Page:King Alfred's Old English version of St. Augustine's Soliloquies - Hargrove - 1902.djvu/28

XXII GRAMMATICAL OBSERVATIONS 5. Gutturals and Palatals. Here occur so many substitutions that only a very few of the most typical can be cited: c for g as in þinc (30.2), for t as in gehec (10.19); g for c as in þingd (33.23), for ð in ðincg (32.25), in organic as in ǣgnig (36.13), lost as in ǣni (34.22) and hefenesse (29.14). H is frequently prefixed to words beginning with a vowel, as in hāhte (55.8) and hic (15.16), and is omitted where it belongs, as in ǣaran (61.21) and ǣr (35.1); a curious mistake is ǣr hrihte (49.10) for hǣr rihte. th for ht as in nānwith (20.23), tht for ht as in mythte (24.7). We find a single example of whīle (1.17).

2. Inflection. - The Noun: There are a few variations from the EWS. forms. The gen. sg. of mōd occurs as mōdis (2.20); while the following acc. pl. forms are noticeable: dēorlinges (65.19), hlāfordes (61.18), lāðtēwes (45.4). Ēage has in nom. pl. ēagum (22.2) and ǣagon (47.7). Under sāwle, sunu, trēow, weorld, wudu of the Glossary will be found unusual forms.

2. The Adjective. Besides the frequent substitution of m for n, the following peculiarities are typical: gs. māren (37.11), as. nānnæ (43.16), ns. wk. hēhstan (6.7); good (16.16) or gōd (12.15), betre (33.9) or betere (12.13) or best (13.25) or betst (3.6). For individual words and examples the reader is referred to the Glossary.

3 The Pronoun. Sg. nom. hē, hit (hyt), hēo; gen. hys (his), hyre; dat. hym (him), hyre; acc. hine (hyne), hit, hēo; pl. nom. and acc. hī, hȳ, hēo; gen. heora (hera, hyra); dat. heom (hiom), heoma, him (hym). The demonstrative: sg. nom. se, þæt (þæd, þat, það, þet), sēo; gen. þæs (þas, þes), þǣre (þāre, þēre); dat. þām (þān), þǣre (þāre, þēre); acc. þone (þonne, þane), þæt, þā; instr. þī, þȳ, ðon; pl. nom. ðā: gen. þara, þæra; dat. þām.

4. The Verb. The infinitive as a rule ends in -an, but sometimes in -en, as forlǣten (23.8). The gerund most often ends in -enne (-ene, -æne, -anne), as habbenne (36.8), hæbene (36.7), habbæne (27.12), lufianne (16.16); the ending -ende occurs a few times, as in bringende (12.12).