sounds was still preserved in MHG. in the intervocalic position, as hof, court, schif, ship, but gen. hoves, schiffes.

h before and after consonants was pronounced like ch, 24 as fuhs, fox, naht, night, bevëlhen, to confide. In other cases it had the same sound as the h in English hat.

j had nearly the same sound as the y in English yet, as jār, year, junc, young; blüejen, to blossom.

q occurred only in combination with u as in English, as quëc, quick, alive, quëden, to say.

r was a trilled sound in all positions like Scotch r, as rōt, red, hart, hard, bërn, to bear, vater, father.

s was a lenis medially between vowels and probably also initially before vowels, but a fortis in other positions, as sun, son, wësen, to be, pret. was, bresten, to burst. It may be pronounced like the s in English sit.

sch was like the sh in English ship, as schif, ship, geschëhen, to happen, visch, fish.

v was a voiceless lenis, and may be pronounced like the v in NHG. voll. See f.

w was pronounced like the w in English wet, as wīn, wine, bliuwen, to strike.

z and ȥ were not distinguished in MHG. manuscripts, both being written z. Both z and ȥ (but ȥȥ medially between vowels when the first vowel was short) arose from Germanic t (see § 23). z had the sound-value of ts (= NHG. z): (a) always initially, as zīt, time; (b) medially and finally after consonants (l, m, n, r), as holz (gen. holzes), wood, hërze, heart, smërze, pain, ganz, whole; (c) finally after vowels (= Germanic tt) in those words which change final z to tz when it becomes medial, as schaz (gen. schatzes), OE. sceatt, money, treasure. MHG. intervocalic tz always arose from older tt, as setzen = OE. settan, to set. ȥ was a kind of lisped s and only occurred medially between and finally after vowels, as bīȥen, to bite, ëȥȥen, to eat, haȥ, hatred. It should be noted that good MHG. poets never rhymed pairs of words like was, was, and waȥ, what; missen, to miss, and wiȥȥen, to know.

25

ph and pf represent the same sound, viz. the pf in NHG. pfund, pound.

§ 20. MHG. has the following double consonants medially between vowels: bb, gg; pp, tt, ck; ff, ss, ȥȥ; mm, nn; ll, rr. They were always pronounced long as in Italian and Swedish, as bit-ter, bitter, ëȥ-ȥen, to eat, küs-sen, to kiss, müg-ge, midge, rin-nen, to run. In NHG. double consonants are never long, they merely indicate that the preceding vowel is short.

§ 21. Phonetic Survey of the MHG. Consonants.

	Labial.	Dental.	Guttural.
Voiceless explosives	fortis p, pp lenis b, bb	t, tt d	k, ck g, gg
Spirants	fortis f, ff lenis v	s, ss, sch, ȥ, ȥȥ s	h, (ch)
Nasals	m, mm	n, nn	n (= ŋ)
Liquids		l, ll; r, rr
Semi-vowels	w, j (palatal)

To the above must be added the aspirate h and the affricatae (i.e. an explosive + a homorganic spirant) z (i.e. ts) and pf (ph).

2. Consonant Changes.

§ 22. The most characteristic difference between High German and the other West Germanic languages is the shifting which the consonants p, t, k, þ; pp, tt, kk, þþ; b (ƀ), d, g (ʒ); bb, dd, gg underwent partly in the prehistoric and partly in the historic period of Old High German. In the following treatment of what is generally called the High German sound-shifting only such points are considered as are of importance for the purposes of this book. See Old High German Primer, §§ 82-6.

26

§ 23. The voiceless explosives p, t, k underwent a two-fold treatment according to their position in the word: (1) Medially or finally after vowels; (2) Initially, medially and finally after consonants (l, m, n, r), and when doubled.

Note.— p, t, k remained unshifted in the combinations sp, st, sk as also t in the combinations tr, ht, ft.

1. Single p, t, k were shifted to the voiceless double spirants ff, ȥȥ, hh (also written ch) = MHG. ff (f), ȥȥ (ȥ), ch.

p > ff. OE. open, OHG. offan, MHG. offen, open; OE. slǣpan, OHG. slāffan, MHG. slāfen, to sleep; OE. ūp, OHG. MHG. ūf, up.

t > ȥȥ. OE. etan, OHG. ëȥȥan, MHG. ëȥȥen, to eat; OE. hātan, OHG. heiȥȥan, MHG. heiȥen, to call; OE. hwæt, OHG. hwaȥ, MHG. waȥ, what. In a few cases the ȥ, ȥȥ became s in MHG. before t or st, as pret. saste from saȥte: setzen, to set; beste, best, leste, last = OHG. beȥȥisto, leȥȥisto.

k > hh. OE. ic, OHG. ih, MHG. ich, I; OE. sprecan (specan), OHG. sprëhhan, MHG. sprëchen, to speak; OE. tācen, OHG. zeihhan, MHG. zeichen, token. This ch must not be confused with the MHG. h, ch which corresponded to Indo-Germanic k (= Germanic h), as ziehen, to draw, lead, pret. zōch, cp. Lat. dūcō, I lead, see § 34.

The double consonants were simplified in OHG. and MHG. according to § 32.

2. p, t initially, medially and finally after consonants (l, m, n, r), and when doubled, were shifted to the affricatae pf (also written ph), tz (generally written zz and z) = MHG. pf (ph), tz (z).

p > pf. OE. pund, OHG. MHG. pfunt, pound; OE. gelimpan, OHG. gilimpfan, MHG. gelimpfen, to be meet; 27 OE. scieppan, OHG. skepfen, MHG. schepfen, to create. The pf became f after l and r already in OHG., as hëlfan, MHG. hëlfen, OE. helpan, to help; wërfan, MHG. wërfen, OE. weorpan, to throw.

t > z. OE. tunge, OHG. zunga, MHG. zunge, tongue; OE. heorte, OHG. hërza, MHG. hërze, heart; OE. sealt, OHG. MHG. salz, salt; OE. sittan, OHG. sizzen, sitzen, MHG. sitzen, to sit; OE. sceatt, OHG. scaz (gen. scazzes, scatzes), MHG. schaz (gen. schatzes), money, treasure.

k, kk (written ck) remained unshifted (except in High Alemanic), as OE. corn, OHG. MHG. korn, corn; OE. cnēo, OHG. kneo, MHG. knie, knee; OE. sincan, OHG. sinkan, MHG. sinken, to sink, pret. sanc; OE. þeccan, OHG. MHG. decken, to cover.

§ 24. þ became d, and þþ became tt, as OE. þorn, OHG. MHG. dorn, thorn; OE. brōþor, OHG. MHG. bruoder, brother. OE. smiþþe, OHG. smitta, MHG. smitte, smithy; OE. moþþe, late MHG. motte, moth.

§ 25. The voiced explosives b, d, g, and the voiced spirants ƀ, ʒ did not undergo the same universal shifting as the voiceless explosives. ƀ, ʒ became b, g. b, g remained, and d became t, as OE. brōþor, OHG. MHG. bruoder, brother; OE. bēodan, OHG. biotan, MHG. bieten, to offer; Goth. giban (= giƀan), OHG. gëban, MHG. gëben, to give. OE. dohtor, OHG. MHG. tohter, daughter; OE. bēodan, OHG. biotan, MHG. bieten, to offer; OE. dēad, OHG. MHG. tōt, dead. OE. gōd, OHG. MHG. guot, good; OE. flēogan, OHG. fliogan, MHG. fliegen, to fly.

§ 26. The double consonants bb, dd, gg = OHG. pp (bb), tt, cc (gg), and MHG. pp (bb), tt, ck (gg), as OE. sibb, OHG. sippa (sibba), MHG. sippe (sibbe), relationship; OE. cribb, OHG. krippa (kribba), MHG. krippe (kribbe), crib. OE. biddan, OHG. bitten, MHG. bitten, 28 later biten, to request; OE. þridda, OHG. dritto, MHG. dritte, later drite, third. OE. brycg, OHG. brucca (brugga), MHG. brücke (brügge), bridge. The fluctuation in the writing of pp and bb, ck and gg is merely orthographical, and does not represent a difference in pronunciation. Both pairs were used to express the lenes medially between vowels. For other examples see § 31.

§ 27. The summary of the consonantal changes in §§ 23-6 may be expressed as follows:—

West Germanic.	MHG.
p; t; k; þ	= ff (f), pf;	ȥȥ (ȥ), z;	ch; d.
pp; tt; kk; þþ	= pf;	tz (z);	ck; tt.
b (ƀ); d; g (ʒ)	= b;	t;	g.
bb; dd; gg	= pp (bb);	tt;	ck (gg).

§ 28. The following sound-changes took place in primitive Germanic:—Every labial + t became ft; every guttural + t became ht; every dental + t became ss, which was simplified to s after long vowels. This explains the frequent interchange in MHG. between pf, b and f; between k, g and h; and between ȥȥ, ȥ and ss, s in forms which are etymologically related.

pf, b—f. schepfen, to create: geschaft, creature; gëben, to give: gift, gift; wëben, to weave: English weft.

k, g—h. würken, to work: pret. worhte; denken, to think: pret. dāhte; mugen (mügen), to be able: pret. mohte; bringen, to bring: pret. brāhte.

ȥȥ, ȥ—ss, s. gieȥen, to pour: güsse, inundation; wiȥȥen, to know: pret. wisse (wiste): wīs, wise; muoȥ, must: pret. muose (muoste); ëȥȥen, to eat: ās, carrion. Preterites like wiste, muoste were formed after the analogy of preterites like worhte, dāhte, where the t was regular.

§ 29. The guttural nasal ŋ (written n) only occurred in 29 the combinations nk (nc) and ng. It disappeared before h (= prim. Germanic χ) in primitive Germanic with lengthening of a preceding short vowel, as vāhen from prim. Germanic *faŋχanan, to seize, catch, beside p.p. gevangen; and similarly hāhen, to hang, p.p. gehangen; pret. brāhte, dāhte, dūhte, beside bringen, to bring, denken, to think, dunken, to seem.

The guttural nasal disappeared in an unstressed syllable when preceded by an n in a stressed syllable in the course of the OHG. and MHG. period, as OHG. honag, MHG. honec, beside OHG. honang, honey; OHG. kunig, MHG. künec, beside OHG. kuning, king; OHG. pfennig, MHG. pfennic, beside OHG. pfenning, MHG. pfenninc, penny. And similarly with dental n, as senede beside senende, longing, yearning.

