(3) Case.—The genitive singular (masc. and fem.) ends in -es (-eȝ), -s, but occasionally the inflexion is dropped; as, “Baltaȝar thewes,” the virtues of Balshazzar.[52] If “honde myȝt,” “honde werk,” “hellen wombe,” are not compounds, we have instances of the final -e (en) which formed the genitive case of feminine nouns in the Southern English of the fourteenth century.

In the phrases “besten blod” (blood of beasts), “blonkken bak” (back of horses), “chyldryn fader” (father of children), “nakeryn noyse” (noise of nakers), we have a trace of the genitive plural -ene (A.S. -ena).

[II.] Adjectives.

(1) Number.—The final e, as a sign of the plural, is very frequently dropped. Pover (poor), sturn (strong), make the plurals poveren and sturnen. In the phrase, “þo syȝteȝ so quykeȝ”[53] (those sights so living), the -eȝ (= -es) is a mark of the plural, very common in Southern writers of the fourteenth century, and employed as a plural inflexion of the adjective until a very late period in our literature.

The Article exhibits the following forms:

SINGULAR.PLURAL.
Masc.Fem.
The.tho.[54]tho.

This forms the plural thise and thes (these). That is always used as a demonstrative, and never as the neuter of the article; its plural is thos (those).[55] The older form, theos = these, shows that the e is not a sign of the plural, as many English grammarians have asserted.

(2) Degrees of Comparison.—The comparative degree ends in -er, and the superlative in -est.

Adjectives and adverbs terminating in the syllable -lyche form the comparative in -loker and the superlative in -lokest; as, positive uglyche (= ugly), comp. ugloker, superl. uglokest. The long vowel of the positive is often shortened in the comp. and superl., as in the modern English late, latter, last.

Positive.Comparative.Superlative.
Brade (broad),bradder,braddest.
Dere (dear),derrer,derrest.
Lyke (like),lykker,lykkest.
Swete (sweet),swetter,swettest.
Wayke (weak),wakker,wakkest.
Wode (mad),wodder,woddest.