Northian nouns

Northian nominals are the nouns, adjectives, and some adverbs of the Northian language.

Nouns

Obstruent stems

The category of consonant-stems consist only of those that end in -p and -k, while resonant- and vowel-stem root nouns are discussed in their own categories, whether suffixed or not, as the phonological processes that apply to them generate similar results. The obstruents p- and k- are rarely subject to alteration, except before the nom. sing. ending -s where they become fricativized to f- and x-, respectively.

The noun āfš < PEE *h₂ēp-s "river" is often the poster-boy of the Northian nouns due to its straightforward stem and clear ablaut alteration between ā ~ a. ap "force" is used for neuter nouns, displaying PEE e ~ Ø ablaut > Galic o ~ Ø. Both these nouns are of the OX type, displaying an accented genitive ending in -ō < PNN *-os.

	hā āfš, "river"			θaṯ ap, "force"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	āfš	āpōi̯	āpiš	ap	apī	apa
voc	ap
acc	āpam		āpaṇġ
gen	apōḫ	apōš	apõ	bōḫ	bōš	bõ
loc	api	apō	apšo	api	bō	fšu
dat	apei̯	apmō	apmuš	bei̯	bmō	bmuš
ins	apōi̯			bōi̯

t-stems

The stems ending in -t comprise both of root nouns and suffixed nouns. They are underlyingly the same as other obstruent stems but are distinguished in that final -s is preserved in the nominative case, at the expense of *-t-. t-stems not part of a compound suffix such as -tāt- and -tūt- are rare and are descended mainly from the amphikinetic ablaut type.

nēpōs "grandchild" has the stem nep-ot-, where the suffix undergoes ablaut to zero grade in the oblique cases as *nep-t- > nef-θ-.

	ha nēpōs, "grandchild"
	sing	du	pl
nom	nēpōs	nepotōi̯	nepotiš
voc
acc	nepotam		nefθā̊
gen	nefθōḫ	nefθōš	nefθõm
loc	nepoti	nefθō	nefšu
dat	nefθei̯	nefθmō	nefšmuš
ins	nefθa

The PEE suffix *-teh₂ts created nouns of states of being. Inherited examples are mainly of hysterokinetic origin, which had the zero grade of the root, but later creations may bind the full grade. The suffix is non-ablauting and takex oxytone endings. The following example has many cognates in EE languages and is from a common root *n̥-mr̥teh₂ts > PNN *ummurtāts > Galic āmmərətās.

	hā āmmərətās, "immortality"
	sing	du	pl
nom	āmmərətās	āmmərətātōi̯	āmmərətātiš
voc	āmmərətāṯ
acc	āmmərətātam		āmmərətātā̊
gen	āmmərətātōḫ	āmmərətātōš	āmmərətātõ
loc	āmmərətāti	āmmərətātō	āmmərətāššu
dat	āmmərətātei̯	āmmərətāsmō	āmmərətāθmuš
ins	āmmərətāta

nt-stems

The nt-stems are very closely associated with the formation of the present active participle in -nt-. But while participles have distinct masculine, feminine, and neuter forms, nt-stem nouns have the form of the masculine participle and a lexical gender (that is, the noun can have feminine gender but will always have the same inflectional endings as the masculine participle).

Morphologically, the accusative forms have -nδ- in the suffix due to contamination with the final resonant, while the other forms have -nt-.

	ha dōs, "tooth"
	sing	du	pl
nom	dōs	dóntōi	dóntiš
voc	doṇṯ
acc	donδəm		dónδā̊
gen	dātōḫ	dātōš	dātõm
loc	dónti	dātō	dāśū
dat	dātai	dāśmō	dāśmuš
ins	dāta

m-stems

This class is known from only a few but important nouns, e.g. ϑām "earth" and gaiiō "winter", as well as from the root, dā̊ "house". All m-stem nouns in Northian are feminine in gender, though with only a few examples, this may not be a rule in the proto-language.

Outside of nouns, it is also known in numerals for 1, 7, and 10—hā̊ hafθam dekam—and the solitary adjective meram "particulate, ground up". Some authorities believe many m-stems may have, during the time of the proto-language, been either remade to thematic neuters by the insertion of the theme vowel *e ~ o or had an additional *-n appended after *m-, giving rise to the multitude of n-stems of the -mn- type, wherein the -m- is of otherwise unexplained origin. But both hypotheses suffer from the mismatch of grammatical gender—virtually all m-stems in Erani-Eracuran languages are attested as feminine in gender, not neuter.

	hā gaiiō, "winter" = hiemps
	sing	du	pl
nom	gaiiō	giyamōi	giyaēmiš
voc	gaiiõm
acc	gaiiā̊		gimā̊
gen	gimōḫ	gimōš	gimõm
loc	giyaēmi	gimō	giṃśū
dat	gimāi̯	gimmō	gimmuš
ins	gimō		gimβiiōḫ

Most suffixed nouns with OX inflection have a long o-grade suffix in the nominative singular, cf. gaiiō, and there they are akin to the n-stems. Indeed, given phonetic change, *-ōm and *-ō(n) cannot be told apart, so it is possible this ending has been transported from the n-stems or generalized in the proto-language or later. Yet in the nom. sing. ϑām xmōḫ "earth" has a short ultima reflecting a zero grade as in *dʰégʰ-m̥, since the long /a/ in ϑām must represent /ϑaHam/, with similar vowels eliding the intervening guttural consonant; otherwise, Northian does not permit long vowels in final, closed syllables. Had the second vowel been a typical long o-grade, it would have become *ō and would not elide the guttural consonant, giving *ϑáɣō.

In the accusative, the sequence *-em-m̥ in the proto-language resolves prehistorically to *-ēm via Stang's law and appears in Northian as -ā̊, while the equivalent sequence for n-stems *-en-m̥ yielded Northian -əm-əm, with assimilated stem. 

Note that the full grade in the accusative plural ϑágmā̊ reverts to the root syllable; the suffix is in zero grade. I-mutation affects the locative singular and nominative plural in the usual manner.

	hā ϑām, "ground, earth" = χθών
	sing	du	pl
nom	ϑām	ϑāmōi
voc
acc	xā̊		ϑāxmā̊
gen	xmōḫ	xštą̄ōš
loc	xštémi	xštą̄ō	xštə̄ṃśū
dat	xmai	xštą̄mō
ins	xmōi

To this table above must be subjoined that xā̊ < *ǵʰḗm < *dʰǵʰém-m̥ is only found in a handful of instances in Galic Period I, and even there it is not exclusive. The proto-form of the accusative is uncertain, since many authorities predict this word should have a full-grade root syllable, which should result in dysyllabic *θaɣā̊. But the form actually found is monosyllabic, which could only come from a zero-grade root. If the oblique stem *dʰǵʰm- was later introduced to replace the nominative stem, the resulting form would have been expected xam, with the *m of the stem probably vocalized as short by position.

n-stems

This group of nouns, all with a stem ending in -n, had numerous subtypes. Some of them were proliferate in Northian, while others were vestigial. Their phonetic outcomes can be quite different due to the paradigmatically irregular vocalization of resonants, which are particularly common because the resonant suffix is often attached to another resonant. It appears the suffix -n could be attached to nearly all other suffixes at some point in the prehistory of the language, with only the combination of *-r-n- being unattested. The common feature of all n-stem nouns is that the primary ablauting element is the syllable containing -n-, with or without the root syllable also participating; all other suffixes do not ablaut when followed by the -n suffix.

As a general observation, most n-stems can be divided into those of amphikinetic origin and those of hysterokinetic origin. Only the latter are productive in the recent prehistory of Northian. Amphikinetic nouns, e.g. laēmō "lake", always have an accented root in the nominative singular and more often than not lose the final *-n there; the kʷetwóres rule applies to them in the accusative singular, as the shape of the stem is always *CéC-on- > *CeC-ón, e.g. laēmónąm. Hysterokinetic nouns have accented suffixes and endings, while the root is never accented. Amphikinetic nouns are actively transferred into the hysterokinetic paradigm during the historical period and thereby acquire an invariant root, which may retain the full grade or receive the zero grade instead.

-mn-

A common subtype of the n-stems is through the suffix *-mn-, which is common in Northian. The OX pattern was normal for animate nouns, and the PX in neuter nouns. Items with this inflection can further be divided into sub-classes: some are of amphikinetic origin like fraṓmō in the following example, while others are of hysterokinetic origin.

In fraōmō "breath", the nom. singular ending -ō (which occludes the shape of the stem) arises due to the effects of a PEE sound law that deleted any resonants in the environment of *-ōR in auslaut. Ablauting nouns in this class will have an accented root in the direct cases and accented ending in oblique cases, except in the locative singular where the accented suffix is attested.

Depending on the exact phonetic environment, the -m- of the suffix may be vocalized in different ways. See the notes above for the formation of the zero-grade in Northian, which are unusually sensitive to phonetic environment.

	ha fraṓmō, "lung"
	sing	du	pl
nom	fraṓmō	fraṓmanōi	fraṓmaēnis
voc	fraṓman
acc	fraomónəm		fraṓmanā̊
gen	furuvąnōḫ	furuvąnōš	furuvąnõm
loc	frumen	furuvąnō	furuvaŋhū
dat	furuvąnai	furuvąnmō	furuvąnmuš
ins	furuvąna

fnaōmin "breath" is an ablauting mn-stem noun with PX inflection. Owing to its semantic connection with fraōmō "lung" as well as the shape of the oblique stem under the influence of u, the alternate spelling fraōmin is also seen, for example G.Nr. 1477 mōi βā θxámin apū fraōmíñīḥ fərəuuātōs dito "By the Earth, let therefore not [his] breaths be given away from his two lungs". But these two words are from etymologically unrelated roots.

	θaṯ fnaōmin, "breath"
	sing	du	coll
nom	fnaōmin	fnaōmíñīḥ	fnaōmō
voc
acc
gen	frumaṇġ	frumeθuš	frumenõm
loc	frumíñi	frumeθū	frumáŋhū
dat		frumenma	frumenmuš
ins	frumena

bare n-stems

There are also n-stems not part of a compound suffix like *-mn-. They are rarer and sometimes emphasized as "bare" n-stems. They are of two types, distinguished in the nom. sing., those with -ō and those with -ā̊. Though less common, they are typical of adjectival origin and often family names; the Venetian name Cato is a cognate example, < *kat-ōn "the smart one".