§ 30. Strong verbs, which have a medial v (f), d, h, s in the present, have respectively b, t, g (ng), r in the second person sing. pret. indicative, the preterite plural indicative, the pret. subjunctive and the past participle. This interchange of consonants is called Verner’s Law, see OHG. Primer, §§ 72, 87:—

	Inf.	Pret. Pl.	P.P.
v(f)—b.	heven, to raise	huoben	gehaben.
d—t.	mīden, to avoid	miten	gemiten.
	snīden, to cut	sniten	gesniten.
h—g.	dīhen, to thrive	digen	gedigen.
	ziehen, to draw	zugen	gezogen.
	slahen, to strike	sluogen	geslagen.
h—ng (§ 29).	hāhen, to hang	hiengen	gehangen.
	vāhen, to catch	viengen	gevangen.
s—r.	rīsen, to fall	rirn	gerirn.
	kiesen, to choose	kurn	gekorn.

This law has, however, many exceptions in MHG. owing to levelling having taken place with the infinitive, 30 present indicative and preterite singular, as risen, gerisen beside rirn, gerirn.

The same interchange of consonants exists between strong verbs and their corresponding causative weak verbs, as līden, to go: leiten, to lead; hāhen, to hang: hengen, to hang (trans.); ge-nësen, to be saved: nern, to save; and in nouns, &c., as hof (gen. hoves), court: hübesch, courtly; tōt (gen. tōdes), death: tōt (gen. tōtes), dead; swëher, father-in-law: swiger, mother-in-law; hase: English hare.

§ 31. The doubling of consonants took place under certain well-defined rules partly in prim. Germanic and partly in prim. West Germanic, see the Author’s Hist. Germ. Grammar, §§ 202, 213-14. Examples of words which had double consonants in prim. Germanic are: kopf, head; napf (OE. hnæp, gen. hnæppes), basin; boc (OE. bucca), buck, gen. bockes; rinnen, to run; swimmen, to swim; vol (gen. volles), full; vërre, far; gewisser, certain.

The chief cases in which double consonants arose in prim. West Germanic were:—

1. The assimilation of ƀn, ʒn, pn to bb, gg, pp = MHG. pp, ck (gg), pf, as knappe: knabe, boy; rappe: rabe, raven; rocke: rogge, rye; tropfe, drop: triefen, to drip.

2. p, t, k were doubled before a following r or l. The doubling regularly took place in the inflected forms, and was then extended to the uninflected forms by levelling, as apfel (OE. æppel), apple; kupfer (Lat. cuprum), copper; bitter (Goth. báitrs), bitter, see § 23 note; lützel (OS. luttil), little; acker (Goth. akrs), field; wacker (OE. wæccer), watchful. See § 23, 2.

3. All single consonants, except r, were doubled after a short vowel when there was originally a j in the next syllable. The bb, dd, gg; pp, tt, kk, which thus arose, became pp (bb), tt, ck (gg); pf, tz, ck in MHG. (§§ 23, 2, 31 26), as sippe (sibbe), Goth. sibja, relationship; bitten, later biten, Goth. bidjan, to request; tretten (wv.): trëten (sv.), to tread; brücke (brügge), bridge; ecke (egge), edge; mücke (mügge), midge; rücke (rügge), ridge, back. schepfen, Goth. skapjan, to create; hitze, heat: heiȥ, hot; netzen, to wet: naȥ, wet; setzen, Goth. satjan, to set; sitzen, to sit: pret. saȥ, p.p. gesëȥȥen; decken, to cover: dach, cover; lücke, gap: loch, hole. zellen, later zeln, to count: zal, number. vremmen, later vremen (OE. fremman), to perform. henne, hen: hane, cock.

In MHG. the double consonants in verbs were often simplified through the levelling out of forms which regularly had a single consonant, e.g. regular forms were: vremmen, to perform, sing. vremme, vremes(t), vremet, pl. vremmen, vremmet, vremment, pret. vremete, p.p. gevremet, then the stem-form with single m was levelled out into all the forms, and similarly with many other verbs, as denen, to stretch; seln, to hand over; weln, to choose; wenen, to accustom; legen beside lecken (leggen), to lay; and the strong verbs biten, to beg; ligen beside licken (liggen), to lie down.

§ 32. Double consonants were simplified:—

1. When they became final, as boc, buck, kus, kiss, man, man, schif, ship, stum, dumb, vël, hide, beside gen. bockes, kusses, mannes, schiffes, stummes, vëlles; pret. maȥ, ran, traf, beside mëȥȥen, to measure, rinnen, to run, trëffen, to hit.

2. Before other consonants, as pret. dacte (dahte), nante (nande), kuste, beside decken, to cover, nennen, to name, küssen, to kiss.

3. After consonants, as pret. sante (sande) from *santte, wante (wande) from *wantte, beside senden, to send, wenden, to turn.

4. After long vowels and diphthongs, as pret. sing. leite from *leitte, pret. pl. māȥen, trāfen, vielen, beside leiten, 32 to lead, mëȥȥen, to measure, trëffen, to hit, vallen, to fall. This simplification of double consonants took place during the OHG. period, as slāfan, to sleep, heiȥan, to call, loufan, to run, zeichan, token, beside older OHG. slāffan, heiȥȥan, louffan, zeihhan.

§ 33. In MHG. the lenes b, d, g became the fortes p, t, c (k) when they ended a syllable, that is when they came to stand finally, or medially before a voiceless consonant. Traces of this law existed already in OHG. The interchange between the lenes and fortes includes two independent processes, viz. the change of the medial lenes b, d, g to the final fortes p, t, k, and the change of the final f, s to the medial intervocalic lenes v and to what is written s (cp. also NHG. lesen, las). It must be noted that in MHG. the interchanging pairs of consonants were all voiceless and that the difference merely consisted in the intensity or force with which the sounds were produced. This is quite different from NHG. where the interchange is between voiced and voiceless sounds except in the case of f which is voiceless in all positions in native words. Examples are: gëben, to give, gelouben, to believe, wërben, to turn, beside pret. gap, geloupte, warp; gen. lībes, lambes, beside nom. līp, life, lamp, lamb. binden, to bind, wërden, to become, beside pret. bant, wart; gen. kindes, tōdes, beside nom. kint, child, tōt, death. biegen, to bend, singen, to sing, zeigen, to show, beside pret. bouc, sanc, zeicte; gen. tages, bërges, beside nom. tac, day, bërc, mountain. nëve, nephew, beside niftel, niece; gen. hoves, brieves, beside nom. hof, court, brief, letter. kiesen, to choose, lësen, to gather, lœsen, to loose, beside pret. kōs, las, lōste; pl. hiuser, beside sing. hūs, house.

§ 34. Final ch after vowels interchanged with medial h, as schuoch, shoe, gen. schuohes; hōch, high, gen. hōhes; nāch, near, adv. nāhe; pret. geschach, sach, beside geschëhen, to happen, sëhen, to see.

33

The medial combinations lh, rh were written lch, rch when they came to stand finally, as bevëlhen, to confide, pret. bevalch; gen. schëlhes, twërhes, beside nom. schëlch, twërch, askew, see § 19. h (= ch) and ch often disappeared in unstressed syllables and particles, as ē̆t, only, hīnte, hīnt, to-night, niet, not, dur, through, beside ëht, hīnaht, niht, nieht, durch.

§ 35. Initial j became or was written g before a following i, as gihet, he assures, beside inf. jëhen, pret. jach, and similarly jësen, to ferment, jëten, to weed. In the verba pura forms with and without the intervocalic glide j existed side by side in OHG. and MHG., as blüejen (OHG. bluojen) beside blüen (OHG. bluoen), to bloom; and similarly dræjen, to twist, müejen, to trouble, sæjen, to sow, beside dræn, müen, sæn. In a few words forms with and without intervocalic j (g) existed side by side, as gen. blīges beside nom. blī, lead; eijer, eiger beside eier, eggs; frījen, frīgen beside frīen, to free; meige, meie, May; nerigen, nerjen beside nern, to save, rescue; swerigen, swerjen beside swern, to swear; gen. zwīges, zwīes, nom. zwī, twig; gen. zweiger, zweier, of two.

§ 36. In OHG. w became vocalized to o when it came to stand at the end of a word or syllable, and then generally disappeared after long vowels, but the medial w regularly remained in OHG. and MHG. when it was at the beginning of a syllable, as blā (OHG. blāo, blā), blue, gen. blāwes; snē (OHG. snēo, snē), snow, gen. snēwes; strō (OHG. strao, strō by contraction), straw, gen. strōwes; knie (OHG. kneo), knee, gen. kniewes, OHG. knëwes; schate (OHG. scato), shadow, gen. schat(e)wes; pret. blou, hiu, kou, beside bliuwen, to strike, houwen, to hew, kiuwen, to chew; fal (OHG. falo), fallow, gen. falwes; gar (OHG. garo), ready, gen. garwes; mël (OHG. mëlo), meal, gen. mëlwes; smër (OHG. smëro), 34 fat; pret. smirte, ströute, beside smirwen, to smear, ströuwen, to strew. See § 9, r.

The w element sometimes disappeared in the initial combinations qua-, quā-, quë-, qui-, quī- partly with and partly without influencing the quality of the following vowel, as pret. sing. kam, kom beside quam, he came, pret. pl. kōmen, kāmen beside quāmen; kāle beside quāle, torture; këc beside quec, alive; korder, körder beside quërder, bait; komen, kömen, kumen beside quëmen, to come; pres. sing. kume, küm(e)s(t), kum(e)s(t), küm(e)t, kum(e)t = OHG. quimu, quimis, quimit; kücken beside quicken, to enliven; kīt beside quīt = quidet, he says.

§ 37. Medial -ibe-, -ide-, -ige- were sometimes contracted to ī; and medial -age-, -ege- to ei, as gīst, thou givest, gīt, he gives, beside gibes(t), gibet; quīst, thou sayest, quīt, he says, beside quides(t), quidet; līst, thou liest down, līt, he lies down, beside liges(t), liget. meit beside maget, maid; seist, thou sayest, seit, he says, beside sages(t), saget; leist, thou layest, leit, he lays, beside leges(t), leget; eislīch beside egeslīch, terrible; gein beside gegen, against.

§ 38. Intervocalic h often disappeared when the first vowel was long, and then the two vowels underwent contraction, as hān, to hang, vān, to catch, vlēn, to implore, hō (adv.), high, beside hāhen, vāhen, vlēhen, hōhe. Other contracted forms will be found in the Glossary.

§ 39. The final r disappeared after long vowels in monosyllables when the next word began with a consonant, but was often restored analogically, as dā (OHG. dār), there: dārinne, therein; wā (OHG. wār), where: wārinne, wherein; hie (OHG. hiar): hierunder, hereunder; adv. mē (OHG. mēr), more; ē (OHG. ēr), formerly; sā (OHG. sār), at once.

