the dentals, d, þ, t, all labial stops and spirants ar changed into f, all gutturals into h, all dentals into s, the second dental appearing always as t. E. g.
skapjan, gaskafts (§ 51, n. 2); þaúrban (*þaúrbda), þaúrfta; giban, gifts (§ 56, n. 4); —siuks, saúhts; þagkjan, þâhta (§ 58, n. 2); magan, mahta (§ 66, n. 1); —wait, waist (§ 69, n. 2); waírþan, warst (§ 71, n. 3); biudan, baust (§ 75, n. 1).
Note 1. Exceptions ar magt (2nd pers. sg.; 1st mag, § 201) and gahugds, mind.
Note 2. st often becums ss by assimilation; as, wissa, prt. of witan (§ 76, n. 1). Cp. Beitr., 7, 171 et seq.; 9, 150 et seq.; IF., 4, 341 et seq.
Note 3. The rule givn abuv from a practical standpoint of the Gothic grammar must be formulated differently from a comparativ-historical standpoint, because the discust sound-shiftings hav not originated in the Gothic language, but ar reflections of proethnic Germanic and Indo-Germanic relations of sounds. S. Brgm., I, 381 et seq.; 403 et seq.
§ 82. Assimilations occur only in combination with h (s. § 62, n. 3) and us (§ 78, n. 4).
INFLECTION
CHAP. I. DECLENSION OF SUBSTANTIVS
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS
§ 83. The Gothic declension, like that of the remaining Old-Germanic dialects, comprises three genders: the masculin, neuter and feminin.
Note 1. The neuter of all declensions resembls in form very closely the masculin; a distinction occurs in the nom. and acc. sg. and pl. only.
Note 2. A distinction of gender is wanting only with the personal prn. of the 1st and 2nd persons, with the reflexiv prn. (§ 150), and with the numeral adjectivs 4-19 (§ 141).
§ 84. The Goth. declension has two numbers: singular and plural.
Note. The dual which originally existed in all Indg. languages, is preservd in the Goth. decl. in the 1st and 2nd pers. of the personal prn. only (§ 150).
§ 85. The Goth. declension has four complete cases: nominativ, genitiv, dativ, accusativ. The vocativ is mostly identical with the nominativ, only in the singular of sum classes of declension the vocativ is different from the nominativ, but then it is always identical with the accusativ.
Note. The Goth. dativ represents several Indg. cases (dativ, locativ, ablativ, instrumental). Relics of the neuter instrumental ar stil present in the pronominal declension: þê (§ 153), ƕê (§ 159).
§ 86. The declension of substantivs in Gothic is divided into a vocalic and a consonantal declension, according as the stems of the substantivs end in a vowel or a consonant.
Note. The original form of the stem is in part unrecognizabl in the Gothic language, because the stem has blended with the endings, final vowels hav been lost, and the like, so that the division into a vocalic and a consonantal declension appears correct only in the light of the Comparativ Indo-Germanic Grammar, and but with reference to this it must be retaind. Such a division would never hav been made from an especially Gothic-Germanic standpoint.
§ 87. Of the consonantal stems in Gothic the n-stems (i. e. the stems in -an, -ôn, -ein), ar very numerous, while of other consonantal declensions but a few remains ar preservd (§ 114 et seq.). Sinse the time of Jac. Grimm the n-declension has also been calld Weak Declension.
§ 88. There ar four classes of the vocalic declension: stems in a, ô, i, u. Accordingly, we distinguish them as a-, ô-, i-, and u-declensions. The stem-characteristics ar stil clearly seen in all classes in the dat. and acc. pl.; e. g., dagam, dagans; – gibôm, gibôs; – gastim, gastins; – sunum, sununs. Sinse the time of Jacob Grimm the vocalic declension has also been calld Strong Declension.
Note 1. Of the four vocalic declensions the a- and ô-declensions ar closely connected, the a-declension containing only masculins and neuters (dags, waúrd), the ô-declension the corresponding feminins. Both classes ar therefore uzually givn as one, the a-declension.
Note 2. The Gothic a-declension corresponds to the second or o-declension in Greek and Latin (Gr. m. – ος, n. – ον; Lt. – us, – um), the Goth. ô-declension corresponds to the first or ā-declension in Gr. and Lt. Now sinse Comparativ Grammar teaches us that the Græco-Lt. vowels ar the more original ones, and that onse also the Germanic stems of the corresponding masculine and neuters must hav ended in o and those of the feminins in â, we often meet in Germanic Grammar with the term o-declension for the masculins and neuters, and with the term â-declension for the feminins.
§ 88a. Substantivs (and adjectivs) as the first parts of compounds end as a rule in a vowel, the connecting vowel of the components (or composition-vowel), which in the case of the vocalic stems is oftenest identical with the stem-vowel. Exampls: a-decl.: figgra-gulþ, hunsla-staþs, himina-kunds, fulla-tôjis; —i-decl.: gasti-gôþs, naudi-bandi; —u-decl.: fôtu-baúrd, hardu-haírtei, filu-waúrdei.
But the connecting vowel of the o-stems is always -a; as, aírþa-kunds, hleiþra-stakeins; the -ja of ja-stems persists when the stem is a short syllabl, but it becums i when the stem is long (cp. § 44); as, wadja-bôkôs, alja-kuns; arbi-numja, aglaiti-waúrdei; in like manner þûsundi-faþs, < stem in -jô-, nom. þûsundi (§ 145).
The n-stems hav simpl a insted of the thematic ending -an,