In uə̄rštā̊ "male of an animal", of the type ending in -ō, PNN stems are ablauting *uors-on- and *uərəs-n-. In the nom. sing. the root vowel is lengthened, occasioning the loss of the root-final resonant prehistorically. As it will appear, the stem-final -n- is vocalized if the ending begins with a consonant; the gen. and loc. du. begin with the prehistoric laryngeal, which still trigger vocalization and are reflected as Galic hiatus and quantitative and qualitative alteration. After *r and its vocalized allophone, *s obligatorily becomes š, which cannot precede a vowel directly and to which a t is added. However, this addition is chronologically late and therefore applicable to the loc. and gen. du. forms, even though earlier they were considered to begin with consonants and trigger vocalization.

	hā uə̄rštā̊, "male of an animal"
	sing	du	pl
nom	uə̄rštā̊	uə̄rštinōi	uə̄rštiniš
voc	uə̄rštin
acc	uə̄rštinəm		uə̄rštinā̊
gen	uərəšnōḫ	uərəšta·ā̊š	uərəšnõm
loc	uərəšténi	uərəšta·ā̊	uərəštāhū
dat	uərəšnei̯	uərəštāmō	uərəštāmuš
ins	uərəštā

yəuuə̄ "youth" < *h₂yéwHō has the same suffix as above underlying, but preceded by a laryngeal that colours the *-en- to *-on-. As a result, the rule that deletes final resonants following lengthened *-ō comes into play and produces the same ending as the animate mō-stems (but in this example it is altered to ə̄ following w-). But here in the gen. and loc. du. it is the suffix *-n- that becomes vocalized when followed by a consonant. The resulting vowel is shortened on account of the preceding laryngeal, with regular alterations of quality and quantity to surrounding vowels.

	ha yəuuə̄, "youth"
	sing	du	pl
nom	yəuuə̄	yəuuənōi	yəuuiñiš
voc	yəuuən
acc	yəuuənəm		yəuuənā̊
gen	yūnōḫ	yuụa·ā̊š	yūnõm
loc	yəuuəni	yuụa·ā̊	yuụahū
dat	yūnai	yuụamō	yuụamuš
ins	yūna

r-stems

dugitṓ "daughter" represents the oxytone group of the r-stems, which includes many agentive nouns that terminate in *-tēr. They are recognizable by their zero-grade nom. endings and full-grade -ō endings in gen. An alternate form zuuóhitār is seen in the epithet δaēuuōiiaz-uuóxitār "Celestial Daughter" applied to Dawn, reflecting *dʰwégh₂-tr̥.

	hā dugitṓ, "daughter"
	sing	du	pl
nom	dugitṓ	dugiterōi	dugitériš
voc
acc	dugiterəm		dúgiδrā̊
gen	duxθrōḫ	dugitarṓš	duxθrõm
loc	duxθrai	dugitarṓ	duhitušštū
dat		duxtərəmṓ	duxtərəmō
ins	duxθrōi̯		duxθəramβiiōḫ

mātar "mother" represents the group with inherited acrostatic pattner, whose accent persists on the root syllable and always takes suffix and ending in zero-grade. βrātar "brother" is declined in like manner.

	hā mātar, "mother"
	sing	du	pl
nom	mātar	mātāra	māδriš
voc
acc	māδrəm		mātərą̄s
gen	mātərəš	mātərəuš	māδrõm
loc	māδri	mātərəū	mātərəštū
dat		mātərəma	mātərəmuš
ins	mātāra		mātərəβiiōḫ

Gen. māδərəš < *meh₂tr̥s. The acc. pl. mātərą̄s seems to reflect PEE *meh₂tr̥ns (for expected *meh₂tern̥s), while Nordic languages reflect *meh₂tern̥s. The form is a deviation from the general rule of resonant vocalization, but the vocalization of *r̥ could have been carried over from the gen. sing., where it is the only resonant that could be vocalized; moreover, it is a perfect match with Xevdenite mātərąs, hinting that the vocalization of -n̥s was not (yet) a firm rule in the proto-language. In Galic, māδra "two mothers" is often an ellipsis for "mother and father".

There is also yātār which reflects the proterokinetic pattern. In this noun the weak stem has displaced the strong stem, such as in most r-stems that are not kinship terms. Thus the nominative is yātār in place of regular *yanitār.

	hā yātār, "husband's brother's wife"
	sing	du	pl
nom	yātār	yātera	yātiriš
voc
acc	yāϑrəm		yāterā̊
gen	yātōs	yātərəuš	yāϑrõm
loc	yātiri	yātərəū	yātərəštū
dat		yāδərəma	yātərəmuš
ins	yātəra		yātərəβiiōḫ

s-stems

The s-stem nouns can be divided into two classes, more numerous, neuter nouns like xrétōḫ and animate nouns like aōštā̊. The former suffix exhibits qualitative ablaut from *-os ~ es-, while the second class has a more conventional, quantitative -os ~ s- pattern.

The os/es-stems are a class of very common neuter nouns in Northian and are directly cognate to those found in Nordic languages, where the ablaut surfaces as -az ~ iz-. Though in Galic times and later only the PX pattern is productive, there a few common s-stem nouns exhibiting an original acrostatic accent. In this class, the root was consistently accented.

In PX the nom. sing. ended in -ōḫ; this *-os is a bare stem. The suffix ablauted to -es- for all oblique cases, but here the ending once again acts prominently on the suffix. If the ending began with a vowel, the final -s of the suffix would be intervocalic and become -h, which colours any neighbouring /e/ to /a/. As a result, the gen. ended in -ah-āḫ < *-es-os. If the ending began with a consonant, the -s remained and the unaccented /e/ usually became /i/. The gen. and loc. du. endings began with a laryngeal consonant, not vowels. When the /s/ comes into contact with a vowel with the loss of the laryngeal, an epenthetic /t/ was added at the same time for the conservation of euphony. The lack of accent causes the ins. pl. also to end in -βiiāḫ < *-bʰyos.

The gen. sing. has an allomorph xrétahas that often appears before compounds and enclitics, e.g. xrétahás-ka "and of power". It is uncertain if this form may reflect the alternate genitive ending *-es in the proto-language, which would be coloured to -as following /h/, or if it is merely a regular development from the familiar ending -os when unaccented. However, the enclitic should regularly accent this syllable. Additionally, the early literature has the combining form xrétahós-ka, showing the regular retention of *-os in accented position, though these can be editorial alterations, as changes would affect neither metre nor rhyme.

	θaṯ xrétōḫ, "intellect, power"
	sing	du	pl
nom	xrétōḫ	xrétahāḥ	xrétā̊
voc
acc
gen	xrétahōḫ xrétaŋhas-	xrétištuš	xrétahõm
loc	xrétāḫ	xrétištū	xrétišštū
dat	xrétahai	xrétišma	xrétišmuš
ins	xrétahōi		xrétižβiiāḫ

The noun aōštā̊ "dawn" has feminine gender and therefore a distinct accusative. The noun had three basic stems: the strong stem which appears in the sing. nom. and voc. comes from PEE *h₂eu̯s-os-, with regular lengthening of the final syllable anticipating a zero nominative ending; the middle stem appears in the other direct cases and is from *h₂us-es-; the weak stem appears in all other cases and is from *h₂us-s-, with full-grade endings as expected in oxytone words. Note the singular voc. ended in *-os which became *-oh and then -ōḫ in Galic; the final *-h is lost except before enclitics and compounds, where it can condition phonetic changes. The effects of the former *-h is denoted orthographically as <ḫ> but is otherwise silent.

Also presented is βiịā̊ "fear", from PEE *bʰeyh₂-os, of masculine gender. The nom. sing. stem has been replaced by zero-grade PNN *bihₐ-. The stem ending in laryngeal will have as its residual effect the colouring of the oblique alloform of the suffix *-es- to -as-.

	hā aōštā̊, "dawn"			ha βiịā̊, "fear"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	aōštā̊	uštištōi̯	uštahāḫ	βiịā̊	βii̯ahōi̯	βii̯ahāḫ
βoc	aōštōḫ			βii̯ōḫ
acc	uštóziiam		uštahā̊	βiyáziiam		βi̯ahahā̊
gen	ušštōḫ	ušštōs	ušštõm	βišštōḫ	βišštōs	βišštõm
loc	uštišti	ušštō	ūšštū	βištišti	βišštō	βišštū
dat	ušštei̯	uššmō	uššmuš	βišštei̯	βiššmō	βiššmuš
ins	ušštōi̯			βišštōi̯

The word mūš "mouse" is a non-ablauting s-stem noun.

	sā mūš, "mouse, small rodent"
	sing	du	pl
nom	mūš	mūštōi̯	mūštiš
voc	mūš
acc	mūštam		mūštā̊
gen	mūštōḫ	mūštōs	mūštõm
loc	mūšti	mūštō	mūšštū
dat	mūštei̯	mūšmō	mūšmuš
ins	mūštōi̯

i-stems

The i-stems were a prolific class of nouns in Northian during the Galic period. In the proto-language, the i-stems were completely parallel to the u-stems in virtually all ways, but due to sound changes their surface forms in Northian are quite different. Accordingly, they are considered separate classes in Northian tradition.

The PX pattern of the i-stems gained primacy early in Northian history, and these nouns proliferated, being built to a variety of roots. These nouns usually show no root ablaut, but the example provided here does. Where the root did not show ablaut, the accent was presistent on the suffix, even in zero-grade. The other forms require little comment, other than the gen. and loc. du. and gen. pl. where the suffix *-i is consonantal before endings beginning with a vowel, which here triggers the palatalization of preceding *-t.

Of the neuter nouns in -i, only one example can be considered original to the parent language, that being mori "sea". Most other neuter nouns can be shown to be petrified neuter forms of adjectives in i-stem.

	hā menδiš, "thought"			θaṯ mori, "sea"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	coll
nom	meṇδiš	meṇδaiia	meṇδaiiāḫ	mori	morai	morō
voc	meṇδi
acc	meṇδim		mātī
loc	menδō	māčiiū	mātištū
gen	mātaiš	māčiiuš	māčiiõm
dat	mātaiiai	mātima	mātimuš
ins	mātīḥ		mātiβiiōḫ

The OX pattern of the i-stems was only moderately productive in Galic times and not productive by later ages. In the nominative du. and pl., the suffix is in long o-grade; the suffix consonantal *-i is lost. The provenance of this form has not been entirely made clear, since if the suffix did contain -i in final position, it should have survived in Northian. Nevertheless, the same deletion corresponds exactly with forms found in archaic grammars in Syaran and Tennite languages, so the dropping of final -i is likely to have been old. Some phonetic change akin to Stang's law may be responsible for its deletion either after a long vowel or before putative ending *-s.

