[§ 9.] The weakened e regularly disappeared:—
[1.] After l and r in dissyllables with short stems, as ar, older are (OHG. aro), eagle, acc. gen. dat. arn, beside name, name, namen; wol, older wole (OHG. wola), well; gar (OHG. garo), ready, milch (OHG. milih), milk, zal (OHG. zala), number; kil, quill, gen. kil(e)s, dat. kil, pl. nom. acc. kil, dat. kil(e)n, beside tac, day, gen. tages, dat. tage, pl. nom. acc. tage, dat. tagen; bërn, to bear, stëln, to steal, nern, to rescue, pres. sing. stil, stils(t), stilt; ner, ners(t), nert, beside hœren, to hear, pres. sing. hœre, hœres(t), hœret.
[2.] After liquids and nasals in trisyllabic and polysyllabic forms with long stems, as sælde (OHG. sālida), blessedness, hērsen, hërsen (OHG. hērisōn), to rule, zierde (OHG. ziarida), adornment, wandelte (OHG. wantalōta), I wandered, zwīfeln (OHG. zwīfalōn), to doubt, wundern (OHG. wuntarōn), to wonder, schœnste (OHG. scōnisto), most beautiful, diente, diende (OHG. dionōta), I served; dienest, service, gen. dienstes; engel, angel, gen. engel(e)s, dat. engel(e), pl. nom. acc. gen. engel(e), dat. engel(e)n, and similarly with words like acker, acre, lūter, clear, buosem, bosom, heiden, heathen; grœȥer (OHG. grōȥiro), greater, fem. dat. sing. grœȥer (OHG. grōȥiru); dat. sing. blindem(e), blind, guotem(e), good = OHG. blintemu, guotemu; gen. pl. blinder(e) = OHG. blintero. After the analogy of forms with long stems it was also dropped in forms with short stems, as pl. nagel, nails, vogel, birds, beside nagele, vogele; wider beside widere (OHG. widaro), wether, dat. sing. disem(e), this, vadem(e), thread, gen. vadem(e)s.
There was however a strong tendency in MHG. for the medial vowel to disappear in trisyllabic forms with long stems irrespectively as to whether they contained a liquid or a nasal, as market, market, gen. marktes; rīchsen (OHG. rīchisōn), to rule, ahte (OHG. ahtōta), he observed, wartte, warte (OHG. wartēta), he waited, vrāgte beside vrāgete (OHG. frāgēta), he asked, dancte beside dankete (OHG. dankōta), he thanked. See [§ 92].
[3.] In the medial syllable of trisyllabic forms with long stems having liquids or nasals in successive syllables, as dīme beside dīneme (OHG. dīnemu), dat. of dīn, thy; eime beside ein(e)me (OHG. einemu), dat. of ein, one; hērre, hërre (OHG. hēriro), master; minre beside minner(e) (OHG. minniro), less; tiurre (OHG. tiuriro), dearer.
[4.] Finally after a nasal, and medially after a nasal before a following t, in forms with short stems, as han(e), cock, nam(e), name, sun (OHG. sun, sunu), son, won(e), I dwell; man(e)t, he admonishes, won(e)t, he dwells, scham(e)t, he shames, nim(e)t, he takes, nëm(e)t, ye take; pret. won(e)te, scham(e)te. In these and similar forms the e was often restored through the influence of forms which regularly preserved the e.
[Note.]— The e, when not preceded by a nasal, was sometimes dropped in verbal forms ending in t. This was especially the case in wirst, wirt older wirdes(t), wirdet; siht, he sees, sëht, ye see, older sihet, sëhet; and often in forms like gilt, vint, spricht, sticht beside giltet, vindet, sprichet, stichet.
[5.] The superlative of adjectives often has double forms, the one with the loss of the medial e, and the other with the loss of the final e, as beste, best, ērste, first, grœste, greatest, leste, last, min(ne)ste, least, wir(se)ste, worst, beside beȥȥest(e), ērest(e), grœȥest(e), leȥȥest(e), minnest(e), wirsest(e), OHG. beȥȥisto, ēristo, grōȥisto, leȥȥisto, minnisto, wirsisto.
[6.] In the unstressed forms of dissyllables, as adv. ane, abe, mite, obe beside the prepositions an, on, ab, of, mit, with, ob, over; dat. sing. dëme, wëme, ime, beside dëm, wëm, im; unde, and, wande, for, because, beside und (unt), wan(d); hërre, vrouwe, beside hër, vrou before proper names and titles.
[7.] The e in the unaccented verbal prefixes be-, ge- often disappeared before l, n, r, as blīben, to remain, glīch, like, glit, member, glouben, to believe, gnāde, favour, gnanne, namesake, gnuoge, many, grade, quick, grëch, straight, beside belīben, gelīch, gelit, gelouben, genāde, genanne, genuoge, gerade, gerëch; it disappeared before vowels during the OHG. period, as bange, anxious: ange, anxiously, gëȥȥan p.p. of ëȥȥan, to eat, gunnan, MHG. gunnen, günnen, to grant.