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nouns: · a-stems · va-stems · ja-stems · ia-stems · ô-stems · vô-stems · jô-stems · iô-stems · i-stems · u-stems · an-stems · ôn-stems · în-stems · nd-stems · root nouns · r-stems ·
nouns: I-STEMS
I-stems are either masculine or feminine. The inflection was once the same for both genders, but in ON the masculine ones have been affected by the a-stems, so that many i-stems have the a-stem genitive ending -s. The feminine i-stems have been affected by the ô-stems, so that the plural accusative ending has been made identical with the nominative ending, and the singular nominative has lost its /r/. Many feminine i-stems have also taken all the singular forms from the ô-stems, which explains why some feminine i-stems are u-umlauted in the singular.


The masculine i-stems:
sing.plur.sing.plur.
nom.gest-r nom.gest-ir nom.dreng-r nom.dreng-ir
gen.gest-s, stað-ar gen.gest-a gen.dreng-jar/dreng-s gen.dreng-ja
dat.gest- (stað-i) dat.gest-um dat.dreng- dat.dreng-jum
acc.gest- acc.gest-i acc.dreng- acc.dreng-i
Only a few words can have the ending -i in dat. sing. In OSw. that is more common.

like gestr:like staðr:like drengr:
· gestr 'guest'
· hvalr 'whale'
· ''
· ''
· staðr 'place' ; dat. -i
· burðr 'birth' ; dat. -i
· vinr 'friend'
· ''
· drengr 'young man'
· herr 'army'
· bœr 'village, farm'
· drykkr 'beverage'
In OSw. these words are still ja-stems.


The feminine i-stems:
sing.plur.
nom.mörk- nom.mark-ir
gen.mark-ar gen.mark-a
dat.mörk-u dat.mörk-um
acc.mörk- acc.mark-ir

without dat. sing. ending:with dat. sing. -u:
· urðr 'destiny'
· brúðr 'bride, wife'
· söl 'soul'
· önd 'spirit'
· braut 'road'
· gipt 'gift'
· mörk 'forest'
· döð 'deed'
· sótt 'disease'
· þjóð 'people, tribe'
· höll 'hall'
· jörð 'earth'
· strönd 'strand, coast'


The most masculine i-stems are old PIE i-stems, but quite a lot of the ones inflected like drengr are old ja- or ju-stems, which explains the /j/ in the endings. In OSwed. these nouns did not cross over to the i-stem inflection but were kept as ja-stems.
Among the feminine i-stems are found the common verbal abstracts (nomina actionis) with ti-suffixes, like gipt 'a giving' and dáð 'a doing'.
Origin of the masculine endings:
sing: nom: -iR < -iz < -is ; gen: -âR < -aiz/-îz < -ois/-eis ; dat: -î < -î < ins. -î ; acc: -i < -in < -im
plur: nom: -îR < -îz < -eies (-ei+es) ; gen: =a-stem ; dat: -umR (=a-stem) ; acc: -in < -ins < -ins
The feminine endings:
sing: nom: =ô-stem or -iR < -iz < -is ; gen: -âR < -aiz/-îz < -ois/-eis ; dat: =ô-stem ; acc: -i < -in < -im
plur: nom: -îR < -îz < -eies (-ei+es) ; gen: =a-stem ; dat: -umR (=a-stem) ; acc: =nom.

© Peter Pettersson