Perhaps owing to the phonetic similarity between the dual and plural nom. forms, *-ē > -ōi̯, which is not expected after i-, often displaces the expected -āḥ. However, there is also a hapax of short -e found in Galic, which suggests the -ōi̯ may be a late alteration, inserted after -āḥ had ceased to be distinguishable in regular speech from pl. -āḫ.

This pattern has a neuter equivalent that ended in -ai < *-ei̯ in the nominative; otherwise, oblique cases inflect identically. This neuter pattern is very rare and only present in a few examples like óxϑai "palm", whose archaic dual form óxϑō means "eight". This suggests that the ordinary neuter nominative dual ending -īḥ < *-ih₁ may have originated in the i-stems and displaced an earlier ending of *-h₁; logically the earlier ending would have been preserved after an i-stems, where the composite form would be redundant.

	ha hokō, "friend, ally" = socius			θaṯ óxϑai, "palm"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	hokō	hokoiiāḥ hokoiiōi	hokoiiāḫ	óxϑai	óxϑayīḥ	óxϑaiiāḫ
voc	hoki
acc	hokā̊		hokoiiā̊
loc	hokai	škiyō	škištū
gen	śxiiōḫ	škiyōš	śxiiõm
dat	śxiiai	škimō	škimuš
ins	śxiiō		škiβiiōḫ

u-stems

The u-stems of Northian reflect three ablaut patterns, and excepting the acrostatic they are both attested abundantly in the Galic language. The PX pattern from the proterokinetic nouns of the parent-lanugage is the most common.

	ha huiiuš, "child" = υἱύς			θaṯ oiiū, "life, generation"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	coll
nom	huiiuš	huiiáuua	huiiáuuōḫ	oiiū	oiiāu̯	oiiō
voc	huiiaō
acc	huiium		huiiūš
gen	huiiōš	huiiūš	huiiuõm
loc	huiiauui	huiiū	huiiuštū
dat		huiiuma	huiiumuš
ins	huiiū		huiiumβiiōḫ

The PX pattern in u-stem nouns is very prolific in both the Galic and Epic languages. Many are abstract nouns with the ending -tuš. The nom. ended in -uš. While some nouns would show root ablaut, the example provided above does not and therefore has all components in zero grade in the nom; the hypothetical forms *haōiiuš or *hōiiuš might be expected based on the general ablaut tendencies, but it is in fact the proto-form of huiiuš that is attested in all Erani-Eracuran languages, showing that the spread of the zero-grade root probably occurred in the proto-language. The gen. ended in *-ou̯-s, whence -ōš. All the other oblique cases show *-eu̯- or *-u- in the suffix.

The gen. du. has -ūš, rather than the expected *-umβuš < *-u[w]us, which must reflect *-u-Hus. The loc. du. has -ū, from *-u-u. The nom. pl. and acc. have the expected forms, with PNN *-uns > Galic -ūš. All other forms in the plural are straightforward and have the zero-grade suffix -u-.

The neuter version of the PX u-stems, in contradistinction to the animate ones, often displays root ablaut, which alternates strong and weak stems. The strong has o-grade from PEE *h₂ói̯-u > unchanged Galic oiiū, save the regular lengthening of final *-u. The oblique stem is from PEE *h₂i̯-eu̯-s > also unaltered Galic yaōš.

	hā génōš, "jaw" = jaw
	sing	du	pl
nom	génōš	génauuə̄	génauuōḫ
voc	génū
acc	genā̊		genuuā̊
gen	jñuuōḫ	gnuōš	jñuuõm
loc	jñaō jñauui	gnuō	gnuštū
dat	jñuuōi̯	gnumō	gnumuš
ins	jñuua

The OX pattern had a nom. sg. ending in PEE *-ou̯-s, which regularly gave Galic -ō-š. The gen. and dat. reflects PEE *-u-os and *-u-ei̯ as expected in a hysterokinetic pattern. The dual behaves as expected. The acc. is on account of the deletion of resonants before a syllabic nasal, genā̊ < *gen-ēm < *gen-eu̯-m̥.

Note in this word some oblique forms have the stem jñuu-, which is an altered form of *gnw-. Northian generally permits up to three consonants (or four, if beginning with s-) in anlaut, but only if they contain no stops; if they do, stops are altered to fricative counterparts. This rule is not in effect for sequences of only two members in anlaut, hence the conserved gn- when the following *w is vocalized. Note also, the genitive and dative dual endings begin with a (lost) laryngeal, triggering the vocalization of *w.

ī-stems

The ī-stems in paroxytone has remained productive down to the Epic period as a feminizing suffix for athematic nouns. This suffix showed ablaut from full grade *-ieh₂ ~ -ih₂ > Northian -iiā ~ ī. Inherited nouns have a root that participated in ablaut, so the root was in full grade and suffix in zero grade in the direct cases, and vice versa in oblique cases.

In the example geniθrīḥ "genitrix", the nom. is asigmatic. Notice that, in the gen. jñiδriiā̊, the laryngeal is syllabified with the preceding vowel and causes it to lengthen, but in the dat. jñiδriiayi it syllabifies with the ending -i and does not lengthen the suffix; in both cases, though, the suffix vowel is coloured. The regular syllabification is only attested in Galic; by Didaskalic and Epic times, the dative was remade according to the genitive and has the ending -iiā-yi.

The -o- in the gen. and dat. du. forms is a Runic orthographic insertion done to prevent the incorrect scansion of dysyllabic /a.us/ as monosyllabic /aws/; the -o- is spurious and silent. It is not present in all texts: monumental inscriptions usually omit it.

	hā genθrīḥ, "genitrix" = genitrix
	sing	du	pl
nom	genθrīḥ	genθrīya	genθriyāḫ
voc
acc	genθrī		genθrīyā̊
gen	jñiδriiā̊	jñiδriiāouš	jñiδri̯aõm
loc	jñiδriiayi	jñiδriiaoū	jñiδriiāhū
dat		jñiδriiāma	jñiδriiāmuš
ins	jñiδriiaā̊

The main points of contrast to those in PX are that the nom. singular is sigmatic and that the nom. dual ends in -ii̯āḥ, rather than PX -īi̯a; for the same reason why in PX the gen. and dat. sing suffix vary in quantity, in this ending in OX the laryngeal scans as part of the following syllable, with the pre-forms *stérih₂eh₁ > *stériā, and thus leaves the preceding *-i- short. In the dat. singular the ending becomes an offglide because it was not separated from the suffix by a laryngeal, with the preform *stérih₂e-i.

	hā šterīḥ, "heifer"
	sing	du	pl
nom	šterīḥ	šteriyāḥ	šteriyāḫ
voc	šterī
acc	šterī		šteriyā̊
loc	šterī	štrīyō	štrīštū
gen	štriyōḫ	štrīyōš	štriyõm
dat	štriyai	štrīmō	štrīmuš
ins	štrī

ū-stems

The ū-stems were exactly parallel to the ī-stems at the PEE and PNN levels, but due to phonetic changes have become quite different. The nom. sing. of hysterokinetic stems had accented root syllable and an ending in PEE *-uh₂-s > *PNN *-ūs > Galic *-ūš. The acc. requires a proto-form *-ueh₂-m, but already has simplified to *-u̯ām > PNN *-u̯ą̄m. In the oblique cases, the stem ended in -ū-, to which full-grade endings were added. The zero-grade stem has replaced the original full-grade one in the dual nom. such that it projects the (implausible) PEE form *tn̥-uh₂-h₁.

	hā θánūḥ, "body"
	sing	du	pl
nom	θánūḥ	θánuuoōi	θánuuaāḫ
voc	θánū
acc	θánuuā̊		θnuvā̊
gen	θnuvōḫ	θnūvōš	θnuvõm
loc	θnuuā	θnūvō	θnuŋhū
dat	θnuvai	θnūmō	θnūmuš
ins	θnuvōi		θnūmβiiōḫ

r/n-stems

The r/n-stems, or heteroclitics, continue a class of EE nouns that had different suffixes for direct and oblique stems. Excepting productive derivative suffixes *-tr̥ and *-mr̥, they are all neuter nouns with fundamental meanings and show PPX inflection in the singular and dual. Many did not take plural but collective endings, which are OX and combine singular endings the nom. and plural endings in oblique forms. In the Epic language, many heteroclitics also formed ordinary plurals from the zero-grade stem, which agree with singular verbs and have meanings different from those of their collective forms.

In the Galic language, many heteroclitic nouns have opaque forms owing to their short stem and susceptibility to ablaut, vocalization, and internal sandhi.

yō·ərə = /yō.r̥/ "year", is from *yoh₁-r̥. Proto-form of gen. *yoh₁-n̥-s or *yeh₁-n̥-s should anticipate a PNR form like *yā-āh, but nowhere is this found or metrically allowed; instead, one finds monosyllabic yā̊, which according to Krueger may be an ad hoc replacement for *i-āh, logically assumed to be from < *ih₁-n̥-s. However, the contraction of syllables is very rare in Northian, so this explanation has not achieved agreement by authorities.

	θaṯ yō·ərə, "year" = ὥρα
	sing	du	coll
nom	yō·ərə	yōrī	ya·ō
voc
acc
gen	yā̊	yānuš	īyõm
loc	yiñi	yānū	īštū
dat		yāŋma	īmuš
ins	yān

fāuuərə "fire" has PX inflection, with accented suffix in the oblique cases. In the nom. sing. the proto-form was from *péh₂wr̥; the final -ərə is paedagogically taught as /ara/, but as it is a single long syllable and not two short as the orthography implies, authorities concur it probably represents a preserved, tautosyllabic -R-r̥ sequence. This ending also occurs with the *-mr̥ compound suffix, but not *-tr̥. Oblique stem is from *ph₂wén- > *fiwen > Galic fūvon-. The collective form is fūvə̄, which is presumably from *ph₂wṓ, showing the replacement of full-grade root by zero-grade that is common in derived OX nouns, cp. direct cognate in Elder Nordic fōr.

