Northian grammar

Northian grammar is highly synthetic.

Overview

Ablaut

Ablaut is a system of vowel apophony, altering the quality or quantity of vowels but not their meaning, that is inherited from Proto-Nordic-Northian and ultimately Proto-Erani-Eracuran. It affects nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs in Northian. Though ablaut was a regular process closely tied to accent in the reconstructed proto-language, by Galic times new ablaut formulae are no longer being made, and only a few ablauting formulae remained productive. Moreover, existing formulae have been disrupted by sound change and both general and sporadic analogical replacement. The result that surfaces in Galic Northian is a rich yet unpredictable set of alternate morphologies that confuses both modern readers and, often, even ancient Northians.

In nouns, there are three main ablaut patterns that Northian inherited from its ancestors, in the discourse of PEE called acrostatic, proterokinetic, and hysterokinetic. All three patterns are preserved in Galic Northian to one degree or another, summarized below. The proparoxytone category continues the PEE acrostatic pattern and its characteristic o/e ablaut, though synchronically this ablaut pattern is but attested in a few forms of a minority of nouns (e.g. nemə̄ṇġ gen. of nomə̄), the majority of proparoxytone nouns having arbitrarily generalized either o- or e-grade across the paradigm. The paroxytone group largely continues

	Case	Root	Stem	Ending	PNN	Galic
PP	Nom. sg.	ó ~ é	Ø		*pot-i-s	potiš, "lord"
	Acc. sg.	é	Ø		*pot-i-m	potim
	Gen. sg.	é	Ø	Ø	*pet-i-s	petiš
	Nom. pl.	é	Ø		*pet-i̯-es	peθi̯iš
	Acc. pl.	é	Ø		*pet-i-ns	petīn
PX	Nom. sg.	é	Ø		*ment-i-s	menθiš, "mind"
	Acc. sg.	é	Ø		*ment-i-m	menθim
	Gen. sg.	Ø	é	Ø	*munt-ei̯-s	munθēš
	Nom. pl.	é	é		*ment-ei̯-es	menθēiš
	Acc. pl.	é	Ø		*ment-i-ns	menθīn
OX	Nom. sg.	é	Ø ~ ó		*sēkl-oi̯-s	sēkloi̯š, "treaty"
	Acc. sg.	Ø	é		*səkl-ei̯-um	saklēum
	Gen. sg.	Ø	Ø	é	*səkl-i-os	sakli̯ō
	Loc. sg.	Ø	é		*səkl-ei̯-i	saklei̯e
	Nom. pl.	Ø	é		*səkl-ei̯-es	saklēiš
	Acc. pl.	Ø	é		*səkl-ei̯-uns	saklåṇġ

These processes have occurred to the greater extent in the Epic language, but there the word forms were subject to more rigorous regularization.

Noun endings

Athematic

The following chart recapitulates the ordinary endings of athematic nouns in Galic Northian. Because the ablative is syncretized in the singular with the genitive in all athematic declensions and with the dative, with or without the instrumental, in the dual and plural, it is usually not listed separately in grammatical tables for athematic nouns.

Forms are often unpredictable and variable under the influence of ablaut, laryngeals reflexes, analogy, vowel contraction, and compensatory lengthening for illegal consonant clusters in coda position. All endings are subject to modification according to the suffix. OX stands for the oxytone group of patterns, and PX for the paroxytone group. Certain neuter nouns do not take plural endings but collective endings with a lengthened stem; these nouns are not formally predictable. Because neuter nouns always have the same nominative and accusative forms, only their nominative endings will be listed, and in grey.

	Athematic endings
	Singular		Dual		Plural	Collective
	OX	PX + PP	OX	PX + PP
Nominative	-V̄-Ø, -s, -å, -Ø	-s, -Ø	-ē, -ī	-a, -V̄, -V̄R-Ø, -ī	-es, -iš, -a, -V̄R-Ø	-V̄-Ø
Vocative	-Ø
Accusative	-m, -um, -əm, -ə̄m				-V̄n, -əṇġ, -ə̄ṇġ
Locative	-i, -eC-Ø	-eC-Ø	-ō	-o, -i̯-u	-ho, -šo	-eC-Ø
Genitive	-ō	-s, -V̄s, -V̄n, -V̄ṇġ	-ōs	-uš, -u̯-ō	-õ	= sing.
Ablative			-mō	-V̄-m, -VC-ma	-muš
Dative	-ē	-ai̯C-e, -ei̯C-e, -Vi̯
Instrumental	-ē, -å	-C-a, -V̄R-Ø			-vi̯as

A general discussion of the athematic declension cannot omit to mention that many of these divergent forms are conditioned on phonetic change, but so too there are divergences because the proto-forms themselves were likely divergent. Animate (= masculine and feminine) nouns may have been in the proto-language sigmatic in the nominative singular, that is ending in *-s, or asigmatic, that is without final *-s and instead taking a lengthened final vowel. The source of this lengthening is disputed: some authorities regard it as a consequence of a final *-s dropping after a resonant, but others hold it had no *-s originally and attribute the long vowel to ablaut variation sensitive to the morphologically strong case. In the case where a universal *-s as a designation of the nom. sing. is not accepted, some propose it is instead a designation for those terms originally neuter in gender used as an animate noun.

