APPENDIX H
GRAMMAR
Nouns
Singular—Possessive Case.—1. The inflected genitive or possessive is formed by adding ys or is; MS. E, on the whole, shows a preference for the former. Sometimes the final consonant is doubled. Cf. a manis hand (VII. 580), to mannys fude (X. 189).
2. Nouns denoting relationship are uninflected, as in Anglo-Saxon: Mordreyt his sistir son (I. 557). Till his brothiris pes (XI. 652) is an exception found in both MSS. For And sperit of his brotheris fair (XVI. 21) in C, E has brodyr.
Note.—Wode-syde (E woddis sid, IX. 139), sonne-rising, hous end (VII. 163), all common combinations. Editors, however, usually read the termination of the last as housis, though it seems to fall under the same category.
Plural.—1. The plural also is in ys or is, more seldom es, representing A.S. as. It “formed a distinct syllable in monosyllables and words accented on the final syllable.”[183] The latter part of the statement is not, however, uniformly true. Cf. battalis (XI. 122), bischoppes and prelatis (XX. 294), etc., which are dissyllables.
2. Simple s occurs only after r and y (i)—galays, werriours, etc.—but spurys, baneris, towris also occur. Feys (I. 58) and fays (I. 223) are to be read as two syllables.
3. Final f (ff) is generally changed to v, as theif, thevis; but wif preserves the f throughout, as wifis, wiffys, etc. (E, however, in XII. 246, has wyvis); and lif has lyvis (XI. 590), or livis and lyffis (X. 106), or liffis (IV. 137).
4. Words ending in er, ir, yr, yn, ill for the most part reject the final vowel before the ending of the plural: dochtrys, lettres or lettrys, wapnys, etc. Where the vowel is retained, it is silent, as in schulderis (IX. 356), letteris (XVII. 31, 39), etc.
Note.—Burges in XVI. 80, XVII. 236, is clearly unaltered in the plural, and this would seem to apply also to marras (VIII. 35), hous (VIII. 514, etc.), and mos (VIII. 173), which are usually read as three and two syllables respectively. Cf. on Singular (2).