35

§ 40. Medial t (§ 25) became d after nasals in late OHG. and early MHG., as senden, to send, gen. blindes (nom. blint, blind), pret. nande, he named, rūmde, he left, beside early MHG. senten, blintes, nante, rūmte. It also occasionally became d after l, as halden beside halten, to hold, solde beside solte, pret. of suln, shall.

36

ACCIDENCE

CHAPTER III

DECLENSION OF NOUNS

§ 41. MHG. nouns have two numbers: singular and plural; three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter, as in OHG. and NHG., from which the gender of nouns in MHG. does not materially differ; four cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative. Traces of an old locative occur in what is called the uninflected dative singular of hūs, house, beside hūse, and in proper names like Engellant beside Engellande. The vocative is like the nominative.

In MHG., as in the older periods of the other Germanic languages, nouns are divided into two great classes, according as the stem originally ended in a vowel or a consonant, cp. the similar division of nouns in Latin and Greek. Nouns whose stems originally ended in a vowel belong to the vocalic or so-called strong declension. Those whose stems originally ended in -n belong to the so-called weak or n-declension. All other consonantal stems are generally put together under the general heading, ‘Minor Declensions’. In OHG. nouns whose stems originally ended in a vowel are subdivided into the a-declension including pure a-stems, ja-stems, and wa-stems; the ō-declension including pure ō-stems, jō-stems, and wō-stems; the ī̆-declension, and the u-declension. All the nouns belonging to the u-declension went over into other 37 declensions in MHG. (cp. §§ 43, 44, 49). But as all final vowels either disappeared (some of them already in OHG.) or were weakened to e in MHG. (see §§ 7, 8), it is no longer practicable to retain the OHG. subdivision fully without entering into the oldest and in many cases into the prehistoric period of the language, which would be quite out of place in a MHG. grammar. The old ‘Minor Declensions’ had begun to pass over into the vocalic, especially into the i- and a-, declensions in the oldest OHG. The remnants of the old inflexions preserved in MHG. will be noted in the following paragraphs. The neuter nouns whose stems originally ended in -os, -es (cp. § 47) are in this Primer included in the strong declension.

A. The Vocalic or Strong Declension.

1. Masculine Nouns.

§ 42. First declension.—To this declension belong all masculine nouns which form their plural in -e only. It includes: (a) the old masculine a-stems; (b) the old masculine wa-stems which lost their final -w after long vowels in OHG., as sē, sea, gen. sēwes, pl. sēwe, and similarly bū, dwelling, rē (also neuter), corpse, snē, snow, see § 36; and (c) the old masculine i-stems which could not have umlaut in the plural (§ 44).

	Sing.
Nom. Acc.	tac, day	kil, quill	engel, angel
Gen.	tages	kil(e)s	engel(e)s
Dat.	tage	kil(e)	engel(e)
	Plur.
Nom. Acc. Gen.	tage	kil(e)	engel(e)
Dat.	tagen	kil(e)n	engel(e)n

38

On the interchange between fortis and lenis, as in tac, day, lop, praise, sant, sand, hof, court, gen. tages, lobes, sandes, hoves, see § 33.

Like tac are also declined the old consonantal stems vīent, enemy, and vriunt, friend, but pl. vriunde beside the old plural vriunt.

Like kil are declined all monosyllabic masculine nouns having a short stem-vowel and ending in -l or -r (§ 9, 1).

Like engel are declined masculine polysyllabic nouns ending in -el, -em, -en, -er, when their stem-syllable is long, as mantel, mantle, ātem, breath, morgen, morning, acker, field. Those in -em, -en generally retain the e in the dative plural. Polysyllabic nouns with short stem-syllables fluctuate between the retention or loss of the e, as gen. sing. vogeles or vogels, dat. sing, and nom. acc. pl. vogele or vogel, and similarly vadem, thread, rëgen, rain, sumer, summer, see § 9, 2.

§ 43. Second declension.—To this declension belong all masculine nouns whose nom. and acc. singular end in -e, which is the only difference between this and the first declension. It includes: (a) the old masculine ja-stems; (b) many old u-stems with short stem-syllable, as fride (OHG. fridu), peace, site (OHG. situ), custom, and similarly huge, thought, mëte, mead, sige beside sic, victory, wite, wood (see § 36); (c) the old short i-stem wine, friend; and (d) the old masculine wa-stem schate (gen. schat(e)wes beside schates), shadow.

	Sing.	Plur.
Nom. Acc.	hirte, shepherd	hirte
Gen.	hirtes	hirte
Dat.	hirte	hirten

§ 44. Third declension.—To this declension belong all masculine nouns which form their plural in -e and with 39 umlaut of the stem-vowel. It includes: (a) the old masculine i-stems; (b) the old masculine u-stem sun (OHG. sunu, sun), son; and (c) the two old consonant stems fuoȥ, foot, zant (gen. zandes), zan, tooth.

	Sing.		Plur.
	MHG.	OHG.	MHG.	OHG.
Nom. Acc.	gast	gast, guest	geste	gesti
Gen.	gastes	gastes	geste	gesteo, -io
Dat.	gaste	gaste	gesten	gestim

The singular of nouns of this declension was inflected like the a-stems (§ 42) already in OHG. And owing to the weakening of the case-endings of the plural in passing from OHG. to MHG. (§ 7), the only difference in the two declensions is the presence or absence of umlaut in the plural. The old masculine i-stems which could not have umlaut in the plural accordingly came to be inflected entirely like the old masculine a-stems, as schrit, step, snit, cut, biȥ, bite, pl. schrite, snite, biȥȥe. A further consequence of the singular being inflected alike in both declensions is that the old a-stems began to have umlaut in the plural after the analogy of the i-stems, as gedenke, thoughts, nägele, nails, wägene, wagons, beside gedanke, nagele, wagene.

Nouns ending in the fortis p, t, c, or f (= Germanic f) regularly change the fortis to lenis in the inflected forms, as korp, basket, walt, wood, slac, blow, brief, letter, gen. korbes, waldes, stages, brieves.

§ 45. The old consonant stems vater, father, bruoder, brother, often remain uninflected in the singular, as gen. vater, bruoder beside vaters, bruoders (cp. § 9, 2). In the plural they take umlaut, as veter, brüeder. The old consonant stem man, man, is either declined like tac (§ 42) or remains uninflected throughout, as

40

	Sing.	Plur.
Nom. Acc.	man	manne, man
Gen.	mannes, man	manne, man
Dat.	manne, man	mannen, man

The nom. plural man, now written mann, is still preserved in counting, as hundert mann, a hundred men.

2. Neuter Nouns.

§ 46. First Declension.—To this declension belong all neuter nouns which have their nominative case singular and plural alike. It includes three different types of nouns: (a) The old neuter a-stems like wort, word, venster, window. (b) The old neuter ja-stems like künne, race, generation, bette, bed, netze, net. The characteristic of this type of noun is that it has umlaut in all forms of the singular and plural when the stem-vowel is capable of it (cp. § 31, 3). And (c) the old neuter wa-stems (cp. § 36) like knie, knee, gen. kniewes.

	Sing.
Nom. Acc.	wort	venster	künne	knie
Gen.	wortes	vensters	künnes	kniewes (knies)
Dat.	worte	venster	künne	kniewe (knie)
	Plur.
Nom. Acc.	wort	venster	künne	knie
Gen.	worte	venster	künne	kniewe (knie)
Dat.	worten	venstern	künnen	kniewen (knien)

41

(a) On the interchange between the fortes p, t, c and the lenes b, d, g, as in grap, grave, gëlt, money, dinc, thing, gen. grabes, gëldes, dinges, see § 33.

Like venster are declined the neuter polysyllabic nouns ending in -el, -em, -en, -er, as luoder, bait, wāfen, wāpen, weapon; schapel, garland, gadem, house, wëter, weather. On the endings, see §§ 9, 42.

(b) Like künne is also declined the old neuter u-stem vihe (OHG. fihu), cattle.

(c) Like knie are declined mël, meal, rē (also masc.), corpse, smër, fat, strō, straw, tou, dew, wē, woe, gen. mëlwes, rēwes, smërwes, strōwes, touwes, wēwes, see § 36.

§ 47. Second declension.—To this declension belong all neuter nouns which form their plural in -er and by umlaut of the stem-vowel when it is capable of it. This class of nouns corresponds to the Latin neuters in -us, as genus, gen. generis, pl. genera. The -er (OHG. -ir) was originally a stem-forming suffix which came to be regarded as a plural ending. In the oldest period of the language only about half-a-dozen nouns belonged to this class, but during the MHG. period nearly twenty neuter a-stems passed into this declension, and in NHG. the number has increased to about a hundred.

	Sing.		Plur.
	MHG.	OHG.	MHG.	OHG.
Nom. Acc.	lamp	lamb, lamb	lember	lembir
Gen.	lambes	lambes	lember	lembiro
Dat.	lambe	lambe	lembern	lembirum

On the loss of the e in the gen. and dat. plural, see § 9, 2.

Other examples are: ei (pl. eiger, eijer, eier, § 35), 42 egg, huon, hen, kalp, calf, rat, wheel, rint, bullock, tal, dale.

3. Feminine Nouns.

§ 48. First declension.—To this declension belong all feminine nouns having their nominative case singular and plural alike. It includes: (a) the old feminine ō-stems, as gëbe, gift, sēle, soul, zal, number; (b) the old feminine jō-stems, as küneginne, künegin, künegīn, queen, and similarly vriundinne, friend, gütinne, goddess; (c) the old feminine wō-stems with and without w, as brāwe, brā, brow, pl. brā beside weak pl. brāwen; diuwe, diu, servant; (d) the old feminine abstract nouns in -ī, as vinster (OHG. finstrī), darkness, schœne (OHG. scōnī), beauty; and (e) the old consonant stem, swester, swëster, sister.

	Sing.
Nom. Acc.	gëbe	zal	vinster
Gen.	gëbe	zal	vinster
Dat.	gëbe	zal	vinster
	Plur.
Nom. Acc.	gëbe	zal	vinster
Gen.	gëben	zaln	vinstern
Dat.	gëben	zaln	vinstern

On the endings in nouns declined like zal, number, dol, pain, wal, choice, nar, food, schar, flock, and vinster, see § 9, 1, 2.

The gen. plural had the ending of the weak declension already in the oldest period of the language. Through the nom. singular and the gen. and dat. plural having the same endings as the feminine weak declension (§ 53), ō-stems began in OHG. to be inflected after the analogy 43 of the weak declension, especially in the plural. This process spread considerably in MHG. with concrete nouns, but not often with abstract nouns.

§ 49. Second declension.—To this declension belong all feminine nouns which form their plural in -e and have umlaut in the stem-vowel. It includes: (a) the old feminine i-stems; (b) the old u-stem hant, hand; and (c) several old consonantal stems, see below.

