[§ 38.] Intervocalic h often disappeared when the first vowel was long, and then the two vowels underwent contraction, as hān, to hang, vān, to catch, vlēn, to implore, hō (adv.), high, beside hāhen, vāhen, vlēhen, hōhe. Other contracted forms will be found in the Glossary.
[§ 39.] The final r disappeared after long vowels in monosyllables when the next word began with a consonant, but was often restored analogically, as dā (OHG. dār), there: dārinne, therein; wā (OHG. wār), where: wārinne, wherein; hie (OHG. hiar): hierunder, hereunder; adv. mē (OHG. mēr), more; ē (OHG. ēr), formerly; sā (OHG. sār), at once.
[§ 40.] Medial t ([§ 25]) became d after nasals in late OHG. and early MHG., as senden, to send, gen. blindes (nom. blint, blind), pret. nande, he named, rūmde, he left, beside early MHG. senten, blintes, nante, rūmte. It also occasionally became d after l, as halden beside halten, to hold, solde beside solte, pret. of suln, shall.
ACCIDENCE
[ CHAPTER III]
DECLENSION OF NOUNS
[§ 41.] MHG. nouns have two numbers: singular and plural; three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter, as in OHG. and NHG., from which the gender of nouns in MHG. does not materially differ; four cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative. Traces of an old locative occur in what is called the uninflected dative singular of hūs, house, beside hūse, and in proper names like Engellant beside Engellande. The vocative is like the nominative.
In MHG., as in the older periods of the other Germanic languages, nouns are divided into two great classes, according as the stem originally ended in a vowel or a consonant, cp. the similar division of nouns in Latin and Greek. Nouns whose stems originally ended in a vowel belong to the vocalic or so-called strong declension. Those whose stems originally ended in -n belong to the so-called weak or n-declension. All other consonantal stems are generally put together under the general heading, ‘Minor Declensions’. In OHG. nouns whose stems originally ended in a vowel are subdivided into the a-declension including pure a-stems, ja-stems, and wa-stems; the ō-declension including pure ō-stems, jō-stems, and wō-stems; the ī̆-declension, and the u-declension. All the nouns belonging to the u-declension went over into other declensions in MHG. (cp. §§ [43], [44], [49]). But as all final vowels either disappeared (some of them already in OHG.) or were weakened to e in MHG. (see §§ [7], [8]), it is no longer practicable to retain the OHG. subdivision fully without entering into the oldest and in many cases into the prehistoric period of the language, which would be quite out of place in a MHG. grammar. The old ‘Minor Declensions’ had begun to pass over into the vocalic, especially into the i- and a-, declensions in the oldest OHG. The remnants of the old inflexions preserved in MHG. will be noted in the following paragraphs. The neuter nouns whose stems originally ended in -os, -es (cp. [§ 47]) are in this Primer included in the strong declension.
A. The Vocalic or Strong Declension.
1. Masculine Nouns.