Cases.
[12.]
There are five cases in Old English: the nominative, the genitive, the dative, the accusative, and the instrumental.[1] Each of them, except the nominative, may be governed by prepositions. When used without prepositions, they have, in general, the following functions:
(a) The nominative, as in Modern English, is the case of the subject of a finite verb.
(b) The genitive (the possessive case of Modern English) is the case of the possessor or source. It may be called the of case.
(c) The dative is the case of the indirect object. It may be called the to or for case.
(d) The accusative (the objective case of Modern English) is the case of the direct object.
(e) The instrumental, which rarely differs from the dative in form, is the case of the means or the method. It may be called the with or by case.
The following paradigm of mūð, the mouth, illustrates the several cases (the article being, for the present, gratuitously added in the Modern English equivalents):
| Singular. | Plural. | |
|---|---|---|
| N. | mūð = the mouth. | mūð-as = the mouths. |
| G. | mūð-es[2] = of the mouth (= the mouth’s). | mūð-a = of the mouths (= the mouths’). |
| D. | mūð-e = to or for the mouth. | mūð-um = to or for the mouths. |
| A. | mūð = the mouth. | mūð-as = the mouths. |
| I. | mūðe = with or by means of the mouth. | mūð-um = with or by means of the mouths. |