	Sing.		Plur.
	MHG.	OHG.	MHG.	OHG.
Nom. Acc.	anst	anst, favour	enste	ensti
Gen.	enste or anst	ensti	enste	ensteo, -io
Dat.	enste or anst	ensti	ensten	enstim

In jugent (OHG. jugund, pl. jugundi), youth, gen. dat. jugende beside jugent, pl. jugende, the original -i being in the third syllable did not cause umlaut in the stem-syllable; and similarly tugent, valour.

hant, hand, originally belonged to the u-declension, which explains forms like gen. sing, and plural hande beside hende, dat. pl. handen beside henden. The old gen. plural has been preserved in NHG. allerhand, and the dat. plural in abhanden, beihanden, vorhanden, zuhanden.

Several old consonant stems went over partly or entirely into this declension, viz. maget, meit (§ 37), maid, pl. mägede or meide; kuo, cow, pl. küeje or küewe (OHG. kuoi), sū, sow, pl. siuwe (OHG. sūi); both these nouns generally remained uninflected in the gen. and dat. singular. naht, night, has gen. and dat. singular naht beside nähte; pl. nom. acc. gen. naht beside nähte, dat. nahten beside nähten, cp. also NHG. weihnachten, MHG. zën wīhen nahten. The MHG. adverbial gen. nahts, dës nahtes 44 was formed after the analogy of dës tages. Like naht were also inflected brust, breast, and burc, citadel.

muoter, mother, and tohter, daughter, remain uninflected in the singular. In the plural they have umlaut: müeter, töhter.

B. The Weak Declension (N-Stems).

§ 50. The weak declension contains a large number of masculine and feminine nouns, but only four neuter nouns, viz. hërze, heart, ōre, ear, ouge, eye, and wange, cheek; these nouns, especially hërze, sometimes form their nom. acc. plural after the analogy of nouns like künne (§ 46). The original case endings of the weak declension had disappeared in the oldest period of the language except in the nom. singular (masc. -o, fem., and neut. -a), the gen. pl. (ōno) and dat. pl. (-ōm). Owing to the weakening of the -o, -a to -e in MHG. the nom. singular became alike in all genders. And similarly the endings -ōno, -ōm and the endings of the other oblique forms were all weakened to -en in MHG. (§ 7), so that the element which originally formed part of the stem came to be regarded as a case ending.

On the loss of the final and medial e in nouns like ar, eagle, bir (fem.), pear, gevangen(e), prisoner, beside the inflected forms arn, birn, gevangen from *gevangen-en through the intermediate stage *gevangenn, see § 9, 1, 2.

§ 51.

1. Masculine Nouns.

	Sing.
	MHG.	OHG.
Nom.	bote	boto, messenger
Acc.	boten	boton, -un
Gen.	boten	boten, -in
Dat.	boten	boten, -in
45	Plur.
Nom. Acc.	boten	boton, -un
Gen.	boten	botōno
Dat.	boten	botōm

§ 52.

2. Neuter Nouns.

	Sing.
	MHG.	OHG.
Nom. Acc.	hërze	hërza, heart
Gen.	hërzen	hërzen, -in
Dat.	hërzen	hërzen, -in
	Plur.
Nom. Acc.	hërzen	hërzun, -on
Gen.	hërzen	hërzōno
Dat.	hërzen	hërzōm

§ 53.

3. Feminine Nouns.

	Sing.
	MHG.	OHG.
Nom.	zunge	zunga, tongue
Acc.	zungen	zungūn
Gen.	zungen	zungūn
Dat.	zungen	zungūn
	Plur.
Nom. Acc.	zungen	zungūn
Gen.	zungen	zungōno
Dat.	zunge	zungōm

C. Declension of Proper Names.

§ 54. Names of persons ending in e in the nominative follow the weak declension. Masculine names of persons take -es in the genitive, -e in the dative, and -en in the accusative after the analogy of the strong adjectives. The accusative ending -en was sometimes extended to the 46 dative, and the dative ending -e to the accusative. And sometimes both these cases were without endings. Names of countries ending in -lant often have no ending in the dative, as Engellant beside Engellande, see § 41. Feminine names of persons ending in a consonant take -e in the genitive, dative and accusative, but occasionally remain uninflected throughout.

	Masculine.
Nom.	Sīfrit	Hagene
Gen.	Sīfrides	Hagenen
Dat. Acc.	Sīfrit, Sīfride(n)	Hagenen
	Feminine.
Nom.	Kriemhilt	Uote
Gen. Dat. Acc.	Kriemhilde, Kriemhilt	Uoten

CHAPTER IV

ADJECTIVES

A. The Declension of Adjectives.

1. The Strong Declension.

§ 55. The MHG. adjectives are declined as strong or weak. They have three genders, and the same cases as nouns. The endings of the strong declension are partly nominal and partly pronominal. The nominal endings are: the accusative feminine singular, as blinde like gëbe (§ 48); and the genitive singular masculine and neuter, as blindes like tages, wortes (§§ 43, 46). All the other endings are pronominal. The so-called uninflected form of adjectives in the nom. singular masculine and feminine 47 and the nom. acc. neuter is a remnant of the time when adjectives and nouns were declined alike, see the Author’s Hist. Germ. Grammar, §§ 399-400. The strong declension includes three different types of adjectives, all of which are declined alike: (a) The old a-stems, as blint, infl. form blinter, blind; bar, bare, guot, good, heilec, holy, hol, hollow, michel, great, vinster, dark, and similarly with a very large number of adjectives, including the past participles of strong and weak verbs. (b) The old ja-stems, as lære (OHG. lāri), infl. lærer, empty; dünne, thin, enge, narrow, grüene, green, niuwe, new, reine, pure, schœne, beautiful, senfte, soft, wilde, wild, and many others, including the present participles of strong and weak verbs. The ja-stems only differ from the a-stems in having -e in the uninflected form and umlaut in the stem-syllable when it is capable of it. (c) The old wa-stems, as blā (OHG. blāo, blā), infl. form blāwer, blue; gar (OHG. garo), infl. form garwer (see §§ 9, 1, 36), ready; grā, grey, val, fallow, gël, yellow, kal, bald, &c., all of which have w in the inflected forms.

The adjectival i- and u-stems had come to be declined like the ja-stems in the prehistoric period of the language, but a few remnants of such adjectives have survived in MHG. in forms without the final -e beside those with it, as bereit, bereite, ready, dic, dicke, thick, gāch, gæhe, quick, grīs, grīse, old, grey, hēr, hēre, high, noble, rasch, resche, quick, rīch, rīche, noble, swā, swære, heavy, was, wasse, sharp.

		Sing.
	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nom.	blinder, blind	blindeȥ	blindiu
Acc.	blinden	blindeȥ	blinde
Gen.	blindes	blindes	blinder(e)
Dat.	blindem(e)	blindem(e)	blinder(e)
48		Plur.
Nom.	blinde	blindiu	blinde
Acc.	blinde	blindiu	blinde
Gen.	blinder(e)	blinder(e)	blinder(e)
Dat.	blinden	blinden	blinden

On the loss of the -e in blindem(e), blinder(e), see § 9, 2. Umlaut caused by the -iu occurs in the nom. sing. feminine and nom. acc. pl. neuter of al, all, and ander, other, second, as älliu, ändriu. This rarely happens in other words.

		Sing.
	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nom.	micheler, great	michel(e)ȥ	micheliu
Acc.	michel(e)n	michel(e)ȥ	michel(e)
Gen.	michel(e)s	michel(e)s	michelre, micheler
Dat.	michelme, michel(e)m	michelme, michel(e)m	michelre, micheler
		Plur.
Nom.	michel(e)	micheliu	michel(e)
Acc.	michel(e)	micheliu	michel(e)
Gen.	michelre, micheler	michelre, micheler	michelre, micheler
Dat.	michel(e)n	michel(e)n	michel(e)n

Like michel are inflected monosyllabic adjectives ending in -l, -r with a short stem-vowel, and polysyllabic adjectives ending in -el, -en, -er, as bar, bare, hol, hollow; zwīvel, doubtful, eigen, own, tougen, secret, ander, other, second, bitter, bitter, vinster, dark; ëben, even, übel, evil, bad, &c. See § 9, 1, 2.

49

2. The Weak Declension.

§ 56. The weak declension of adjectives agrees exactly with that of the nouns.

		Sing.
	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nom.	blinde, blind	blinde	blinde
Acc.	blinden	blinde	blinden
Gen.	blinden	blinden	blinden
Dat.	blinden	blinden	blinden

Plural blinden for all cases and genders.

B. The Comparison Of Adjectives.

§ 57. The comparative was formed by means of the suffix -er(e) = OHG. -iro, -ōro, and the superlative by means of the suffix -est(e) = OHG. -isto, -ōsto. On the loss of the medial or final e in such forms as tiurre, dearer, tiurste; minner, minre, less, minnest, min(ne)ste, see § 9, 3. Most monosyllables have umlaut in the comparative and superlative either exclusively or have mutated beside unmutated forms. The cause of these double forms is in a great measure due to the two OHG. double suffixes: comp. -iro, -ōro and superl. -isto, -ōsto having fallen together in -er(e) and -est(e) in MHG., as elter, older, ermer, poorer, jünger, younger, grœȥer, greater, hœher, higher, beside alter, armer, junger, grōȥer, hōher; superl. eltest, ermest, jüngest, grœȥest, hœhest, beside altest, armest, jungest, grōȥest, hōhest. Adjectives which have umlaut in the positive regularly preserve it in the comparative and superlative.

The comparative is declined weak, but the superlative is declined strong and weak.

50

§ 58. The following adjectives form their comparative and superlative from a different root than the positive:—

guot, good,	beȥȥer, beȥȥest, beste (§ 23).
übel, bad,	wirser, wirsest, wir(se)ste.
lützel, little,	minner, minre (§ 9, 3), minnest, min(ne)ste.
michel, great,	mērer, mēr(r)e, meiste.

§ 59. The following adjectives are defective:—

ērer, ērre, ërre, former,	ērest, ērste, first.
hinder, hinder,	hinderste, hindmost.
ober, upper,	oberste, uppermost.
	leȥȥeste, leste (§ 23), last.
vorder, former,	vorderste, foremost.

C. Formation of Adverbs from Adjectives.

§ 60. 1. By adding -e (= OHG. -o) to the adjective when this does not already end in -e, as ëben, even, hōch, high, lanc, long: adv. ëbene, hōhe, lange; edele (OHG. edili), noble, übel (OHG. ubil), evil: adv. edele (OHG. edilo), übele (OHG. ubilo).

