Though the stem-suffixes merged with the root, declensions were still existent in OE and were based on the former IE stem-suffixes:
a-stem –the most numerous declension (M, N):
Case | Masculine | Neuter | ||
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
Nom, Acc | fisc | fiscas | dēor | dēor! |
Gen | fisces | fisca | dēores | dēora |
Dat | fisce | fiscum | dēore | dēorum |
Traces of a-stem in Modern English:
· -es (M, Sg, Gen) à ‘s (student’s book) – Possessive Case;
· -as (M, Pl, Nom) à -(e)s (watches, books) – plural ending for the majority of nouns;
· - (N, Pl, Nom) à zero ending(deer, sheep) – homogeneous Sg and Pl.
n-stem(M, N, F):
Case | Masculine | |
Singular | Plural | |
Nom | nama | naman |
Gen | naman | namena |
Dat | naman | namum |
Acc | naman | naman |
Traces of n-stem in Modern English:
· -an (M, Pl, Nom) à -en (oxen, children, brethren) – irregular plural ending.
root-stem –never had stem-suffix, words consisted of just a root(M, F):
Case | Masculine | |
Singular | Plural | |
Nom, Acc | fōt | fēt |
Gen | fotes | fōta |
Dat | fēt | fōtum |
Traces of n-stem in Modern English:
· root-sound interchange (M, Pl, Nom) à root-sound interchange (men, geese, mice) – irregular Plural.