[§ 42.] First declension.—To this declension belong all masculine nouns which form their plural in -e only. It includes: (a) the old masculine a-stems; (b) the old masculine wa-stems which lost their final -w after long vowels in OHG., as sē, sea, gen. sēwes, pl. sēwe, and similarly bū, dwelling, rē (also neuter), corpse, snē, snow, see [§ 36]; and (c) the old masculine i-stems which could not have umlaut in the plural ([§ 44]).
| Sing. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. Acc. | tac, day | kil, quill | engel, angel |
| Gen. | tages | kil(e)s | engel(e)s |
| Dat. | tage | kil(e) | engel(e) |
| Plur. | |||
| Nom. Acc. Gen. | tage | kil(e) | engel(e) |
| Dat. | tagen | kil(e)n | engel(e)n |
On the interchange between fortis and lenis, as in tac, day, lop, praise, sant, sand, hof, court, gen. tages, lobes, sandes, hoves, see [§ 33].
Like tac are also declined the old consonantal stems vīent, enemy, and vriunt, friend, but pl. vriunde beside the old plural vriunt.
Like kil are declined all monosyllabic masculine nouns having a short stem-vowel and ending in -l or -r ([§ 9, 1]).
Like engel are declined masculine polysyllabic nouns ending in -el, -em, -en, -er, when their stem-syllable is long, as mantel, mantle, ātem, breath, morgen, morning, acker, field. Those in -em, -en generally retain the e in the dative plural. Polysyllabic nouns with short stem-syllables fluctuate between the retention or loss of the e, as gen. sing. vogeles or vogels, dat. sing, and nom. acc. pl. vogele or vogel, and similarly vadem, thread, rëgen, rain, sumer, summer, see [§ 9, 2].
[§ 43.] Second declension.—To this declension belong all masculine nouns whose nom. and acc. singular end in -e, which is the only difference between this and the first declension. It includes: (a) the old masculine ja-stems; (b) many old u-stems with short stem-syllable, as fride (OHG. fridu), peace, site (OHG. situ), custom, and similarly huge, thought, mëte, mead, sige beside sic, victory, wite, wood (see [§ 36]); (c) the old short i-stem wine, friend; and (d) the old masculine wa-stem schate (gen. schat(e)wes beside schates), shadow.
| Sing. | Plur. | |
|---|---|---|
| Nom. Acc. | hirte, shepherd | hirte |
| Gen. | hirtes | hirte |
| Dat. | hirte | hirten |
[§ 44.] Third declension.—To this declension belong all masculine nouns which form their plural in -e and with umlaut of the stem-vowel. It includes: (a) the old masculine i-stems; (b) the old masculine u-stem sun (OHG. sunu, sun), son; and (c) the two old consonant stems fuoȥ, foot, zant (gen. zandes), zan, tooth.
| Sing. | Plur. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MHG. | OHG. | MHG. | OHG. | |
| Nom. Acc. | gast | gast, guest | geste | gesti |
| Gen. | gastes | gastes | geste | gesteo, -io |
| Dat. | gaste | gaste | gesten | gestim |