2. Dissyllabic adjectives ending in -e and containing a mutated stem-vowel change it to the corresponding unmutated vowel, when used as adverbs, as schœne (OHG. scōni), beautiful, herte, hard, senfte, soft, süeȥe, sweet, swære, heavy: adv. schōne, harte, sanfte, suoȥe, swāre.

3. By adding -līche or -līchen to the adjective, as ganz, whole, vlīȥec, diligent: adv. ganzlīche(n), vlīȥeclīche(n).

4. The comparative and superlative degrees of adverbs are the same as the corresponding uninflected forms of the adjectives without umlaut:—

Adjective	lanc, long	lenger	lengest.
Adverb	lange	langer (OHG. langōr)	langest (OHG. langōst).

51

§ 61. The following are irregular:—

wol, well	baȥ, better	best(e), best.
	wirs, worse	wirsest, wirste, worst.
	min, minner, minre, less	minnest, minste, least.
	mē, mēr, mēre, more	meist, meiste, most.
	ē, formerly	ēr(e)st, ērste, first.

§ 62.

D. Numerals.

Cardinal.	Ordinal.
ein, -er, -eȥ, -iu, one		ērste
zwei, two		ander
drī, three		dritte
vier, four		vierde
fünf (finf), five		fünfte, finfte
sëhs, six		sëhste
siben, seven		sibende, -te
ahte, eight		ahtede, ahte
niun, nine		niunde, -te
zëhen, ten		zëhende, -te
einlif (eilif), eleven		ei(n)lifte, eilfte
zwelf, twelve		zwelfte
drīzëhen, thirteen		drīzëhende
vierzëhen, fourteen		vierzëhende
fünfzëhen, fifteen		fünfzëhende
sëh(s)zëhen, sixteen		së(h)szëhende
sibenzëhen, seventeen		sibenzëhende
ah(t)zëhen, eighteen		ah(t)zëhende
niunzëhen, nineteen		niunzëhende
zweinzic (or -zec),	twenty	zweinzigeste
drīȥic„	thirty	drīȥigeste
vierzic„	forty	vierzigeste
fünfzic„	fifty	fünfzigeste
52 sëhszic„	sixty	sëhszigeste
sibenzic„	seventy	sibenzigeste
ah(t)zic„	eighty	ah(t)zigeste
niunzic„	ninety	niunzigeste
zëhenzic or hundert	hundred	zëhenzigeste or hundertste
zwei hunt or hundert	two hundred	zweihundertste
tūsent	thousand	tūsenste
zwei tūsent	two thousand	zweitūsentste

§ 63. Ein follows the strong declension, when used as a numeral. The dat. einme is generally contracted to eime (§ 9, 3). When ein is used in the sense of alone, it follows the weak declension. On the inflexion of ander, second, see § 55. Zwei and drī are declined as follows:—

	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nom. Acc.	zwēne	zwei	zwō, zwuo, zwā
Gen.	zwei(g)er (§ 35)	zwei(g)er	zwei(g)er
Dat.	zwein, zweien	zwein, zweien	zwein, zweien
Nom. Acc.	drī, dr[i]e	driu	drī, drīe
Gen.	drī(g)er (§ 35)	drī(g)er	drī(g)er
Dat.	drī̆n, drīen	drī̆n, drī̆en	drī̆n, drīen

§ 64. The other cardinals up to twelve are sometimes inflected; when such is the case the endings are:—

Masc. and Fem.		Neut.
Nom. Acc.	-e	-iu
Gen.	-er	-er
Dat.	-en	-en

hundert and tūsent are neuter nouns.

53

CHAPTER V

PRONOUNS

§ 65.

1. Personal.

	Sing.
Nom.	ich, I	du, dū, thou
Acc.	mich	dich
Gen.	mīn	dīn
Dat.	mir	dir
	Plur.
Nom.	wir	ir
Acc.	unsich, uns	iuch
Gen.	unser	iuwer
Dat.	uns	iu

		Sing.
	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nom.	ër, he	ëȥ, it, there	si, sī, siu, sie, she
Acc.	in	ëȥ	sie, si, sī
Gen.	(ës)	ës	ir(e)
Dat.	im(e)	im(e)	ir(e)
		Plur.
Nom. Acc.		si, sī, sie (Neut. also siu), they
Gen.		ir(e)
Dat.		in

Note.—1. The gen. ir is often used as a possessive pronoun. For ëȥ the form iȥ sometimes appears.

2. For the acc. pl. unsich the dat. uns is mostly used. iu is often used for iuch, and vice versa. im, ir are more usual than ime, ire.

3. The unstressed forms of personal pronouns are often 54 attached to other words, as ichȥ, iȥ = ich ëȥ; ichne, ine, ichn = ich ne (not); tuostu = tuost du; dune, dun = du ne (not); tuoȥ = tuo ëȥ; eist, ēst = ëȥ ist; deiȥ = daȥ ëȥ; mohter = mohte ër; baten = bat in; wirȥ = wir ëȥ, &c.

§ 66.

2. Reflexive.

	Sing.	Plur.
Acc.	sich	sich
Gen.	sīn (fem. ir)	ir
Dat.	im, ir	in

§ 67.

3. Possessive.

mīn, my; dīn, thy; sīn, his; ir, her; unser, our; iuwer, your; ir, their.

They are declined like the strong adjective michel, great (§ 55). The dat. sing. forms dīnme, sīnme are generally contracted to dīme, sīme, see § 9, 3.

§ 68.

4. Demonstrative.

		Sing.
	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nom.	dër, the	daȥ	diu
Acc.	dën	daȥ	die
Gen.	dës	dës	dër(e)
Dat.	dëm(e)	dëm(e)	dër(e)
Instr.		diu
		Plur.
	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nom.	die	diu	die
Acc.	die	diu	die
Gen.	dër(e)	dër(e)	dër(e)
Dat.	dën	dën	dën

55

Like dër is also declined jener, that, except that the Nom., Acc. sg. neut. ends in -eȥ. dër, &c., is used both as definite article and relative pronoun.

Note.—1. For the fem. nom. sing. and the neut. nom. acc. pl. diu, the form die was sometimes used; and conversely diu for die in the fem. acc. singular. diu and die were sometimes weakened to de, and to d’ before words beginning with a vowel. daȥ was sometimes weakened to deȥ, and still further to ȥ which was then attached to a preceding word, as lātȥ kind = lāt daȥ kint; anȥ, inȥ = an, in daȥ. dēst, deis, dēs = daȥ ist.

2. The various cases were often fused into one word with prepositions, as anme, ame, am = an dëme; zëme, zëm = ze dëme; ūfme = ūf dëme; zër = ze dër (fem.); übern = über dën; ūfën = ūf dën; zën = ze dën.

		Sing.
	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nom.	dirre (diser, dise), this	ditze, diz, diȥ	disiu
Acc.	disen	ditze, diz, diȥ	dise
Gen.	dises	dises	dirre
Dat.	disem(e)	disem(e)	dirre
		Plur.
Nom.	dise	disiu	dise
Acc.	dise	disiu	dise
Gen.	dirre	dirre	dirre
Dat.	disen	disen	disen

5. Relative.

§ 69. A relative pronoun proper did not exist in the oldest periods of the Germanic languages, and accordingly the separate languages expressed it in various ways. In MHG. the following pronouns and adverbial particles were used to express it:—

56

1. dër, daȥ (also used as a conjunction), diu, also in combination with the particles dar der dā. 2. sō, alsō (alse, als), as; sam (alsam), as. 3. dā(r), where, dar, thither, whither, darinne, therein, dannen, wherefrom, darumbe, therefore, dō, when, as. 4. Indefinite relatives, as swër (from sō wër), whoever, swelch, each who, swëder, who of two; swā, swar, wherever, swannen, swanne (swenne), whenever, swie, however, howsoever. 5. The conjunction unde, and.

6. Interrogative.

§ 70. The MHG. simple interrogative pronoun has no independent form for the feminine, and is declined in the singular only.

	Masc. Fem.	Neut.
Nom.	wër, who	waȥ
Acc.	wën	waȥ
Gen.	wës	wës
Dat.	wëm(e)	wëm(e)
Instr.		wiu

In the same manner are declined the compounds:

swër (from sō wër), whoever, etewër, eteswër, anyone, neiȥwër (= ne weiȥ wër, I do not know who), anyone.

wëder, who of two, is declined like a strong adjective; welīch (welch), which, is also declined like a strong adjective, but the nom. singular remains uninflected.

7. Indefinite.

§ 71. ander, other; dechein, dehein, dekein, no, none; dewëder, neither; ein, one, some one: when ein is used with the meaning alone it follows the weak declension; etelīch, etlīch, eteslīch, etslīch, anyone, many a, pl. = some; etewër, eteswër, anyone; etewaȥ, anything; 57 iegelīch, ieslīch, iegeslīch, each; ieman, iemen, someone, somebody; iewëder, ietwëder, each; iewelīch, iewelich, each; iewiht, iht, anything; kein, no; man, one; manec, many a, declined maneger, manegeȥ, manegiu, &c.; nehein, no, none; niht, nothing; solch, such, declined like manec; sum, any one at all, pl. some; sumelīch, sumlīch, many a; swelch, each who; swër, whoever; wëder, which of two; welīch (welch), which, declined like manec.

CHAPTER VI

VERBS

§ 72. The MHG. verb has the following independent forms:—one voice (active), two numbers, three persons, two tenses (present and preterite), two complete moods (indicative and subjunctive, the latter originally the optative), besides an imperative which is only used in the present tense; two verbal nouns (the present infinitive, and the gerund, generally called the inflected infinitive), a present participle with active meaning, and one verbal adjective (the past participle).

The MHG. verbs are divided into two great classes:—Strong and Weak. The strong verbs form their preterite (originally the perfect) and past participle by means of ablaut (§ 12). The weak verbs form their preterite by the addition of the syllable -te, and their past participle by means of a t-suffix. The strong verbs were originally further sub-divided into reduplicated and non-reduplicated verbs. The reduplication had, however, entirely disappeared in the oldest period of the language. The non-reduplicated verbs are divided into six classes according to the six ablaut-series (§ 12). The originally reduplicated verbs are put together here and called Class VII. Besides 58 these two great classes of strong and weak verbs, there are a few others which will be treated under the general heading Minor Groups.

A. Strong Verbs.

§ 73. We are able to conjugate a MHG. strong verb when we know the four stems, as seen in (1) the infinitive or first pers. sing. of the present indicative, (2) the first or third pers. sing. of the preterite indicative, (3) the first pers. plural of the preterite indicative, (4) the past participle. The pret. subjunctive and the second pers. pret. indicative have the same stem-vowel as the pret. plural indicative.

§ 74. The conjugation of nëmen, OHG. nëman, to take, will serve as a model for all strong verbs.

