Gender. There are three genders in O.E.--masculine, neuter, and feminine.
The gender is partly natural, partly {8} grammatical. By the natural gender
names of male beings, such as _se mann_ (the man), are masculine; of female
beings, such as _s[=e]o dohtor_ (the daughter), are feminine; and of young
creatures, such as _thaet [.c]ild_ (the child), neuter. Note, however, that
_thaet w[=i]f_ (woman) is neuter.
Grammatical gender is known only by the gender of the article and other
words connected with the noun, and, to some extent, by its form. Thus all
nouns ending in _-a_, such as _se m[=o]na_ (moon), are masculine, _s[=e]o
sunne_ (sun) being feminine. Those ending in _-d[=o]m_, _-h[=a]d_, and
_-s[.c]ipe_ are also masculine:--_se w[=i]sd[=o]m_ (wisdom), _se
[.c]ildh[=a]d_ (childhood), _se fr[=e]onds[.c]ipe_ (friendship). Those in
_-nes_, _-o_ (from adjectives) _-r[=ae]den_, and _-ung_ are
feminine:--_s[=e]o rihtw[=i]snes_ (righteousness), _s[=e]o bieldo_
(boldness) from _beald_, _s[=e]o mann-r[=ae]den_ (allegiance), _s[=e]o
scotung_ (shooting).
Compounds follow the gender of their last element, as in _thaet
burg-[.g]eat_ (city-gate), from _s[=e]o burg_ and _thaet [.g]eat_. Hence
also _se w[=i]f-mann_ (woman) is masculine.
The gender of most words can be learnt only by practice, and the student
should learn each noun with its proper definite article.
Strong and Weak. Weak nouns are those which form their inflections with
_n_, such as _se m[=o]na_, plural _m[=o]nan_; _s[=e]o sunne_, genitive
sing. _th[=ae]re sunnan_. All the others, such as _se dae[.g]_, pl.
_dagas_, _thaet h[=u]s_ (house), gen. sing. _thaes h[=u]ses_, are strong.
Cases. There are four cases, nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive.
The acc. is the same as the nom. in all plurals, in the sing. of all neuter
nouns, and of all strong masculines. Masculine and neuter nouns never
differ in the plural except in the nom. and acc., and in the singular they
differ only in the acc. of weak nouns, which in neuters is the same as the
nom. The dative plural of nearly all nouns ends in _-um_. {9}