	θaṯ fāuuərə, "fire" = πῦρ
	sing	du	coll
nom	fāuuərə	fūvórīḥ	fūvə̄
voc
acc
gen	fūvə̄ṇġ	fūvonuš	fūnõm
loc	fūvon	fūvonū	fūvoni
dat	fūvoni	fūvonma	fūnmuš
ins	fūvona

Other common heteroclitic nouns include:

• PX azar azā̊ "day"
• PX fetar fθā̊ "feather"
• PP woδar woθā̊ "water" < PEE *wodr̥ *wodn̥s
• PP ferərə ferūš "mountain"
• PP fō ferā̊ "house"

ā-stems

The main point of interest in this paradigm is in the genitive and locative dual forms, where the form mizraaōš suggests the e-grade *-ew- instead of the anticipated zero grade -u-. Nowhere else in Northian or other Erani-Eracuran languages does this ending take the e-grade.

	hā mizrā, "mist"
	sing	du	pl
nom	mizrāḥ	mizrayīḥ	mizraā̊ḫ
voc	mizra
acc	mizrā̊		mizrā̊
gen	mizraā̊ḫ	mizraaōš	mizraą̄̊m
loc	mizrayi	mizraaō	mizrāŋhū
dat	mizraai	mizrāmō	mizrāmuš
ins	mizraāi

o-stems

The thematic declension in o-stem could be divided into two subclasses that arose on account of the position of the accent, without which the short *o became /a/.

	ha θūmōḫ, "smoke"			θaṯ yuɣõm, "yoke"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	θūmōḫ	θūmṓḥ	θūmā̊	yuɣõm	yuɣṓ(yīḥ)	yuɣāḥ
voc	θūmi
acc	θūmõm		θūmə̄ṇġ
gen	θūmōiiō	θūmōš	θūmõm
loc	θūmōi	θūmō	θūmohū
dat		θūmoma	θūmomuš
ins	θūmō		θūmomβiiōḫ

Where the accent was not on the thematic vowel the rules of unaccented vowel alteration come into play. Long vowels and those in final position nasalized by -m are never altered, which means neuter nouns with non-oxytone accent will still end in -õm and not *-am.

	ha tónāḫ, "string"
	sing	du	pl
nom	tónāḫ	tónōḥ	tónā̊
voc	tóni
acc	tónõm		tónāṇġ
gen	tónōiiō	tónōš	tónõm
loc	tónōi	tónō	tónahū
dat		tónamōḥ	tónamuš
ins	tónō		tónomβiiōḫ

Acrean declensions

Many words in later Northian are Early Elder Nordic loanwords from speakers of Acrean, which was used as a lingua franca in western Eracura for centuries under the influence of the Acrean Empire. These words were so numerous that many were not nativized but declined according to an approximation of the thematic declension in ELder Old Nordic. Naturally, Old Nordic vocabulary would not occur within the Galic and Epic corpora, but as the Epic language survived in literary and liturgical usages, later material did incorporate a considerable number of Acrean words.

Hybridized paradigms

The displacement of native vocabulary in favour of Acrean words was widespread and penetrating to a basic level, unlike previous assumptions that it was only introduced for topics of exotic political and commercial interest. Baker notes that the Old Nordic word sōwulą sōwulas "Sun" has hybridized with native Northian hāuuərə hūvə̄ṇġ and displaced the latter's oblique forms. Displacement concentrated in Epic forms made opaque by regular sound change. While all these forms are now analyzed as regular, at least in this noun they were no longer so understood after the Epic age.

The Northian inscriptions from the Epic age are revelatory of the extent of Nordic substitutions from an early time. Nordicisms were regarded as "vulgar substitutions" by antiquiarians, but a mid-6th-century BCE stone discovered in 2002 has the word <sōwulas> in genitive usage for the solar goddess, found within her very own temple precinct. Such finds have cast doubt whether Nordicisms were really regarded as "vulgar" forms by Northians of the Epic age, and some scholars have come to think the "correct" forms like hūvə̄ṇġ were actually poetic forms that had not been used regularly for some generations by that time.

	hā hāuuərə, "Sun"
	sing	du & pl
nom	hāuuərə	sōwulōs
voc
acc
gen	sōwulas	sōwulōm
dat	sōwulai̯	sōwulamas
ins	sōwulō	sōwulamiš

a-stems

For the most part, these endings are cognates with the o-stems (2nd declension) ones in Northian, but because of intervening sound changes, they are taught separately. Where there was a distinct vocative, the nominative form has displaced it. There are also no dual forms for these nouns, for which neologisms have sometimes been suggested, to no general acceptance. Since Elder Nordic had no locative case, this form is always identical to the dative where Northian syntax demands the locative.

	ha wulfas, "lupine" = lupus		θaṯ ētą̄, "food"
	sing	du & pl	sing	du & pl
nom	wulfas	wulfōs	ētą̄	ētō
voc
acc	wulfą̄	wulfāŋš
gen	wulfas	wulfõm	ētas	ētõm
dat	wulfai̯	wulfamas	ētai̯	ētamas
ins	wulfō	wulfamis	ētō	ētamis

ō-stems

These are cognates of the ā-stems in Northian.

	sā erδō, "Earth"
	sing	du & pl
nom	erδō	erδōs
voc
acc	erδōm	erδōs
gen	erδōs	erδōm
dat	erδōi̯	erδōmas
ins	erδō	erδōmiš

Venetian declensions

Old Venetian was another Erani-Eracuran language whose terms have been borrowed into Northian during the Late Canon Period. The first and second declensions of Old Venetian, in -ā and -os respectively, were directly cognate to the Northian ā- and o-stems.

First declension

	hā azā, "altar"
	sing	du & pl
nom	azā	azās
voc
acc	azām	azas
gen	azās	azām
dat	azāi	azāis
abl	azād

Second declension

	ha cabos, "measure of corn"		θaṯ alom, "comfrey"
	sing	du & pl	sing	du & pl
nom	cabos	caboi	alom	alā
voc	cabe
acc	cabom	cabōs
gen	cabōiio	cabozom
dat	caboi	cabois
abl	cabod

Third declension

The third declension in Venetian was cognate with the athematic nouns in Northian, though in Venetian the number of sub-patterns was smaller. As learned borrowings, they generally retained their original endings, though substitutions were only too common.

	hā loux, "light"
	sing	du & pl
nom	loux	loukeiies
voc
acc	loukem	loukēs
gen	loukes	loukom
abl		loukibos
dat	loukei

Fourth declension

	hā manus, "hand"		θaṯ cornu, "horn"
	sing	du & pl	sing	du & pl
nom	manus	manūs	cornu	cornuā
voc	manu
acc	manum
gen	manuos	manuom
abl		manubos
dat	manui

Irregular nouns

ā̊ "mouth"

ā̊ (Runic <AO>) is an acrostatic neuter root noun in s-stem. Like other acrostatic nouns, its inflectional pattern can show irregularities under the influence of other, more productive ablaut patterns. After the Late Canon period, all the oblique forms of this noun were replaced by thematized forms based on the stem ā̊-, e.g. gen. ā̊oiiō, but it is the athematic originals that are discussed below. Nom. sing. ā̊ is for *ō-h < *HoH-s-Ø. Gen. sing. is written in Runic script as <AAA{S}>, whose phonoloigcal form has been heavily controverted. The form ə·ās, advanced by Rutger, would account for a pre-form of PNN *əə-h-s < *HH-s-s, with regular augmentation of the vowel in sequence with hiatus. In liturgical pronunciation, the gen. is read as aō , which cannot be anything but a late creation, with the OX genitive ending -ō attached ad hoc to the invariant thematic stem.

At some point in the prehistory of Northian, the position of the accent was fully dissociated with the ablaut, and it was felt that all nouns should show regular ablaut variation in direct and oblique stems, even if the accent persisted on the root syllable as in the case of acrostatic nouns. Thus, new zero-grade stems often replaced regular full-grade stems in the oblique forms of acrostatic nouns, but this remained exceptional for those with root shape √CeC-, as clashing obstruents would result. This process is particularly hard to describe for the case of ā̊ as its stem consists of two laryngeals, whose exact reflexes during the period when new oblique stems were created were uncertain, especially two of them in a row. The stem is then further disguised by the presence of /h/ and the imprecision of Runic orthography.

Rugter argues that dual laryngeals in initial position may have evolved to *əə and was still understood as consonants rather than vowels, and in the process of creating a new weak stem a union vowel was inserted between the laryngeals or their reflexes, which would (eventually) give three vowels in a row, of which two could be coloured by the following *h and then merge. However, Sally doubts that *HH- > *əə- could "really be as consonants √CC- and then require the insertion of a new vowel between them"; she says that if it was, then the expected form should be *əiə- or *əuə-, not *əəə- > *ə·ā-.

Dat. and loc. sing. <IIHI> is yet another mystery, and ə·iši has been advanced as an interpretation to reflect *ə-is-i < *HH-s-i. However, intervocalic *s is not usually spelled as <H> in Runic orthography, and at any rate if the preceding vowel was indeed i, the following *s should regularly surface as š and yield Runic <Ḥ>.

	θaṯ ā̊, "mouth"
	sing	du	pl
nom	ā̊	ōhīḥ	ōhā
voc
acc
gen	<AAA{S}>	<AIAUUS>	<AOON>
loc	<IIHI>	<AIAUU>	<AIASU>
dat		<AIAMA>	<AIAMUS>
ins	a·ā̊ha

ménōḫ "mind"

The PP version of the neuter s-stems had a few differences to the PX version that enabled it to withstand the general tendency to substitute PP with PX or OX forms; its preservation cannot be unrelated, according to authorities, with the prevalence and prominence of the noun ménōḫ "mind", a central idea in the religious canon. The nom. sing. was ménōḫ < PEE *mén-os, with ending -ōḫ undergoing the same changes as the PX counterpart. The gen. had māṇġs < PEE *mén-s-s.

	θaṯ ménōḫ, "mind"
	sing	du	coll
nom	ménōḫ	māŋhī	māŋhā̊
voc
acc
gen	māṇġs	māŋhuš	māŋhōḫ
loc	māŋhi	māŋhū	māŋhū
dat		māŋhma	māŋhei̯
ins	māŋha

hāuuərə "Sun"

hāuụərə (Runic <XAUUARA>) "Sun" may continue the PEE heteroclitic stem in *-l/n-, but this cannot be certain because word-final -l merges with -r and there is no separate accusative or collective disclosing the full stem. The strong stem descends from PEE *seh₂w- > hāuụ-; the weak stem from *sh₂w- > *hiw- > *hūv-. Genitive has hūvaṇġ < *hiwānh < *sh₂wens.

The word hāuuərə signifies a deified celestial body in early Northian religion and is usually found in the singular in the Galic language. There, in in the dual, "the two Suns" is an ellipsis for "the Sun and the Moon".

	hā hāuuərə, "Sun"
	sing	du
nom	hāuuərə	hāwa
voc
acc
gen	hūvaṇġ	hānuš
loc	hvíni	hānui̯
dat		hāŋma
ins	hūva

onkā "cream"

The bare stems in -n- also contain nouns with PX inflection. These are rarer than those with OX inflection, and the only abundantly-attested noun here is onkā "cream".