Present.
	Indic.		Subj.
	MHG.	OHG.	MHG.	OHG.
Sing.	1. nime	nimu	nëme	nëme
	2. nimes(t)	nimis(t)	nëmes(t)	nëmēs(t)
	3. nimet	nimit	nëme	nëme
Plur.	1. nëmen	nëmemēs, -ēm	nëmen	nëmēm
	2. nëmet	nëmet	nëmet	nëmēt
	3. nëment	nëmant	nëmen	nëmēn
	Imper.		Infin.
	MHG.	OHG.	MHG.	OHG.
Sing.	2. nim	nim	nëmen	nëman
Plur.	1. nëmen	nëmemēs, -ēm
	2. nëmet, (-ent)	nëmet
			Gerund.
			MHG.	OHG.
		Gen.	nëmen(n)es	nëmannes
		Dat.	nëmen(n)e	nëmanne
			Present Participle.
			nëmende	nëmanti

59

Preterite.
	Indic.		Subj.
	MHG.	OHG.	MHG.	OHG.
Sing.	1. nam	nam	næme	nāmi
	2. næme	nāmi	næmes(t)	nāmīst
	3. nam	nam	næme	nāmi
Plur.	1. nāmen	nāmum	næmen	nāmīm
	2. nāmet	nāmut	næmet	nāmīt
	3. nāmen	nāmun	næmen	nāmīn
	Past Participle.
	MHG.		OHG.
	genomen		ginoman

Note.— The e in the endings is regularly lost according to the rule given in § 9, 1, as sing. stil, stilst, stilt, inf. stëln, to steal; sing. var, verst, vert, inf. varn, to go. It was also frequently lost in the third pers. sing. pres. indicative of other verbs, as vint = vindet, siht = sihet, see § 9, 4 note. The n in the first pers. plural was sometimes dropped when the pronoun came after the verb, as nëme wir = nëmen wir.

The imperative singular sometimes has -e after the analogy of weak verbs (§ 90).

The OHG. forms given above show in what forms umlaut regularly took place, viz. in the second and third pers. singular of the pres. indicative, when possible, in the second pers. singular of the pret. indicative, and in the pret. subjunctive. The second pers. singular of the pret. indicative always has the same stem-vowel as the pret. subjunctive. On the absence of umlaut in the pret. subjunctive of certain types of verbs, see § 10, note. Forms without and with umlaut are found in the second and third pers. singular of the present in verbs belonging to Class VII, as slāfes(t), slāfet beside slæfes(t), slæfet.

Concerning the changes between i, ë; u, o; iu, ie; ei, ē; ou, ō in the various classes of strong verbs, see §§ 14-17.

60

The Classification of the Strong Verbs.

§ 75. We shall only give in each class a few verbs to illustrate the gradation of vowels and consonant changes. All other verbs occurring in the texts will be found in the Glossary referred to their proper class.

Class I.

§ 76. The verbs of this class belong to the first ablaut-series (§ 12) and therefore have ī in all forms of the present; ei in the first and third pers. sing. of the preterite, but ē before ch (= Germanic h, § 23), and finally (§ 17); and i in the preterite plural and past participle, thus:—

bīten, to wait	beit	biten	gebiten
swīgen, to be silent	sweic	swigen	geswigen
trīben, to drive	treip	triben	getriben

And similarly belīben, to remain, bīȥen, to bite, rīben, to rub, rīten, to ride, schīnen, to shine, schrīben, to write, sīgen, to sink, strīten, to quarrel.

snīden, to cut	sneit	sniten	gesniten
dīhen, to thrive	dēch	digen	gedigen
rīsen, to fall	reis	rirn (risen)	gerirn (gerisen)

And similarly līden, to suffer, mīden, to avoid, nīden, to envy, līhen, to lend, zīhen, to accuse. See § 30.

§ 77. The following two verbs which are also used as weak verbs have mixed forms in the preterite and past participle:—

schrīen, to scream	schrē	schriuwen	geschriuwen
	schrei	schrūwen	geschrūwen
		schrirn	geschrirn
spīwen, to vomit	spē	spiwen	gespiwen
	spei	spiuwen	gespiuwen
		spūwen	gespūwen
		spirn	gespirn

61

Class II.

§ 78. The verbs of this class belong to the second ablaut-series (§ 12) and therefore have ie in the present, but iu in the present singular (§ 16); ou in the first and third pers. sing. of the preterite, but ō before t, ȥ, s and ch (= Germanic h), § 18; u in the pret. plural; and o in the past participle, thus:—

biegen, to bend	biuge	bouc	bugen	gebogen
triefen, to drop	triufe	trouf	truffen	getroffen
bieten, to offer	biute	bōt	buten	geboten
schieȥen, to shoot	schiuȥe	schōȥ	schuȥȥen	geschoȥȥen

And similarly klieben, to cleave, kriechen, to creep, liegen, to lie, riechen, to smell, schieben, to shove, vliegen, to fly; dieȥen, to roar, gieȥen, to pour, vlieȥen, to flow.

sieden, to seethe	siude	sōt	suten gesoten
ziehen, to draw	ziuhe	zōch	zugen gezogen
kiesen, to choose	kius	kōs	kurn	gekorn

And similarly vliehen, to flee, niesen, to sneeze, verliesen, to lose, vriesen, to freeze. See § 30.

§ 79. On the stem-vowels in the following verbs, see § 16, note and § 36:—

bliuwen, to strike	bliuwe	blou	blūwen
			bliuwen	gebliuwen
			blouwen	geblouwen

And similarly briuwen, to brew, kiuwen, to chew, riuwen, to pain.

§ 80. To this class also belong the three aorist presents:—

lūchen, to shut	liuche (lūche)	louch	luchen	gelochen
sūfen, to gulp down	sūfe	souf	suffen	gesoffen
sūgen, to suck	sūge	souc	sugen	gesogen

62

Class III.

§ 81. The verbs of this class belong to the third ablaut-series (§ 12), and include the strong verbs having a medial nasal or a liquid + consonant. Those with nasal + consonant have i throughout the present tense and u in the past participle; the others have i in the present singular, ë in the plural, and o in the past participle (see §§ 14, 15), thus:—

binden, to bind	binde	bant	bunden	gebunden
rinnen, to run	rinne	ran	runnen	gerunnen
singen, to sing	singe	sanc	sungen	gesungen

And similarly brinnen, to burn, dringen, to press, entrinnen, to escape, gelingen, to succeed, gewinnen, to gain, schrinden, to split, sinken, to sink, sinnen, to reflect, spinnen, to spin, swimmen, to swim, trinken, to drink, vinden (p.p. vunden), to find, winden, to wind. beginnen, to begin, pret. sing. began beside begunde, begonde, pl. begunden, p.p. begunnen.

bërgen, to hide	birge	bare	burgen	geborgen
hëlfen, to help	hilfe	half	hulfen	geholfen
stërben, to die	stirbe	starp	sturben	gestorben

And similarly bevëlhen, to order, emphëlhen, enphëlhen, to recommend, gëlten, to pay, mëlken, to milk, schëlten, to revile, swëllen, to swell, verdërben, to destroy, wërfen, to throw, wërren, to confuse, wërden, to become, pret. pl. wurten, wurden, p.p. worten, (ge)worden, see § 30.

Class IV.

§ 82. The verbs of this class belong to the fourth ablaut-series (§ 12). They include those strong verbs which have a liquid or a nasal before or after the stem-vowel, and a few others, thus:—

63

ë	i	a	ā	o
nëmen, to take	nime	nam	nāmen	genomen
bërn, to bear	bir (§ 9, 1)	bar	bāren	geborn
stëln, to steal	stil (§ 9, 1)	stal	stālen	gestoln
brëchen, to break	briche	brach	brāchen	gebrochen
vëhten, to fight	vihte	vaht	vāhten	gevohten

And similarly schërn, to shear, schrëcken, to frighten, sprëchen, to speak, vlëhten, to plait, zëmen (p.p. also gezëmen), to be befitting, stëchen, to prick, trëffen (p.p. troffen), to hit; dreschen, to thrash, leschen, to be extinguished, see § 11, 1. komen (OHG. quëman), to come, kume, quam, quāmen, komen; on other forms of this verb, see § 36.

Class V.

§ 83. The verbs of this class belong to the fifth ablaut-series (§ 12). They include the strong verbs containing a medial consonant other than a nasal or liquid, thus:—

ë	i	a	ā	ë
gëben, to give	gibe	gap	gāben	gegëben
jëhen, to say	gihe (§ 35)	jach	jāhen	gejëhen
sëhen, to see	sihe	sach	sāhen	gesëhen
wëgen, to move	wige	wac	wāgen	gewëgen

And similarly geschëhen, to happen, knëten, to knead, mëȥȥen, to measure, pflëgen, to be accustomed, trëten, to tread, vergëȥȥen, to forget, wëben, to weave.

wësen, to be

wise

was

wāren

gewësen

And similarly genësen (pret. pl. also genāsen), to recover, jësen, to ferment, lësen (pret. pl. also lāsen), to gather, read. See § 30.

ëȥȥen, to eat	iȥȥe	āȥ(aȥ)	āȥen	gëȥȥen (§ 9, 7)
vrëȥȥen, to devour	vriȥȥe	vrāȥ	vrāȥen	vrëȥȥen

64

These verbs had a long vowel in the pret. singular in the oldest period of all the Germanic languages, cp. also Lat. ēdī.

§ 84. To this class also belong the three verbs:—

bit(t)en, to beg	bite	bat	bāten	gebëten
ligen, to lie down	lige	lac	lāgen	gelëgen
sitzen, to sit	sitze	saȥ	sāȥen	gesëȥȥen

bit(t)en, OHG. bitten from *bidjan; ligen, OHG. liggen from *ligjan; sitzen, OHG. sitzen from *sitjan, see §§ 14, 31, 3. The inf. ligen is sometimes contracted to līn, see § 37.

Class VI.

§ 85. The verbs of this class belong to the sixth ablaut-series (§ 12), and accordingly have a in the present; uo in the pret. singular and plural; and a in the past participle. They have umlaut in the second and third pers. singular, as grebes(t), grebet; verst, vert. See § 10.

graben, to dig	gruop	gruoben	gegraben
tragen, to carry	truoc	truogen	getragen
maln, to grind	muol	muolen	gemaln
varn, to go	vuor	vuoren	gevarn

And similarly laden, to load, nagen, to gnaw, schaffen, to create, spanen, to entice, waschen, to wash, wahsen, to grow, waten, to wade.

slahen, to strike	sluoc	sluogen	geslagen
twahen, to wash	twuoc	twuogen	getwagen

See § 30. The pret. sing. sluoc, twuoc for *sluoch, *twuoch were formed after the analogy of the pret. plural.

