Weak Noun

Weak nouns are nouns that follow a weak inflection paradigm, in contrast with strong nouns. They are present in several Germanic languages.

English

Modern English has only two vestiges of the weak noun inflection in common use: ''ox'', whose plural is ''oxen'', and ''child'', whose plural is ''children'', the latter being a double plural. Additionally, the words ''aurochs'' and ''brother'' have the optional plural forms ''aurochsen'' and ''brethren'', the latter also being a double plural. The word ''men'' is not an example of the weak inflection, since it was produced by i-mutation of ''man''.

Old English had many more weak nouns, such as ''ēage'' "eye" (plural ''ēagan'') and ''draca'' "dragon" (plural '), but these have all either disappeared or become strong nouns.

German

In German, weak nouns are masculine (?)nouns that all have the same inflection(?) except in the nominative singular and sometimes the genitive singular.

German has many more weak nouns than English; for example, ''Bär'' (pl. ''Bären'') "bear", ''Name'' (pl. ''Namen'') "name", ''Held'' (pl. ''Helden'') "hero".

Some nouns such as the neuter noun ''Auge'' (pl. ''Augen'') have a mixed inflection, being strong in the singular but having the characteristic ''-en'' plural ending of a weak noun. Some nouns can be declined either with this mixed paradigm or as fully weak; for example, ''Nachbar'' "neighbor" may be declined strong in the singular, though its plural is always weak (''Nachbarn'').

Some weak nouns have a strong inflection in colloquial speech. For example, the standard accusative of ''Bär'' is ''Bären'', but the strong inflection ''Bär'' may also be heard.

Icelandic

In the Icelandic language, nouns are considered weak if they fulfill the following conditions:

Masculines:
:The nominative singular ends in ''-i'', the other singular cases end in ''-a'' or ''-ja''.
:The noun is derived from the present participle of a verb, in which case the plural ends in ''-ur'' (but the singular follows the ''-i-a'' rule).

An example of the latter is ''nemandi'' (''student''), plural ''nemendur''. The words ''bóndi'' (''farmer'') and ''fjandi'' (''enemy'' or the ''devil'' or a ''demon'') belong to this class with some irregularities. The plural of ''bóndi'' is ''bændur''. ''Fjandi'' has two plurals, depending on the meaning. If it means an enemy, the plural is ''fjendur'' (note the retention of ''je''). If it means a demon, the plural is ''fjandar''.

Exceptions do exist, for instance ''Grikki'' (''Greek''), plural ''Grikkir''. The same applies to '' Tyrki'' (''Turk'') plural ''Tyrkir''. Both, incidentally, end in ''-ja'' in the oblique cases (''Grikkja'' is the accusative, dative and genitive for one Greek).

Feminines:
:The nominative singular ends in ''-a'', the other singular cases end in ''-u''.
:The singular ends in ''-i'' in all cases. (If there is a plural, it may end in either ''-ir'' or ''-ar''.)

Neuters:
:They end in ''-a'' in the singular in all cases. The plural ends in ''-u'' (but the genitive plural in ''-na'') without further alterations with the exception of ''hjarta'' (''heart'') which becomes ''hjörtu'' in the plural through u- umlaut. The genitive plural, however is ''hjartna'' showing a-breaking instead of u-breaking. Some borrowings may exhibit similar behaviour, e.g, singular ''drama'', plural ''drömu''. Most of these are words for organs.

An almost exhaustive list of neuter weak nouns follows:

* auga (eye)
* bjúga (a type of sausage)
* eista (testicle)
* eyra (ear)
* hjarta (heart)
* hnoða (a woollen ball, most often encountered in fairy-tales)
* lunga (lung)
* milta (spleen)
* nýra (kidney)

Then there are a small number of borrowings like ''firma'', ''drama'', ''þema'' etc. none of which require translation.

See also

* Strong noun
* Icelandic language

References

*

Icelandic language

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