Nouns

Danetian nouns inflect for three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), two numbers (singular, plural), and eight cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, ablative, dative, locative, instrumental). Traditionally, nouns are categorized into three broad inflection classes: first declension, second declension, and third declension.

The inflection of Danetian nouns can be decomposed into the following elements:

1. root: carries the lexical meaning of the noun
2. thematic vowel: a vowel appended at the end of a root
3. ending: carries information about case and number

As the table above shows, the roots can come in different ablaut grades. Which grade is chosen depends on the inflectional paradigm.

First declension: a-stem nouns

The first declension contains nouns whose thematic vowel is a. Most of these nouns are feminine, although a few are masculine. Even though the stress can fall either on the stem or on the thematic vowel, its position remains constant. All nouns in this class are regular, and their inflectional table can be predicted from just the nominative singular. Some examples of first declension nouns are:

• barda (f): beard
• bena (f): woman
• bora (f): mountain
• dilemma (m): dilemma
• dina (f): day
• grammatica (f): grammar
• physica (f): physics
• pluksna (f): feather
• poeta (m): poet
• schola (f): school
• systema (m): system

Second declension: o-stem nouns

The second declension contains nouns whose thematic vowel is o. Nouns in this declension are either masculine or neuter. As before, the stress can fall on the stem or the thematic vowel, but its position remains constant. All nouns in this class are regular. Some examples of second declension nouns are:

• asjdros (m): field
• arsjtos (m): bear
• divos (m): god
• donom (n): gift
• sjdrynom (n): grain
• esjvos (m): horse
• kapros (m): goat
• lubos (m): love
• medios (m): middle
• porsjos (m): pig
• stauros (m): cross
• tauros (m): bull
• volpos (m): wolf
• verdjom (n): work
• viros (m): man

Neuter nouns in the second declension differ from masculine nouns only in the nominative and accusative cases; all other cases are identical.

Third declension: i-stem nouns

The third declension is the most diverse class of nouns. It contains several subclasses: i-stems, u-stems, n-stems, s-stems, among others. In this section, we’ll focus solely on the i-stem nouns.

The i-stem nouns have i as their thematic vowel. Many of these nouns change ablaut grades in different cases. For example, mentis, mynties “thought”. This phenomenon is a vestige of Proto-Indo-European ablaut. Because of this ablaut pattern, two principal parts are necessary to fully decline an i-stem noun. In any case, if a noun does change ablaut grades, then the nominative, vocative, and accusative will be in grade 1, and all the other cases will be in grade 2.

Some examples of i-stem nouns are:

• mori, myries (n): sea
• djentis, djynties (f): birth
• gostis, gysties (m): guest
• ludis, ludies (m): people
• mertis, myrties (f): death
• mentis, mynties (f): thought
• mektis, mykties (f): might
• statis, styties (f): position

Third declension: u-stem nouns

The u-stem nouns have u as their thematic vowel. As in the i-stem declension, u-stem nouns can change ablaut grades; and if they do, then the nominative, vocative, and accusative will be in grade 1, and all other cases in grade 2. Some examples of u-stem nouns are:

• artus, yrtues (m): order
• danu, dynues (n): river
• dasjtru, dysjtrues (n): tear
• desjartus, desjyrtues (m): disorder
• doru, dyrues (n): tree
• lokus, lykues (m): lake
• pesju, pysjues (n): cattle, wealth
• sunus, sunues (m): son

Second declension: e-stem nouns

In more modern times, a new paradigm has been created to inflect various words that come from Greek and Latin. Its thematic vowel is e. Some examples include:

• Aristoteles (m): Aristotle
• indices (m): index
• Johannes (m): John
• series (f): series
• species (f): species

Third declension: s-stem nouns

The s-stem nouns do not have a thematic vowel. Their stem ends in a suffix -os ~ -es. The roots themselves do not undergo ablaut changes. Every word in this class is neuter; most of them represent abstract concepts. Some examples include:

• agos, agesos (n): pain, ache, suffering
• andjos, andjesos (n): fear
• belos, belesos (n): strength
• beros, beresos (n): warmth, heat
• djersos, djersesos (n): threat, risk, menace, danger
• geldos, geldesos (n): hunger
• gelos, gelesos (n): cold
• jugos, jugesos (n): team
• kretos, kretesos (n): strength, might
• menos, menesos (n): mind
• nebos, nebesos (n): cloud
• onos, onesos (n): load, burden
• sjlevos, sjlevesos (n): glory
• tersos, tersesos (n): thirst

Third declension: n-stem nouns

All n-stem nouns are athematic and neuter. The roots undergo ablaut changes: grade 1 or 3 is used for the nominative, vocative, and accusative; grade 2 is used for all other cases. Some examples in this class include:

• blemyn, blymens (n): soul
• brevyn, bryvens (n): well, spring, source
• gremyn, grymens (n): grass, turf, herb, plant
• jepyn, ipens (n): liver
• krimyn, krimens (n): decision, decree, judgement
• nomyn, nymens (n): name
• pavyn, pyvens (n): fire
• petyn, pytens (n): wing, feather
• pramyn, prymens (n): beginning, start
• prumyn, prumens (n): spirit
• semyn, symens (n): seed
• snevyn, snyvens (n): sinew, tendon
• strumyn, strumens (n): treasure
• termyn, tyrmens (n): end, boundary
• vodyn, udens (n): water