Note. The dual which originally existed in all Indg. languages, is preservd in the Goth. decl. in the 1st and 2nd pers. of the personal prn. only ([§ 150]).
§ [85]. The Goth. declension has four complete cases: nominativ, genitiv, dativ, accusativ. The vocativ is mostly identical with the nominativ, only in the singular of sum classes of declension the vocativ is different from the nominativ, but then it is always identical with the accusativ.
Note. The Goth. dativ represents several Indg. cases (dativ, locativ, ablativ, instrumental). Relics of the neuter instrumental ar stil present in the pronominal declension: þê ([§ 153]), ƕê ([§ 159]).
(b) On the declension of substantivs.
§ [86]. The declension of substantivs in Gothic is divided into a vocalic and a consonantal declension, according as the stems of the substantivs end in a vowel or a consonant.
Note. The original form of the stem is in part unrecognizabl in the Gothic language, because the stem has blended with the endings, final vowels hav been lost, and the like, so that the division into a vocalic and a consonantal declension appears correct only in the light of the Comparativ Indo-Germanic Grammar, and but with reference to this it must be retaind. Such a division would never hav been made from an especially Gothic-Germanic standpoint.
§ [87]. Of the consonantal stems in Gothic the n-stems (i. e. the stems in -an, -ôn, -ein), ar very numerous, while of other consonantal declensions but a few remains ar preservd ([§ 114] et seq.). Sinse the time of Jac. Grimm the n-declension has also been calld Weak Declension.
§ [88]. There ar four classes of the vocalic declension: stems in a, ô, i, u. Accordingly, we distinguish them as a-, ô-, i-, and u-declensions. The stem-characteristics ar stil clearly seen in all classes in the dat. and acc. pl.; e. g., dagam, dagans; — gibôm, gibôs; — gastim, gastins; — sunum, sununs. Sinse the time of Jacob Grimm the vocalic declension has also been calld Strong Declension.
Note 1. Of the four vocalic declensions the a- and ô-declensions ar closely connected, the a-declension containing only masculins and neuters (dags, waúrd), the ô-declension the corresponding feminins. Both classes ar therefore uzually givn as one, the a-declension.