	θaṯ onkā, "cream"
	sing	du	coll
nom	onkā	oŋginīḥ	oŋgō
voc
acc
gen	agāṇġ	agénuš	agénõm
loc	agéni	agénū	agáŋhū
dat		agénā	agénmuš
ins	agā̊

nomā "name"

nomā < *Hnómn̥ takes special PP endings in the singular. There is never a vowel interposed between the two resonants of the suffix. Gen. sing. nómā̊ is probably from an original *Hnómāh < *Hnómn̥s. Excepting before endings commencing in vowel, such as the nom. du., suffix *-n is vocalized as ā or ə̄. Note that the gen. and loc. du. endings actually began with a laryngeal *HuH- and therefore are considered to begin with a consonant; thus, suffix *-n becomes *-n̥ in those contexts, and the regular reflext *ā is altered by the following syllable to ə̄.

	θaṯ nómā, "name"
	sing	du	coll
nom	nómā	nómnīḥ	nómō
voc
acc
gen	nomā̊	nomə̄ụuš	nomnõm
loc	nomni	nomə̄ụū	nomāŋhū
dat		nomāma	nomāmuš
ins	nomna

mā·ā̊ḫ "moon" and xaṇġ "goose"

This is a rare formation with only two well-attested items: mā·ā̊ḫ "moon" and xaṇġ "goose". Nevertheless they must be introduced separately, because mā·ā̊ḫ has the lengthened declension. Effectively these were n-stems extended by -s- after the resonant, which in turn triggers different vocalizations and alterations to vowel quality. For mā·ā̊ḫ the root vowel was originally long, while the following laryngeal caused the *-ns to vocalize as -ah > -āḫ, which is altered to ā̊ḫ on account of the preceding vowel; the short-vowel grade is visible in the vocative.

	ha mā·ā̊ḫ, "moon, month"
	sing	du	pl
nom	mā·ā̊ḫ	māŋhə̄i̯	māŋhāḫ
voc	ma·ā̊ḫ
acc	māŋhəm		māŋhaṇġ
gen	māŋhə̄	māṇśmōš	māŋhą̄m
loc	māṇġ	māŋhə̄u̯	māŋhu
dat	māŋhai̯	māṇśmō	māṇśmuš
ins	māŋha

The principle difference, other than the regular ablaut, is that the root here ended in a vowel, which caused the final *-ens to resolve as -aṇġ. The Northian vowel is on account of the guttural sound of the initial consonant. Final -s is an early restoration attested in some Galic texts, though not universally seen and never as the last syllable of a line.

	hā xāṇġ(s), "goose"
	sing	du	pl
nom	xāṇġ(s)	xaŋhōi̯	xaŋhāḫ
voc	xāṇġ
acc	xaŋham		xaŋhaṇġ
gen	xahōḫ	xaṇśmōš	xaŋhą̄m
loc	xaṇġ	xaŋhə̄u̯	xaŋhu
dat	xahai̯	xaṇśmō	xaṇśmuš
ins	xaha

mā̊ "meat"

mā̊ < *mēm-s must be distinguished from the word for "moon", as outside of paedagogical texts they are both printed and written as mā. This is either a root noun or a reduplication of a root *me-ms-. The word has no dual or collective forms.

	θaṯ mā̊, "meat"
	sing
nom	mā̊
voc
acc
gen
loc
dat	meṃśi
ins	meṃśa

l-stems

There are a few nouns with an ablauting stem ending in -l, the most important being nomβar "navel", oṇkar "coal-fire", and abar "apple". Aside from nomβar, which is an feminine noun with *-l- throught its stem, the other nouns are similar to those ending in -r/n- but show a collective ending in *-ōl > -ō rather than *-ōr > -ā̊, and the zero-grade nominative is indistinguishable from the r-stems, since -l̥ and -r̥ both > PNR *-r̥.

	hā nomβar, "navel" = umbilicus
	sing	du	pl
nom	nomβar	nomβilōi̯	nomβiliš
voc
acc	nomβram		nomβilā̊
gen	āmβāḫ	āmβeluš	āmβelõm
loc	āmβeli	āmβelū	āmβertū
dat		āmβerma	āmβermuš
ins	āmβela

oṇkar is a noun of basic relevance that is also the source of an adjective meaning "black". The adjective takes PX inflection, while the noun has PP inflection.

	θaṯ oṇkar, "coal-fire" = ignis
	sing	du	coll
nom	oṇkar	oṇkra	oṇkō
voc
acc
gen	oṇkuš	oṇkərəuš	oṇkrõm
loc	oṇkri	oṇkərəū	oṇkərəšū
dat		oṇkərəma	oṇkərəmuš
ins	oṇkra

fō "shrine"

fō "shrine" is a heteroclitic PP noun in r-stem, which causes syncopation in the direct forms, < *per-r; otherwise the noun is regular. Genitive ferā̊ is for *pern̥s, etc.

	θaṯ fō, "shrine"
	sing	du	coll
nom	fō	ferrī	ferō
voc
acc
gen	ferā̊	fernuš	fərənõm
loc	firni	fernū	frāhū
dat		ferāma	frāmuš
ins	ferna		frāβiiā̊

d-stems

The d-stems consist of a small group of root nouns, most prominently OX foṯ = "foot" and PX xō "heart". Irregularities arise principally in the treatment of word-final -d in various contexts. For xō the -d follows r- and so can be assimilated; this is evidently still in progress while the Gales were written, as forms with and without -d were often poetic alternatives.

As a natural pair, a person's own feet are always referred to in the dual and not the plural (unless the speaker is of a quadrupedal species). If feet are referred to in the plural, they usually denote dismembered feet, especially of another entity. An altar's two feet are referred to in the dual, even the an altar is not a person.

	hā foṯ, "foot" = pes
	sing	du	pl
nom	foṯ	fodōi̯	fodiš
voc
acc	fodam		fodā̊
gen	βδōḫ	βδōš	βδõm
loc	fodi	βδō	βδšū
dat	βδei̯	βδmō	βδmuš
ins	βδōi̯

fonδā̊ "path"

The word fonδā̊ "path" had a stem ending in PEE *póntoh₁- ~ pn̥th₁-. Fundamentally, it is a regular laryngeal-stem noun of amphikinetic origin, but the difficulty arises with its two ablauting syllables affected by the laryngeal stem. In the accusative singular, the ending was *oh₁-m̥, with regular operation of Stang's law. This would result in a form identical to the nominative, and the weak stem was introduced prehistorically. The nom. pl. stands for *póntoh₁-es.

This word is a direct cognate to the Shalumite word "path", which is a borrowing from the oblique stem of the reflex in another Erani-Eracuran language.

	ha fonδā̊, "path, way = "path"
	sing	du	pl
nom	fonδā̊	fonδōi̯	fónδayiš
voc
acc	fātā̊		fātəṇġ
gen	fātōḫ	fātōš	fātõm
loc	fonδō	fātō	fāššū
dat	fātai̯	fāśmō	fāśmuš
ins	fātā

t-stems with persistent accent

These are t-stem nouns with acrostatic inflection. The nominative was evidently asigmatic < *ses-t, from *ses- "to rest". The genitive haš must represent *has-t-s, the final consonant cluster being resolved in favour of *s.

	hā hašt, "bed"
	sing	du	pl
nom	hašt	hašta	haštiš
voc
acc	haštəm		haštā̊
gen	haš	haštuš	haštõm
loc	hašti	haštū	fāššū
dat		haštma	haštmuš
ins	hašta

Interestingly, the dual hašta is more frequent than singular hašt and has singular meaning. It is possible that the singular had the sense of a bed-end rather than the entire bed.

The very well-attested word nōxt "evening, night" is usually thought to be a root noun with persistent accent on the initial syllable at the Proto-Erani-Eracuran level, but some authorities consider the root to be *(d)negʷ-, extended by the suffix -t-. Whatever the case in the parent language, the -t- never takes full grade even in the nom. du. and pl. Thus its behaviour is identical to that of hašt. xašt "hunger" is another word which is acrostatically accented; the expected form is *xošt, but the attested vowel is /a/, which may signify a (very) early borrowing from another Erani-Eracuran language that is not attested.

The word for "ten" in compounds of multiple of ten, e.g. twenty, thirty, etc. displays the zero grade and is apparently extended by suffix *-t, -δɣāṯ < *-dḱm̥-t.

• θríδɣāṯ < *tri-dḱm̥-t, "thirty"
• kósuuərəδɣāṯ < *kʷetwr̥-dḱm̥-t, "forty"

hōxrūḥ "mother-in-law"

The ū-stems also includes one member with paroxytone accent, namely hōxrūḥ "mother-in-law".

	hā hōxrūḥ, "mother-in-law" = socrus
	sing	du	pl
nom	hōxrū	hōxrāu̯a	hōxruuāḫ
voc
acc	hōxrūm		hōxruuā̊
gen	hōxruuā̊	hōxru̯āu̯uš	hōxru̯aõ
loc	hōxru̯ā	hōxru̯āu̯u	hōxru̯āhu
dat	hōxru̯āi̯i	hōxru̯āma	hōxru̯āmuš
ins	hōxrūu̯a

gā̊ "woman"

gā̊ "woman" continues the PEE proterodynamic declension ending in *-h₂. This suffix also underlies the ī- and ū-stem declensions in Northian but is otherwise rarely seen alone. The full-grade stem is from *gʷénh₂ > gā̊, and the zero-grade *gʷnéh₂- > gnā-. Both nominative and accusative forms are affected by Stang's law.

	hā gona, "woman" = γυνή
	sing	du	pl
nom	gā̊	gonā̊	gona·ā̊ḫ
voc
acc	gonā̊		gña·ā̊
gen	gnā̊	gnauuš	gna·ā̊m
loc	gnaēii	gnāuū	gnāhū
dat		gna·ā̊	gnāmuš
ins	gnā

gəuš "bull"

	ha gəuš, "bull" = βοῦς, bōs
	sing	du	pl
nom	gā̊	gonā̊	gona·ā̊ḫ
voc
acc			gña·ā̊
gen	gəuuš	gnauuš	gna·ā̊m
loc	gnaēii	gnāuū	gnāhū
dat		gna·ā̊	gnāmuš
ins	gnā

Neuter nouns in -ū

Some neuter nouns in -ū, such as ϑórū "tree, wood", hanū "knee", uuəštū "settlement" descend from an acrostatic ablaut pattern in the proto-language. These words have invariant stems and are exempted from the creation of new zero-grade stems that have often supplanted their original, regular full-grade stems. Their oblique stems end in short -u, which was lengthened in auslaut in the nominative forms. These special nouns need to be learned by memory from PX nouns that also end in -ū like oiiū "life", which have a distinct oblique stem.

