The statement made in nearly all the grammars that hunde occurs as a nominative and accusative plural is without foundation.
Note 2.—Many numerals, otherwise indeclinable, are used in the genitive plural with the indefinite pronoun sum, which then means one of a certain number. In this peculiar construction, the numeral always precedes sum: fēowera sum, one of four (= with three others); Hē sǣde þæt hē syxa sum ofslōge syxtig, He said that he, with five others, slew sixty (whales); Hē wæs fēowertigra sum, He was one of forty.
Note 3.—These are the most common constructions with the Cardinals. The forms in -tig have only recently been investigated. A study of Wülfing’s citations shows that Alfred occasionally uses the forms in -tig (1) as adjectives with plural inflections: mid XXXgum cyningum, with thirty kings; and (2) as nouns with plural inflections: æfter siextigum daga, after sixty days. But both constructions are rare.
(b) Ordinals.
[92.]
The Ordinals, except the first two, are formed from the Cardinals. They are:
| 1. | forma, ǣresta, fyrsta |
| 2. | ōðer, æfterra |
| 3. | ðridda |
| 4. | fēorða |
| 5. | fīfta |
| 6. | siexta |
| 7. | seofoða |
| 8. | eahtoða |
| 9. | nigoða |
| 10. | tēoða |
| 11. | ęndlefta |
| 12. | twęlfta |
| 13. | ðrēotēoða |
| 14. | fēowertēoða |
| 15. | fīftēoða etc. |
| 20. | twēntigoða |
| 21. | ān ǫnd twēntigoða |
| 30. | ðrītigoða etc. |
Note.—There are no Ordinals corresponding to hund and ðūsend.
With the exception of ōðer ([§ 77]), all the Ordinals are declined as Weak Adjectives; the article, however, as in Mn.E., is frequently omitted: Brūtus wæs sē forma consul, Brutus was the first consul; Hēr ęndað sēo ǣreste bōc, ǫnd onginneð sēo ōðer, Here the first book ends, and the second begins; ðȳ fīftan dæge, on the fifth day; on ðǣm tēoðan gēare hiera gewinnes, in the tenth year of their strife; Hēo wæs twęlfte, She was twelfth; Sē wæs fēorða frǫm Agusto, He was fourth from Augustus.