§ 86. To this class also belong:—

65

stān, stēn (§ 96), to stand	stuont	stuonden	gestanden
entseben (older entseven), to perceive	entsuop	entsuoben	entsaben
gewähenen, to mention	gewuoc	gewuogen	gewagen
heben (older heven), to raise	huop	huoben	gehaben
swern (see § 35), to swear	swuor	swuoren	geswarn gesworn

The pret. singular stuont, entsuop, gewuoc, huop for *stuot (cp. Engl. stood), *entsuof, *gewuoch, *huof were formed after the analogy of the pret. plural. On the b, g in the pret. plural, see § 30. The last four verbs in the list originally had a j in the present, which accounts for the umlaut, cp. OHG. heffen, Goth. hafjan, to raise. heben had its b from forms where it was regular.

Class VII.

§ 87. To this class belong the verbs which originally had reduplicated preterites. The present and past participle have the same stem-vowel; and the preterite singular and plural have ie. In OHG. the verbs which had a, ā or ei in the present had ia (older ea, ē) in the preterite; and those which had ou (ō), uo in the present had io (older eo) in the preterite. But in MHG. the ia and io regularly fell together in ie (§ 11, 3), so that all the preterites had ie.

bannen, to banish	bien	bienen	gebannen
halten, to hold	hielt	hielten	gehalten
slāfen, to sleep	slief	sliefen	geslāfen
heiȥen, to call	hieȥ	hieȥen	geheiȥn
loufen, to run	lief	liefen	geloufen
ruofen, to call	rief	riefen	geruofen

66

And similarly halsen, to embrace, salzen, to salt, spalten, to split, spannen, to span, vallen, to fall, valten, to fold, wallen, to bubble; bāgen, to quarrel, blāsen, to blow, brāten, to roast, lāȥen (see also § 99), to let, leave, rāten, to advise; meiȥen, to cut, scheiden, to separate, sweifen, to rove; bōȥen, to strike, stōȥen, to push, houwen (pret. hiu and hie, pl. hiuwen, hiewen), to hew, wuofen, to bewail.

gān, gēn, to go		gienc (gie)	giengen	(ge)gangen
hāhen (§ 29) hān (§ 38)	, to hang	hienc (hie)	hiengen	gehangen
vāhen (§ 29) vān (§ 38)	, to catch	vienc (vie)	viengen	gevangen
erren, ern, to plough		ier	ieren	gearn

On the interchange between h and ng, see § 30; erren, ern from older *arjan.

B. Weak Verbs.

§ 88. The OHG. weak verbs were divided into three great classes according as the infinitive ended in -en from older *-jan, -on, or -ēn.

Inflectional tables in this section have been reformatted for greater readability. A representative screen shot of the original format is shown at the end of the text.

The characteristic endings of the three OHG. classes were:—

	Present.
	Class I.	Class II.	Class III.
Indic. sing.	-u	-ōn	-ēn
	-is(t)	-ōs(t)	-ēs(t)
	-it	-ōt	-ēt
„plur.	-ēn	-ōn	-ēn
	-et	-ōt	-ēt
	-ent	-ōnt	-ēnt
Subj. sing.	-e	-o	-e
	-ēs(t)	-ōs(t)	-ēs(t)
	-e	-o	-e
„plur.	-ēn	-ōn	-ēn
	-ēt	-ōt	-ēt
	-ēn	-ōn	-ēn
Imper. sing.	-i	-o	-e
„plur.	-ēn	-ōn	-ēn
	-et	-ōt	-ēt
67	Preterite.
	Class I.	Class II.	Class III.
Indic. sing.	-ta, -ita	-ōta	-ēta
	-tōs(t), -itōs(t)	-ōtōs(t)	-ētōs(t)
	-ta, -ita	-ōta	-ēta
„plur.	-tun, -itun	-ōtun	-ētun
	-tut, -itut	-ōtut	-ētut
	-tun, -itun	-ōtun	-ētun
Subj. sing.	-ti, -iti	-ōti	-ēti
	-tīs(t), -itīs(t)	-ōtīs(t)	-ētīs(t)
	-ti, -iti	-ōti	-ēti
„plur.	-tīn, -itīn	-ōtīn	-ētīn
	-tīt, -itīt	-ōtīt	-ētīt
	-tīn, -itīn	-ōtīn	-ētīn
	Past Participle.
Uninfl. form	-it	-ōt	-ēt
Infl.„	-tēr, -itēr	-ōtēr	-ētēr
	Infinitive.
	-en	-ōn	-ēn

In OHG. the verbs of Class I were divided into two sub-divisions: (a) polysyllabic verbs and those containing an old long stem-syllable; (b) those which originally had a short stem-syllable (cp. § 31, 3). The former formed their preterite in -ta, and the latter in -ita; and similarly in the inflected form of the past participle. In MHG. all the unaccented vowels i, e, a, o, u, ī, ē, ō regularly fell together in e (§ 7), so that the old distinction between the endings of the three classes of verbs was to a great extent obliterated. The OHG. verbs with a short stem-syllable belonging to Classes II and III came in MHG. to be inflected entirely like sub-division (b) of Class I; and those with a long stem-syllable mostly came to be inflected like sub-division (a) of Class I, see §§ 9, 2, 92.

Owing to all the OHG. unaccented vowels being weakened to e the MHG. endings are:—

68

	Sing.	Plur.
Pres. Indic.:	-e	-en
	-es(t)	-et
	-et	-ent
„Subj.:	-e	-en
	-es(t)	-et
	-e	-en
Pret. Indic. and Subj.:	-te, -ete	-ten, -eten
	-tes(t), -etes(t)	-tet, -etet
	-te, -ete	-ten, -eten
Imper.		-en
	-e	-et
P.P. Uninfl. form	-et
P.P. Infl.„	-ter, -eter
Infin.	-en.

Final -n in the first pers. sing. of the pres. indicative of the old Classes II and III remained in early MHG., but during the MHG. period the first person was remodelled after the analogy of Class I.

Note.— Old forms with ō̆ (u) for later e occasionally occur in verbs originally belonging to the OHG. Class II; and in like manner ī̆ for e in the pret. subjunctive.

§ 89. The MHG. weak verbs are divided into two classes, according as the preterite is formed in -te or -ete (see however § 40). The inflexion of the present is the same in both classes.

Class I.

§ 90. To this class belong (1) verbs which have old long stem-syllables. Those having a mutated vowel in the present have the corresponding unmutated vowel in the preterite. The i which would have caused umlaut in the preterite disappeared in the prehistoric period of the language. The past participle generally has two forms: one with a mutated vowel, and the other without it, properly from the old inflected form which did not have umlaut. (2) Verbs having a short stem-vowel followed by a single 69 consonant (l, r), and trisyllabic verbs containing an l, n, or r in the second syllable, as zeln, older zellen (§ 31, 3), to count, pret. zelte beside zalte, p.p. gezelt beside gezalt; nern, to rescue, pret. nerte (OHG. nerita), p.p. genert; and similarly doln (OHG. dolōn), to tolerate, seln, to hand over, spiln, to play, weln, to choose; wern, to defend; wandeln (OHG. wantalōn), to change, pret. wandelte; vordern (OHG. fordarōn), to further, pret. vorderte; sëgenen (OHG. sëganōn), to bless, pret. sëgente. See §§ 9, 1, 2, 92.

Present.
	Indic.	Subj.	Imper.
Sing.	1. kenne	kenne
	2. kennes(t)	kennes(t)	kenne
	3. kennet	kenne
Plur.	1. kennen	kennen	kennen
	2. kennet	kennet	kennet, (-ent)
	3. kennent	kennen
Preterite.
Sing.	1. kante	kante
	2. kantes(t)	kantes(t)
	3. kante	kante
Plur.	1. kanten	kanten
	2. kantet	kantet
	3. kanten	kanten

Infin. kennen, to know; Pres. Part. kennende; Past Part. gekennet, gekant.

And similarly with a large number of verbs, as blüemen, to bloom, brennen, to burn, füllen, to fill, grüeȥen, to greet, hœren, to hear, küssen, to kiss, lœsen, to loose, nennen, to name, rennen, to run, senden (pret. sante), to send, senken, to sink, setzen (pret. satte, sazte, p.p. gesat, gesazt, 70 gesetzt), to set, stellen, to place, süeȥen, to sweeten, vellen, to fell, wǣnen, to fancy, wünschen, to wish; gelouben, to believe, kēren, to turn, koufen, to buy, leiten (pret. leite), to lead, ougen, to show, suochen, to seek. The verba pura have double forms in the present and preterite, as dræjen, dræn (§ 35), to turn, pret. drāte beside the new formation dræjete, dræte, and similarly blüejen, to bloom, müejen, to trouble, rüejen, to row, sæjen, to sow, wæjen, to blow. Verbs with medial ck have double preterites, as decken, to cover, pret. dacte beside dahte, and similarly drücken, drucken, to press, smecken, to taste, wecken, to awake. See also § 92.

§ 91. The following are irregular:—

Infin.	Pret.	P.P.
denken, to think	dāhte	gedāht (§§ 28, 29)
dunken, dünken, to seem	dūhte	gedūh (§§ 28, 29)
furhten, fürhten, to fear	vorhte	gevorht
wurken, würken, to work	worhte	geworht
bringen, to bring	brāhte	gebrāht (§§ 28, 29)

Note.— The second pers. sing. of brāhte is bræhte or brāhtes(t), pret. subj. bræhte; and similarly with dāhte; the subj. of dūhte is dūhte or diuhte.

Class II.

§ 92. The verbs belonging to this class form their preterite in -ete and their past participle in -et. In other respects Class II has the same endings as Class I.

It includes: (a) The dissyllabic verbs, having a short stem-vowel followed by a single consonant other than l, r, which in OHG. belonged to Classes II and III, as loben (OHG. lobōn), to praise, pret. lobete, p.p. gelobet; lëben (OHG. lëbēn), to live, pret. lëbete, p.p. gelëbet (see § 88). (b) The dissyllabic verbs of OHG. Class I with a short 71 stem-vowel followed by double consonants other than ll (see § 31, 3), as legen, older leggen (OHG. leggen), to lay, pret. legete or leite (§ 37), p.p. geleget or geleit; denen, older dennen (OHG. dennen), to stretch, pret. denete, p.p. gedenet.

Other examples belonging to Class II are: bëten, to pray, dagen, to be silent, klagen, to complain, klëben, to stick, laden, to invite, namen, to name, sagen, to say, pret. sagete and seite (§ 37).