	θaṯ ϑórū, "wood" = δόρυ, "tree"
	sing	du	coll
nom	ϑórū	ϑorumβīḥ	ϑorō
voc
acc
gen	draōš	doruu̯ōḫ
loc	derū	doruu̯a
dat	drauui	doruma
ins	drūḥ

The word ϑórū gives rise to several intriguing concepts in related languages. In Nordic, an important derivative is triwwiz "true, faithful", evidently from the sense of the durability of wood and, comparably, of a reliable person's character. Northian drəmβuuōḫ, reflecting the same adjective *drew-wos in the proto-language, means "firm, difficult", ostensibly from the same sense that wood is resilient and hence difficult to manipulate. But the word carries more of a neutral to negative tone than the usually-positive one in the Nordic cognate: a person described as drəmβuuōḫ in the Epics has an inflexible temperament ill-disposed to the speaker's motives but not intentionally obstructing the speaker. Compare another possible cognate, duros in Venetian, which means "hard, harsh" and is more overtly critical and even pejorative in tone when applied to persons.

xāmō "human"

xāmō "human being" is an n-stem noun that has an important place in the Fonδaiš Wīštā̊ religion in Northian culture. It is used for humans of all sexes and nations, noting them as a group as opposed to gods or animals; it conveys a difference in spiritual species and not of sex or nationality. Its oblique stem takes the special form xmān- rather than the expected *xāmn-. Possibly it is assimilated to the first three consonants of the oblique forms of θaɣam xmōḫ "earth, Earth" to emphasize the nature of humans as "earthlings". There is a term xāmātā́s xāmātṓḫ "humanity" that serves to identify the condition of being human (as opposed to that of a god or animal), with pre-form *dʰǵʰm̥mn̥teh₂t-s. also > Elder Nordic gumuntāt.

	ha xāmō, "human" = homo
	sing	du	pl
nom	xāmō	xāminōi̯	xāminiš
voc	xāmón
acc	xāminəm		xāminā̊
gen	xmānōḫ	xmānōš	xmānõm
loc	xmaēnin	xmānō	xmāŋhū
dat	xmānei̯	xmānmō	xmānmuš
ins	xmāna

dā̊ "house"

dā̊ is a root noun ending in -m. The nom., acc., and gen. sing. forms are alike in Northian, but they have different sources in the proto-language. The accusative singular was likely *dom-m̥ and was simplified by Stang's law to *dōm early; this was identical to the nominative form. The genitive singular may reflect either *dom-s or *dem-s. The latter would reflect a very archaic *e ~ o ablaut pattern, but it cannot be confirmed as the two did not have different Northian reflexes. Nevertheless, its presence in the compound déṃpśpatōi̯š and loc. and dat. sing. démi assures that e-vocalism was present somewhere, at some point, in the paradigm.

	hā dā̊, "house"
	sing	du	pl
nom	dā̊	doma	domiš
voc	dõm
acc	dā̊		domā̊
gen	dā̊	domuš	domõm
loc	demi	domū	doṃśū
dat		domma	dommuš
ins	doma

potiš "master" in compounds

The word *potiš "lord, master" has OX-B inflection. As a word it is not seen alone but does serve as the second element in the terms déṃpśpatiš "master of the house" and uuei̯xšpatiš "lord of the settlement". The word can sometimes appear with the o-grade suffix, e.g. déṃpśpatōiš.

While the root *potiš is not seen independently, the feminine -īḥ derivative potnīḥ is used as part of certain goddesses' titles; there, the full grade root is invariant.

	ha déṃpśpatiš, "master of the house" = δεσπότης
	sing	du	pl
nom	déṃpśpatiš	déṃpśpačiiāḥ	déṃpśpačiiāḫ
voc	déṃpśpatai
acc	déṃpśpatim		déṃpśpatī
gen	déṃpśpatiiāḫ	déṃpśpatiyōš	déṃpśpačiiõm
loc	déṃpśpati	déṃpśpatiyō	déṃpśpatištū
dat	déṃpśpačiiai	déṃpśpatimō	déṃpśpatimuš
ins	déṃpśpačiiāḥ

žiiaōš "god, sky"

This word žiiaōš is a direct cognate with several theonyms across the Erani-Eracuran family. The original *ew was transformed to *aw (written aō) after yod. Under the influence of that phone, the initial obstruent was palatalized to z, where it is otherwise preserved before vocalic i. There is an alternate nom. form žiiōš, which may either be a contraction or a reflex of *dyou̯-s, the o-grade of the same root. The acc. sing. žiiā̊ is a product of Stang's law, which requires the sequence of *dyeu̯-m to be simplified to *dyēm; this sequence is attested in virtually all branches and is assumed to be old. žiiā̊ is cognate to Syaran Ζῆν.

žiiaōš often co-occurs with the epithet ufšištōḫ "highest" as ufšištoz-diiaōš "Heaven Most High", in much the same way as fərətištā-taɣam "Earth Most Broad". These compounds, other than being appellations of their titular deities, were also used of their agents. Aithar, the god of numina, is almost always accompanied by the epithet ufšištṓiia-diuuō "of Heaven Most High". After Aithar, the pantheon of Valstígr was also called āhaṓuuāḫ põm ufšištṓiia diuuō, "Lords of Powers and Heaven-Most-High", defining them as celestial, rather than chthonic, deities.

It is to note that the epithet ufšištōḫ "highest" does not carry the implication that the god is highest in rank or power, at least in the Galic and Didaskalic corpora. The idea of a deity that is supreme over other deities was not endorsed by the earlier Northians, and instead a god's supremacy was envisioned more as "excellence" or "extremity", or simply the quality or domain assigned to that god in a superlative, peerless state. Thus in Northian theology, Ziiaōš was the highest, and θaɣam the broadest, and the two are both peerless in the qualities recognized in them. But, being differently or oppositely characterized, they partake in nothing in common and thus could not compare with each other. There thus could not exist a hierarchy between them.

	ha žiiaōš, "sky, Sky God"
	sing	du	pl
nom	žiiaōš	ziiauuōi	ziiauuōḫ
voc	ziiaō
acc	ziiā̊		ziiauuā̊
gen	dūvōḫ	dūvōš	dūvõm
loc	dūvəi̯	dūvō	dūvštū
dat		dūvmō	dūvmuš
ins	dī

ošta "bone"

ošta has a stem ending in laryngeal, much like foṇδā̊ and gā̊, but the shape of its root prevented quantitative alterations. The collective form oštō means "skeleton", of a living or deceased animal. In the Didaskalic language, the plural form oštā is also known, and it means a plural number of bones.

	ha ošta, "bone" = os
	sing	du	coll
nom	ošta	oštī	oštō
voc
acc
gen	oštiš	oštiyuš	oštõm
loc	ošti	oštiyu	oštišū
dat		oštama	oštamuš
ins	oštā

hazərə "hand"

hazərə is an OX noun in r-stem with the inverted declension, with a zero-grade in the nominative singular. -ərə here is treated as a single, long syllable, representing Erani-Eracuran *-r̥. That -ərə is a consonantal is elucidated by the reflex of *s as -z- and not -h-, which would be regular had -ərə been a vowel sound. As with all nouns with inverted declension, the accusative is regarded as a weak case as to its appropriate stem, thus xšrə̄m over the expected *xšerəm; however, the syllable weight of the original is preserved in the long vowel of the ending.

	hā hazərə, "hand"
	sing	du	pl
nom	hazərə	xšerōi̯	xširiš
voc
acc	xšrə̄m		xšrā̊
gen	xšrōḫ	xšarōš	xšrõm
loc	xšrei̯	xšarō	xšərəšū
dat		xšərəmō	xšərəmuš
ins	xšroi̯

nō "man"

An r-stem noun not within the formation -tr is nō "man", gen. drūš < PNN *nr̥s. As it is seen this noun originally has hysterokinetic accent, but acc. sing. drum and pl. drāṇġ reflect PEE zero-grade stem *nr-. Nom. pl. niriš is the only place where the full-grade stem appears in the paradigm.

	ha nō, "man, male person"
	sing	du	pl
nom	nō	drōi̯	nei̯riš
voc
acc	drām		ndrā̊
gen	ndrōḫ	ndārōš	ndrõm
loc	níri	ndārō	ndāršu
dat	ndrei̯	dārmō	dārmuš
ins	ndrōi̯

monuš "man, human"

monuš is the basic word for "human" in Northian, and it frequently appears as the principal to the adposition θxāmō "earthling". It defines the human being as "the thinking one" or "one who remembers" and is formally very similar to the perfect active participle ménuš "remembering, recalling", from móna "to remember". monuš defines mankind in opposition to beasts, and θxāmō in opposition to gods.

The word monuš has two competing etymologies: some stress its connection to the o-grade of the PEE root *men- "to think", thus characterizing the human being as a characteristically intelligent being, and others provide a more mundane connection to the very basic Nordic word mannuz "male, man". These etymologies are not necessarily incompatible. mannuz is obligatorily male in Elder Nordic and all its descendants, but monuš can be female in Northian, though the feminine form mnuuozərə < putative *mn-u-és-r̥ is more commonly seen with women. The feminine participle form of the verb mona is ménuuī.

monuš takes the oxytone declension in u-stem, gen. mŋʷuuōḫ, e.g. GNr. yōrō mnuuōḫ "a person's lifetime".

Country names

All country-names in Northian are feminine in gender, though they are usually consonant-stem nouns (and with particular frequency n-stem nouns) and so may not reflect their grammatical genders readily. Nevertheless they agree with feminine adjectives and participles in all cases. The feminine gender is employed as a feminine of the special collective, since a country is envisioned as a special aggregate of people, and not in reference to any perceived quality about the country's people and their habits.

"Acrea" is named Áṃśrā̊, which is a compound from aṃśr- "lord" and rā̊ "dominion", literally "the lord's realm"; gen. Áṃśriš.

"Æþurheim", the name of the country to the southwest of Shalum, has an invariant stem with full grade throughout and persistent initial accent in Áδurō-, which takes oxytone endings. The vocative form is identical to the nominative, showing full grade.

