Noun declension

Like in many Indo-European languages, Gothic nouns follow declension patterns – that is, changing its form to show usage in a sentence. Old Gothic has eight overarching noun declension classes descending from Proto-Germanic (as shown in the accompanying chart), not including indeclinable or heavily irregular patterns which are mostly a result of loaning foreign vocabulary. Modern Gothic uses nine overarching classes, with the addition of E-stem nouns and some modifications and additions to already existing classes.

Identifying roots and declensions
The roots of most nouns are often found by taking the dative singular form, and removing the suffix present. However, simpler methods exist for some nouns.
 * O-stem roots are better found by taking the nominative singular and removing the -a suffix if present – this general rule avoids the suffix removal step and gives a more workable root in nouns like «mawi», where the suffixes readily transform the root into an inflected form via regular phonological steps (e.g. mawi + -os > *mawios > *mawjos > maujos).

A-stem
The A-stems are the declension which vary the most, featuring six distinct patterns of inflection.

A-stem nouns take their name from the analogical endings of *-az or *-ą in Proto-Germanic (with the addition of PGmc Z-stems which consistently become n.A Gothic nouns ending in «-is»), the former oft being masculine and the latter oft neuter – some feminine nouns might rarely occur in this class, too, though feminine nouns ending in *-s* are more likely to be consonant-stems. A-stems may feature clipping.

O-stem
These are feminine nouns ending in «-a» which derive from Proto-Germanic endings of *-ō and *-ô, the name of the declension reflecting the proto-endings.

I-stem
These nouns are characterised by an internal -i- appearing in endings originating from PGmc. *-iz, and are either masculine or feminine in gender – the genders' inflected forms only differ in the genitive and dative singular forms. I-stems may feature clipping.

U-stem
U-stem nouns end in «-us» (masc. or fem.) or «-u» (neuter). Neuter U-stems are not attested with plural forms, so a plural pattern for n.U has been neologically formed. This declension is unique in that the vocative singular form of common U-stem nouns resemble the dative singular, and not the nominative or accusative as is the case with other nouns.

E-stem
This is a neological declension created for nouns ending in «-es» – this mainly encompasses Greek nouns, of mostly feminine gender, and is also used to regularly decline Gothic nouns already ending in «-es» (e.g. Moses, Israeleites).


 * N.B. masculine-gendered loaned from Greek should analogically follow other Greek loans and be adapted as -as (m.N) instead.

N-stem
Also known as weak nouns due to sharing forms with weak paradigms of adjectives (from which they are often derived in neologisms), N-stem nouns feature an internal -n- in their endings. The masc. AN variant ending in -as is an adaptation from Greek nouns ending in -ας (dialectal variant of -ης), which uses -as as the nominative singular instead of the usual -a.

ND-stem
This paradigm derives from Proto-Germanic present participles. These nouns often indicate things or persons which undergo the verbal action which they originally derive from – e.g. «hakilonds» (thresher), «rinnands» (cursive writing); «silbamunands» (self-thinker, automaton), «frijonds» (friend). These nouns are exclusively masculine in gender, though specifically feminine versions of ND-nouns are often formed by appending -i (e.g. «frijondi» (f.O), meaning “female friend”).

R-stem
This limited declension typically only features words which are also r-stems in Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European (this finity manifests itself as mainly featuring terms for family members). However, Latin words ending in -er/-or and Greek words ending in -τήρ are often loaned as R-stem nouns into Gothic (e.g. Lat. doctor > Got. «dauktar» (m.R); OGk. Δᾱμᾱτηρ > «Dâmâtar»).

C-stem
The ‘C’ here stands for “consonant”; this declension features a suffix paradigm without any vowel between the root and the endings, and seem more reduced in comparison to other declensions. Feminine nouns ending in -s are almost certain to be consonant-stem nouns, though some might be A-stems. The paradigm types are designated as -um, -am and -im to reflect the dative singular forms: -um is the most common form for consonant-stems, though some masculine nouns are found with -am and some feminine nouns with -im – this doesn't seem predictable in the etymologies, so these latter two forms can be considered irregular.

Clipping
Clipping is a phonological phenomenon where certain endings are contextually dropped from the root in declension patterns – this features in A- and I-stems. The ending -s is lost in the nominative singular before -s, -z and -r, yielding paradigms in which the nominative resembles the accusative in the singular. See the accompanying table for examples.