The verbs with a long stem-syllable, which belonged to OHG. Classes II and III, went over in MHG. either into Class I (1), see § 90, or had preterites in -te beside -ete, as danken, to thank, pret. dancte beside dankete, p.p. gedanct beside gedanket; vrāgen, to ask, pret. vrāgte beside vrāgete, p.p. gevrāgt beside gevrāget, and similarly ahten, to observe, minnen, to love, trahten, to strive, &c., see §§ 9, 2, 90; dienen, to serve, pret. diende (§ 40), &c.

C. Minor Groups.

1. Preterite-Presents.

§ 93. These have strong preterites with a present meaning, from which new weak preterites have been formed. The 2nd pers. sg. ends in -t, and has the same stem-vowel as the 1st and 3rd pers. sg. The following verbs belong to this class:—

weiȥ, I know, 2nd pers. sg. weist; pl. wiȥȥen; inf. wiȥȥen; pres. p. wiȥȥende; pret. wisse, wesse, wiste or weste; p.p. gewist or gewest.

touc, I am of use, inf. and pl. tugen or tügen; pret. tohte; subj. töhte.

gan, I grant, 2nd pers. sg. ganst; inf. and pl. gunnen or günnen; pret. gunde; subj. gunde or günde; p.p. gegunnen, gegunnet, or gegunst.

72

kan, I know, 2nd pers. sg. kanst; inf. and pl. kunnen or künnen; pret. kunde (konde); subj. kunde or künde.

darf, I need, 2nd pers. sg. darft; pl. durfen or dürfen; pret. dorfte; subj. dörfte; infin. and p.p. only in bedürfen, bedorft.

tar, I dare, venture, 2nd pers. sg. tarst; inf. and pl. turren or türren; pret. torste; subj. törste.

sol, I shall, 2nd pers. sg. solt; inf. and pl. suln or süln; pret. solde or solte.

mac, I can, 2nd pers. sg. maht; pl. magen, megen, mugen, or mügen; pret. mahte or mohte; subj. mehte (mahte) or möhte.

muoȥ, I must, 2nd pers. sg. muost; pl. müeȥen; pret. muoste or muose; subj. müeste or müese.

2. Anomalous Verbs.

§ 94.

(1) tuon, to do.

Present.
	Indic.		Subj.
Sing.	tuon (tuo)		tuo
	tuos(t)		tuos(t)
	tuot		tuo
Plur.	tuon		tuon
	tuot (tuont)		tuot
	tuont		tuon
	Infin.	tuon
	Imper.	tuo
	Pres. P.	tuonde
Preterite.
Sing.	tëte (tët)		tæte (tëte)
	tæte		tætes(t)
	tëte (tët)		tæte
Plur.	tāten, (tæten, tëten)		tæten
P.P. getān

73

§ 95.

(2) gān, to go.

Present.
	Indic.		Subj.
Sing.	gān, gēn		gē (gā, gange)
	gās(t), gēs(t)		gēs(t) (gās(t), ganges(t))
	gāt, gēt		gē (gā, gange)
Plur.	gān, gēn		gēn (gān, gangen)
	Infin.	gān, gēn
	Imper.	ganc, genc, ginc (gā, gē)
	Pres. P.	gānde, gēnde
Preterite.
	Sing.	gienc or gie
	Plur.	giengen
	P.P.	(ge)gangen or gegān

§ 96.

(3) stān, to stand.

Present.
	Indic.		Subj.
Sing.	stān, stēn, stā, stē		stā, stē (stande), &c.
	stās(t), stēs(t)
	stāt, stēt
Plur.	stān, stēn
	Infin.	stān, stēn
	Imper.	stā, stē, stant
Preterite.
		stuont
	P.P.	gestanden or gestān

74

§ 97.

(4) sīn, wësen, to be.

Present.
	Indic.		Subj.
Sing.	bin		sī (sīge, sīe)
	bis(t)		sīs(t) (sīges(t), sīes(t))
	ist		sī (sīge, sīe)
Plur.	birn, sīn		sīn (sīgen, sīen)
	birt, sīt		sīt (sīget, sīet)
	sint		sīn (sīgen, sīen)
	Infin.	sīn, wësen.
Indic. Pret. Sing.		was;	pl. wāren (§ 30)
Subj.„„		wære;	pl. wæren
	P.P.	gewësen (gewëset)

§ 98.

(5) wellen, to will.

Present.
	Indic.	Subj.
Sing.	1. wil	welle
	2. wil, wilt	welles(t)
	3. wil	welle
Plur.	1. wellen, weln	wellen
	2. wellet, welt	wellet
	3. wellen, weln	wellen
Pret.	wolte or wolde (§ 40)	wolte or wölte
Infin.	wellen.

3. Contracted Verbs.

§ 99.

(1) lān = lāȥen, to let, leave.

	Sing.	Plur.
Pres.	lān	lān
	lās(t), læs(t)	lāt
	lāt (læt)	lān
Pret.	lie or lieȥ (§ 87).
Imper.	lā	lāt
Infin.	lān.
P.P.	(ge)lān

75

(2) hān = haben, to have.

	Sing.	Plur.
Pres.	hān	hān
	hās(t)	hāt
	hāt	hān
Pret.	hāte (hëte, hēt(e), hiet(e), hæte)
	hātes(t)
	&c.
Subj. pres.	habe
	habes(t)
	&c.
„pret.	hæte, hete, hēte, hiete, hatte, &c.
Infin.	hān.
P.P.	gehabet, gehapt, gehāt.

The contracted form hān, &c., is mostly used as an auxiliary.

CHAPTER VII

SYNTAX

Cases.

§ 100. Accusative. The accusative has much the same function as in NHG. It is sometimes used, however, where the dat. or a preposition would be required in NHG.:—ër vuor waȥȥer unde wëge, he went by water and land. The acc. is used after wol, well, when used as an interjection, as wol mich. A double accusative is required not only after lēren, to teach, but also after hëln, verhëln, to conceal, verdagen, verswīgen, to keep secret.

§ 101. Dative. ruofen, to call, and schirmen, to protect, take the dative. The dative is often used adverbially: allenthalben, on all sides, wīlen(t), formerly, &c.

§ 102. Genitive. The genitives hande, slahte, leie = manner are used adverbially: maneger hande, slahte, or leie, in many ways, manifoldly.

The gen. is used in combination with the comparative of adjectives, as dicker eines dūmes, thicker by the breadth of a thumb. Indefinite and interrogative pronouns, used 76 substantively, take the genitive: iemen armer liute, any poor people; niht schœneres, nothing more beautiful; dës enmac niht sīn, that cannot be; waȥ mannes ër wære, what kind of man he was. In the same manner the rel. swaȥ may take the genitive: swaȥ man vant dër armen, whatever poor people one found.

The genitive may be used predicatively:—sīt sī dës goteshūses sint, since they belong to the house of God; diu sorge ist mīn eines niht, I am not the only one who has sorrow.

Impersonal verbs often take the genitive: mich genüeget dës, that is enough for me; mich gezimt dës, that pleases me.

The genitives dës and wës may be used adverbially in the sense of therefore, wherefore; and likewise many nouns: tages, by day; dës sëlben tages, the same day; nahtes, by night.

Interjections usually take the genitive: owē mir mīnes leides! alas! for my grief. vil, much, many; mē(re), more; wēnic, lützel, little; minner, minre, less; and genuoc, enough, used as indeclinable substantives, are followed by the genitive. Cardinal numerals, used substantively, are also followed by the genitive: zweinzec starker man, twenty strong men.

Adjectives.

§ 103. The weak and strong forms are used in the same manner as in Mod. HG. dirre, this, is followed by the weak or strong form; aller, all, usually by the strong. The strong or weak form can be used after pronouns, as ich armer or ich arme, I poor ... In the vocative the weak form without the article is used, as guoten liute, (ye) good people. When the same adjective refers to nouns of different gender, it is put in the neuter plural.

ein and the possessive pronouns are followed by the 77 strong form in the Nom. and Acc. singular; by the strong or weak form in the pl. and Gen. and Dative singular.

The possessive pronouns are declined strong.

The uninflected form of the adjective is used side by side with the inflected in the Nom. singular, all genders, and Acc. singular neuter, when the adjective comes before the noun: ein guot man, a good man. When the adjective stands after the noun the uninflected form may be used without reference to number, gender, or case, ein, dehein, and the possessive pronouns have the uninflected form in the Nom. for all genders, and Acc. neuter. The uninflected form of al, all, can be used before all forms of the definite article: in al dër wërlte, in all the world. See § 55.

Pronouns.

§ 104. im, ir, pl. in, are used to express the dative of the reflexive pronoun. dër is sometimes used pleonastically, as dër brunne, dër was küele, the spring was cool. man used as an indefinite pronoun can take the definite article along with it.

Verbs.

§ 105. Number. The verb can be used in the singular after a compound subject, as Volkēr und Hagene sō sēre wüeten began, ... began to rage so furiously.

§ 106. Tenses. The fut. simple is expressed by sol, muoȥ, wil and the infin., or simply by the pres., as in OE.: ich sol gān, I shall go; bin ich gnislīch, sō genise ich, if I am curable, I shall recover. For the fut. pf. the pf. is used: daȥ ist schiere getān, that will soon have been done. The pf. is expressed either by the simple pret. or the p.p. and the verbs hān, sīn; in subordinate sentences the pret. often has the meaning of the pluperfect: dō du 78 von ir schiede, zehant sie starp, she died immediately after thou hadst taken leave of her.

The preterite acquires a pluperfect, and the present a future perfect meaning when the prefix ge is added to them: swenne iuwer sun gewahset, when your son (shall have) has grown up; dō ich in gesach, when I had seen him. The present participle with sīn is sometimes used as in English, see ‘Arme Heinrich,’ l. 24.

§ 107. Voice. The present and preterite passive are expressed by wërden and the p.p., and the corresponding perfect tenses by sīn and the p.p.

Pres.	ich wirde gelobet.
Pret.	ich wart„
Perf.	ich bin„
Plupf.	ich was„
Inf.	gelobet sīn.

§ 108. Negation. Negation in sentences is expressed by ne (en, n) before the verb, and niht after it: ër enist guot, he is not good. niht is frequently omitted, especially after the preterite presents, the verbs wellen, lān, sentences containing negative pronouns or adverbs, and in subordinate sentences.

en without niht is used with the subjunctive in subordinate sentences in the sense of unless, if not, except that, when that, that not, &c.: dën līp wil ich verliesen, si enwërde mīn wīp, I will die if she will not become my wife; ich wæne nieman in dër wërlte lëbe, ërn habe ein leit, I believe no one lives in the world who has not his trouble.

en is further also used in the sense of Latin ‘quin’: ich mac daȥ niht bevarn, mirn wërde mīn ritterschaft benomen, I cannot prevent my knighthood being taken away from me.