"Shalum" behaves in a manner more reminiscent of a regular n-stem noun in oxytone and has the expected endings and accentual positions, but the stem does not display apophony as is usual in this class of nouns.

	hā Aδurā̊, "Æþurheim"	hā Halā̊, "Shalum"	sā Aṇhrōs, "Acrea"	sā Silū, "Silua"	sā Hu̯inī, "Svinia"	sā Ossorī, "Ossoria"
	sing	sing	sing	sing	sing	sing
nom	Aδurā̊	Halā̊
voc
acc	Aδurōnəm	Halomnam
gen	Aδurōnōḫ	Halomnōḫ
loc	Aδureni	Halomini
dat	Aδurōnei̯	Halomnei̯
ins	Aδurōna	Halomna

Adjectives

u-stem

As mentioned above, there are three types of u-stem adjectives: some are sensitive only to animacy, having a two-way contrast between masculine and feminine referents together with neuter ones, and others have a three-way contrast. Further, the ones with a three-way contrast are divided by their feminine forms, which could take the feminizing suffix *-h₂ directly after their stems ending in -u, or added *-i- to create the compound suffix *-w-ih₂ ~ -w-i̯eh₂ instead. Note it is only the root and *-h₂- ~ -eh₂- suffix that participates in ablaut in feminine forms, and never *-u- ~ -eu̯- there.

Only the last type was productive in the Northian family, but there are many examples of inherited items in the former patterns.

Oxytone

Seen in the case of meδuš "sweet" and a handful of others. These are usually held to be archaicisms as meδuš is obviously related to the neuter noun meδū "honey" (which is still attested as its neuter form), created by shifting its accent rightwards in internal derivation.

	m. and f. meδuš, "sweet" = μέθυ			n. meδū, "sweet"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	meδuš	meδauuōi	meδauuōḫ	meδū	mežuuīḥ	meδūḥ
voc	meδū
acc	meδum		meδūš
gen	ą̄mžuuōš	ą̄mdūvōš	ą̄mžuuõm
loc	ą̄mžuuōi	ą̄mdūvō	ą̄mdūhū
dat	ą̄mžuuoi	ą̄mdūma	ą̄mdūmus
ins	ą̄mžuuōi

Three-ending

The type of u-stem adjective differs from the following type only in that the feminizing suffix was a bare *-h₂ ~ -eh₂, rather than the more common *-ih₂. The strong feminine stem was thus from *tenuh₂, and the weak *tn̥weh₂-. It is a rule that all the u-stem adjectives with feminine ending in -ūḥ show root ablaut.

	m. ϑanuš, "thin" = thin			n. ϑanū, "thin"			f. ϑanūḥ, "thin"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	ϑanuš	ϑánauua	ϑánauuōḫ	ϑanū	ϑánauuīḥ	ϑanūḥ	ϑanūḥ	ϑánuuayīḥ	ϑanuuōḫ
voc	ϑanū
acc	ϑanā̊		ϑanūš				ϑanum		ϑanuuáā̊ḫ
gen	źnaōš	źnavuš	źnauuõm				źnuuā̊	źnuuāvuš	źnuuaą̄̊m
loc	źnaō	źnavū	źnaōšū				źnuuā	źnuuāvū	źnuuāzū
dat	źnauui	źnaōma	źnaōmuš				źnuuayi	źnuuāma	źnuuāmuš
ins	źnō						źnuuā

The feminine forms of fərətūvīḥ "broad" < *pl̥tH-w-ih₂ are provided by way of illustration of the u-stem adjectives with feminine forms in -īḥ. As a rule, the nominative singular shows the zero-grade root. As an exception to ablaut behaviour expected under normal accentuation, some u-stem feminine adjectives have a "promoted" root syllable that shows full grade, i.e. fretūvīḥ as though < *pletH-w-ih₂, especially when speaking of personal entities. Note that the oblique cases show the stem fərətūmβiia-, which represents *fr̥tiwya-, where the short i was altered to ū before w, generating a nasal in the process, and the w further became β when sandwiched between a nasal and a following approximant. This series of alterations does not occur when the feminizing suffix is in the zero grade, which resolves into a vocalic i.

	f. fərətūvīḥ, "broad" = "flat"
	sing	du	pl
nom	fərətūvīḥ	fərətūmβiiayīḥ	fərətūmβiiáā̊ḫ
voc
acc	fərətūvī		fərətūviyā̊
gen	fərətūmβiiā̊	fərətūmβiiāvuš	fərətūmβiiaą̄̊m
loc	fərətūmβiiayi	fərətūmβiiāvū	fərətūmβiiāštū
dat		fərətūmβiiāma	fərətūmβiiāmuš
ins	fərətūmβiiā

i-stem

The i-stem adjectives are not very common and all take the PX inflection. For example is θraištiš "sad".

	m. θraištiš, "sad"			n. θraišti, "sad"			f. θrištayīḥ, "sad"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	θraištiš	θraištī	θráištaiiāḫ	θraišti	θrištayīḥ	θraištī	θrištayīḥ	θrištayīḥ	θrištáyyaā̊
voc	θraišti
acc	θraištin		θraištis				θrištayī		θrištáyiyāḫ
gen	θrištaiš	θrištaiiuš	θrištiõm				θrištiyā̊	θrištiyāvuš	θrištiyaą̄̊m
loc	θrištaiiai	θrištaiiū	θrištēšu				θrištiyāyi	θrištiyāvū	θrištiyāźiiū
dat		θrištaima	θrištēmuš					θrištiyāma	θrištiyāmuš
ins	θrištaiiōi						θrištiyā

nt-stem (adjectives)

This stem shows two variants: the amphikinetic one has a zero-grade suffix, and the hysterokinetic one, an o-grade suffix. The former type is recovered only from the frequent term hanūs, from *ǵʰen-unt-s, "bearing value, honour", from *ǵʰen-, "esteem, honour". This word is used primarily of gods in their roles as sources of value (in objects) and honour (in persons).

The co-ordinating term honōḫ, cognate to Venetian honos, in objects, means their worth, valuation, or function, and in persons, their position in public society. A person's "worth" or "function" was evidently assessed by the role they play in society; thus, a person's honōḫ can mean either, literally, their profession or office, or, by extension, the esteem in which they are held, coming close to the modern meaning of "honour". Hence, the fonδā̊ honáhāḫ, literally "path of honour", names the priesthood, as the sacerdotal profession was evidently one of the earliest to receive general accreditation in Northian culture, cp. the cursus honorum "course of honours" in Venetian culture.

	m. and n. hanūs, "bearing value, honour"			f. jñuuáṇδīḥ
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	hanūs	hanuṇδōi̯	hanuṇδiš	jñuuáṇδīḥ	jñuuáṇźiiayīḥ	jñuuáṇźiiaā̊ḫ
voc	hanuṇ
acc	hanuṇδəm		hanuṇδā̊	jñuuáṇźiiā̊ḫ		jñuuáṇδī
gen	jñuuātōḫ	jñuuātōš	jñuuātõm	jñuuāčiiā̊	jñuuāčiiāvuš	jñuuāčiiāą̄̊m
loc	jñuuoṇδi	jñuuātō	jñuuāštū	jñuuāčiiayi	jñuuāčiiāvū	jñuuāčiiāhū
dat	jñuuātai	jñuuātmus	jñuuātmuš		jñuuāčiiāma	jñuuāčiiāmuš
ins	jñuuāta	jñuuātmōḥ	jñuuāϑβiiōḫ	jñuuāčiiā		jñuuāčiiāβiiōḫ

Present and aorist active participles in -nt-

Present and aorist verb-stems form an active participle with the suffix -nt. For thematic verbs, the suffix is -ont. The weak stem of the verb is used where it is present, so from the copula es the active participle is hą̄s from PNN *hants < PEE *h₁(e)sn̥ts. The vowel is nasalized in the masculine nominative singular but not in the neuter or feminine, suggesting that the cluster *-nt-s had probably been resolved first as *-ns-s prehistorically.

Many state the full-grade stem would have been used originally in all direct forms, since their endings are uniformly in zero grade. But the zero-grade stem is found in the oldest received texts, and metrical restoration does not reveal any additional syllables that diagnose the strong (syllabic) stem. Thus if the strong stem was once used, it was replaced in a remote time. On the other hand, the full-grade stem *-ent- is visible in the nominative dual and plural, and it has been argued its selective replacement in the nominative singular and accusative would be rather bizarre. Thus, the forms with zero-grade suffix may also be old.

The feminine participle takes the like stem and adds the feminizing suffix -ī ~ iiā-. The neuter direct dual and plural forms fail to trigger the full-grade suffix and are in zero grade, contrary to the forms of the masculine and feminine duals and plurals. The nominative dual feminine form hātīịāḥ shows an unexpected long vowel in the suffix where a short vowel is expected. Possibly the long vowel was borrowed from the singular to differentiate the dual from the plural, which had become identical (in at least some dialects that did not distinguish front and back a in final position).

Verbs which have mobile accent in the weak forms also have mobile accent in the participle. The ending is in full grade in the oblique cases (in all genders).

	m. hą̄s, "being"			n. hāt, "being"			f. hātī, "being"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	hą̄s	hantōi	haą̄ntiš	hāt	hātī	hātā	hātī	hātīịāḥ	hātiịāḫ
voc	hāt
acc	hātam		hātā̊				hāčiiā̊		hāčiiaō
gen	hātōḫ	hātōš	hātõm					hāčiiāōš	hāčiiaõm
loc	haą̄nδi	hātō	hātštū				hāčiiāyi	hāčiiāō	hāčiiāhū
dat	hātai	hāšmā	hāšmus					hāčiiāma	hāčiiāmuš
ins	hāta		hāδβiiōḫ				hāčiiā		hāčiiāmβiiōḫ

Verbs which take a persistent accent, such as the s-stem aorist and present and some reduplicated present verbs, also form a participle with persistent accent. Despite appearances, the feminine forms of the PP participle is formed with the same feminizing suffix as the OX participles, except it remains in zero-grade throughout the entire paradigm, e.g. gen. sing. deδātīš < *de-dh₃-n̥t-ih₁-s. As is the usual case with this suffix, if the ending began with a vowel the final laryngeal scanned with the following syllable and does not lengthen the preceding vowel in the suffix; otherwise, the suffix appears as long -ī. In late Galic texts, this participle could also appear with a -ū̆ suffix in the dative singular, such as G. 4435, deδāδuu̯i, "to the giveress".

	m. deδāt, "giving"			n. deδāt, "giving"			f. deδātīḥ, "giving"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	deδāt	deδāta	deδātiš	deδāt	deδātī	deδāta	deδātīḥ	deδātīịa	deδātiyāḫ
voc
acc	deδātam		deδātaṇġ				deδātī		deδātiyā̊
gen	deδās	deδātuš	deδātõm				deδātīš	deδātīyuš	deδātiyõm
loc	deδāt	deδātū	deδāštū				deδātī	deδātīyū	deδātīštū
dat	deδāti	deδātma	deδāšmus				deδātiyi	deδātīma	deδātīmuš
ins	deδāta		deδāδβiiōḫ				deδātī		deδātīβiiōḫ

es-stems

	m. and f. huménōḫ, "well-intended"			n. hāminiš, "well-intended"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	humenāḫ	humenahōi̯	humenišiš	humeniš	humenahī	humenaza
voc	huméniš
acc	humenizam		huménizaṇġ
gen	humenahōḫ	humenizōš	humenahõm	= m. and f.
loc	huminiš	humenizō	humeništū
dat	humenahai̯	humenizmō	humenizmus
ins	humenahōi̯

Perfect active participle in -u̯os-

The perfect active participle, which was very productive in Galic down to Epic times, was formed by an ablauting suffix -u̯ōs- ~ -u̯os- ~ -uš- to the zero grade of the perfect stem. The nom. sing. of the masculine has the lengthened-grade ending -u̯ōs-, and full-grade -u̯os- appears in other direct forms. The zero-grade ending -uš- manifests elsewhere in the masculine and neuter. The feminine participle added the -īḥ- ~ -i̯ā- suffix to the zero grade -uš- of the perfect active participle suffix. Thus, all the suffixes would be in zero-grade in the nominative singular of the feminine and neuter, and so the accent retracts to stand on the reduplication syllable; that retraction usually prevents initial *e- from weakening to i- (as seen below).

	m. βiβižuuā̊, "sympathetic" = πεποιθώς			n. βiβižuuōḫ, "sympathetic"			f. βiβiδuštīḥ, "sympathetic"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	βiβižuuā̊	βiβižuuóhōi̯	βiβižuuóhiš	βiβižuuōḫ	βiβižuuóhī	βiβižuuóha	βiβiδuštīḥ	βiβiδuźiiā	βiβiδuźiiáā̊
voc	βéβižuuōḫ
acc	βiβižuuozəm		βiβižuuózā̊				βiβiδuźiiā̊		βiβiδuźiiaā
gen	βiβiδuštōḫ	βiβiδuźiiōš	βiβiδuštõm					βiβiδuźiiāouš	βiβiδuźiiāõm
loc	βiβiδušti	βiβiδuźiiō	βiβiδuštū				βiβiδuźiiayi	βiβiδuźiiāoū	βiβiδuźiiazū
dat	βiβiδuštai	βiβiδužma	βiβiδužmuš					βiβiδuźiiāma	βiβiδuźiiāmuš
ins	βiβiδuštōi		βiβiδužβiiōḫ				βiβiδuźiiā		βiβiδuźiiāmβiiōḫ

While this paradigm may appear somewhat confusing, there are only two stems. The strong stem is βiβižuuós-, with final -s altered to -št before other vowels and to -ž before resonants. The weak stem is βiβiδuš-, with final -š altered to -ž before resonants, including the laryngeal that begins the dual gen. and dat. endings. If the resonant has a vowel inserted, the -ž is appended with -ii- and further becomes to -ź. The nom. sing. of the masculine has the long grade -uuā̊ < *-ōs.

As exceptions to this rule, the perfect active participles of wōiδa "know" and mimóna "remember" have nominative singular forms wāiδuš, wāiδū, wāiδuštīḥ and menuš (similar) respectively. These are probably continuations of the original amphikinetic inflection of perfect active participles, with full-grade root for nominative forms. Other members of their class have evolved to take the hysterokinetic pattern, which have an non-ablauting root. Curiously, the participle of mimóna loses its reduplication—some scholars have taken this as an indication that perfect active participles may have originally been unreduplicated, as an independent formation from the e-grade root and not from the perfect verb stem.

Comparatives in -yos-

Many (but not all) adjectives formed comparative forms with the suffix -i̯os- ~ -iš-. Unlike the perfect active participle, the comparative form does not have a distinct feminine form; otherwise, the distribution of strong and weak forms of the stem are exactly the same.

	m. and f. xréčiiā̊, "more powerful" = κρείττων			n. xrétiš, id
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	xréčiiā̊	xréčiioha	xréčiiohiš	xratiš	xréčiiohī	xréčiiažiia
voc	xréčiiōḫ
acc	xréčiiaham		xrétiźiiā̊
gen	xrétištōḫ	xrétiźiiōš	xrétištõm	= m.
loc	xréčiiā	xrétiźiiō	xrétištū
dat	xrétištei̯	xrétižmō	xrétižmuš
ins	xrétištōi̯

It should be noted that the -yos- adjectives can lean more towards the sense of "quite so", rather than "more so" than a particular object compared to. Thus, for certain adjectives, two separate comparatives with contrastive meanings are in use, e.g. yəuuā̊ "quite young, younger" vs. yuterōḫ "the younger of two siblings". Where an adjective implies a definite comparative standard, the forms in -ter- are more often encountered.

And like the perfect active participle, there is a variation of the comparative suffix that has amphikinetic form, i.e. zero-grade suffix in the nominative, used in adjectives such as máɣis "larger" and foris "more"; note the non-retroflexed -s of the ending < *máɣis-s, with prehistorically restored nominative *-s, as otherwise the masculine and feminine would be identical to the neuter.

r/n-stem

This class of adjectives were principally derived from the heteroclitics neuter nouns. The neuter singular was identical to the heteroclitic noun. The masculine was formed as an n-stem, while the feminine was formed as with the suffix -ih₂ from the zero grade of the neuter stem. The example provided included the petrified suffix *-wr ~ wn-, but other adjectives of this class could include other suffixes such as *-mr ~ mn- and *-tr ~ tn-, with their associated phonetic peculiarities.

	m. fīuuō, "fat" = fat			n. faə̄uuərə			f. fūvurīḥ
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	fīuuō	fīuuonōi	fīuuoniš	faə̄uuərə	faiiurīḥ	faə̄uuā̊	fūvurīḥ	fūvuriiāḥ	fūvuriiaāḫ
voc	fīuuon
acc	fīuuonam		fīuuonā̊				fūvuriiā̊		fūvuriiaō
gen	fūvunōḫ	fūvunōš	fūvunõm					fūvuriiāous	fūvuriiaõm
loc	fūvoni	fūvunō	fivəŋhū				fūvuriiāyi	fūvuriiāoū	fūvuriiāziiū
dat	fūvunai	fūvunmō	fūvunmuš					fūvuriiāma	fūvuriiāmuš
ins	fūvunōi						fūvuriiā

maxiš "large"

The stem of this very common adjective ended in an Erani-Eracuran laryngeal. Before guttural consonants and word-finally, it generally appears as /a/, and before coronal consonants as /i/. In the feminine, which has the suffix -iiā- in the oblique forms, the laryngeal disappears under Pinault's law; the laryngeal disappeared early enough that the guttural came into contact with the yod, causing it to palatalize.

	m. maxiš, "large"			n. maɣa, "large"			f. maxīḥ, "large"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	maxiš	maɣaā	maxāḫ	maxa	maxīḥ	mahīḥ	maxīḥ	majiiā	majiiaāḫ
voc	maɣa
acc	maɣā̊		āɣā̊				majiiā̊		majiiaō
gen	āxōḫ	āxōš	āɣõm				ājiiā̊	ājiiāvuš	ājiiaą̄m
loc	āɣáyi	āxō	āɣištū				ājiiayi	ājiiāvū	ājiiāŋhū
dat	āɣái	āxamō	āɣamuš					ājiiāma	ājiiāmuš
ins	āɣā		āɣaβiiōḫ				ājiiā

	m. mahii̯āu̯, "larger"			n. mahii̯ōḫ, "larger"			f. mahii̯ahīḥ, "larger"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	mahii̯āu̯	mahii̯oha	mahii̯ohiš	mahii̯ōḫ	mahii̯ohī	mahii̯oha	mahii̯ahīḥ	mahii̯ahīi̯a	mahii̯ahii̯āḫ
voc	mahii̯ōḫ
acc	mahii̯āham		mahii̯ohāṇġ				āmjii̯ahīi̯am		āmjii̯ahīi̯aṇġ
gen	āmjihōḫ	āmjihōš	āmjihõ	= m.			āmjii̯ahi̯āu̯	āmjii̯ahi̯āu̯uš	āmjii̯ahi̯ą̄̊
loc	mahii̯ahi	āmjihō	āmjihššu				āmjii̯ahi̯āḥ	āmjii̯ahi̯āu̯u	āmjii̯ahi̯āhu
dat	āmjihei̯	āmjihmō	āmjihmuš				āmjii̯ahi̯ai̯i	āmjii̯ahi̯āma	āmjii̯ahi̯āmuš
ins	āmjihōi̯						āmjii̯ahi̯å

poluš

	m. poluš, "many"			n. polu, "many"			f. polūḥ, "many"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	poluš	maɣā	maɣāḫ	polu	mahīḥ	mahīḥ	polūḥ	mahīi̯a	mahii̯āḫ
voc	maɣā
acc	maɣåm		maɣåṇġ				mahīi̯am		mahii̯āṇġ
gen	āmhōḫ	āmhōš	āmhõ	= m.			āmjii̯āu̯	āmjii̯āu̯uš	āmjii̯ā
loc	āmha	āmhō	āmhšu				āmjii̯ā	āmjii̯āu̯u	āmjii̯āhu
dat	āmhei̯	āmhmō	āmhmuš				āmjii̯ai̯i	āmjii̯āma	āmjii̯āmuš
ins	āmhōi̯						āmjii̯å

	m. mahii̯āu̯, "more"			n. mahii̯ōḫ, "more"			f. mahii̯ahīḥ, "more"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	mahii̯āu̯	mahii̯oha	mahii̯ohiš	mahii̯ōḫ	mahii̯ohī	mahii̯oha	mahii̯ahīḥ	mahii̯ahīi̯a	mahii̯ahii̯āḫ
voc	mahii̯ōḫ
acc	mahii̯āham		mahii̯ohāṇġ				āmjii̯ahīi̯am		āmjii̯ahīi̯aṇġ
gen	āmjihōḫ	āmjihōš	āmjihõ	= m.			āmjii̯ahi̯āu̯	āmjii̯ahi̯āu̯uš	āmjii̯ahi̯ą̄̊
loc	mahii̯ahi	āmjihō	āmjihššu				āmjii̯ahi̯āḥ	āmjii̯ahi̯āu̯u	āmjii̯ahi̯āhu
dat	āmjihei̯	āmjihmō	āmjihmuš				āmjii̯ahi̯ai̯i	āmjii̯ahi̯āma	āmjii̯ahi̯āmuš
ins	āmjihōi̯						āmjii̯ahi̯å

See also

• Northian language
• Northian grammar
  • Northian verbs