The view that nom. sing. is not characterized by final *-s is more often supported by scholars specialized in Northian, since this phonetic change (dropping final *-s after resonant) is attested later than the proto-language, which militates against its presence there. Nevertheless, final *-s has definitely been inserted to animate nouns quite broadly but haphazardly in prehistoric Northian, so there is no obvious pattern to its distribution. We may distinguish three situations in Northian as to the nom. sing., stems ending in vowel, in resonant, and in non-resonants. Final *-s where present is always preserved after *i- and *u-, and their absence there indicates a noun is obligatorily neuter. Final *-s seems to have been mostly absent in resonant-stems, whose nom. sing. takes the long grade instead (i- and u-stems never have long grade in the nom. sing.). After consonants their distribution is not predictable: nepōt "grandchild" was asigmatic, but nohs "night", pontōs "path", and nouns ending in -tāθs certainly had *-s, which is altered after most stems.

The vocative consists of the bare strong stem in all cases. Where the stem had *-s it is dropped, and without *-s the stem is in the full grade or short-vowel grade. In the proto-language, the accusative ended in *-m. In consonant stems it is vocalized as -m̥ > PNN *-um. After resonants, it is generally the ending *-m̥ that is vocalized as PNN *-um. But in Galic an unaccented ending *-um is always altered unless preceded by *y, to -ə̄m if the preceding syllable is light, and the short variant thereof, if heavy. Where the ending is a vowel or a glide, the bare ending of -m is found.

In the genitive, dative, and instrumental (oblique) cases, the acrostatic, proterokinetic, and hysterokinetic ablaut patterns in various suffixes give rise to different endings. The ending *-os > Galic -ō is proper to the OX nouns, but in the Epic language it is often applied to other stems; in either dialect, the ending rarely interacts with the stem and stays mostly visible. The proterokinetic and acrostatic ending was PNN *-s. After a full-grade ending, expected in a PX pattern, it is preserved where the suffix ends in a vowel as in ēš < *-ei̯-š and -eu̯-š, and the same for PPX patterns. After a resonant it is usually dropped and causes the preceding vowel to lengthen, cf. -mēn < *-men-s, but -ō could be re-attached to it when metrically convenient. After a zero-grade ending, in an PPX pattern, the fate of *-s is varied. In consonant clusters it usually caused deletion of intervening consonants, e.g. PNN *nekʷts > Galic nehš. After PNN *-un it generates -ūn, after *-um it was -ə̄ṇġ, after *-ur and *-ul it was -ūš.

The dative ending in OX is *-ei̯ > -ē; as the gen. this is the most often found ending beyond its natural environment. In PX final *-i becomes -e in Galic and causes some previous vowels to mutate, i.e. *eC > ei̯C and *aC > -ai̯C <ae>. Yet in the cases where it directly occurs after short vowels, it remains -i.

Thematic

The chart below illustrates the ordinary endings of the thematic (o-stem) declension of Galic. Because accentuation difference categorically does not trigger ablaut in o-stem nouns, their endings do not vary according to their accentual pattern, which is lexically fixed on the same syllable. Additionally, the presence of the theme vowel e ~ o obviates, in most cases, the resolution of consonant clusters and consequent irregularity in surface forms. With the exception of a few fixed athematic patterns, o-stem is the primary productive pattern in the Epic language.

	Basic thematic endings
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	-ō, -om	-ō, -oī	-ōs, -ā
Vocative	-e
Accusative	-om		-ōn
Locative	-ē	-ā̊	-ohu
Genitive	-ōhi̯o	-ā̊š	-ā̊m
Ablative	-ōd	-vi̯as	-vi̯ō
Dative	-ōi̯
Instrumental	-ō		-ōi̯š

Verbs

Stems

The relationship between verb-stems and endings they receive are as follows in the Galic language:

	Present stem	Aorist stem	Perfect stem
Primary endings	Present indicative tense
Secondary endings	Injunctive tense	Aorist indicative tense
Imperative endings	Imperative tense	Aorist imperative tense
Future imperative endings	Future imperative tense
Perfect endings			Perfect tense
Perfect imperative endings			Perfect imperative tense

From each root, which is agnostic as to part of speech in the proto-language, can arise multiple stems classified as present, aorist, or perfect, differentiated by their affixes. To these stems are attached endings to constitute the finite verb, which conveys tense/aspect, mood, voice, person, and number.

Endings

Primary active endings				Primary middle endings
	Sing.	Du.	Pl.		Sing.	Du.	Pl.
1P	-me	-ōne	-mei̯ne	1P	-ai	-ōzθa	-mozθa
2P	-se	-tas	-te	2P	-tai	-tom	-θō
3P	-te	-tes	-nθe	3P	-toi	-tēm	-ūs

Secondary active endings				Secondary middle endings
	Sing.	Du.	Pl.		Sing.	Du.	Pl.
1P	-m	-ō	-me	1P	-a	-ōθa	-meθa
2P	-s	-tas	-te	2P	-ta	-ate	-θō
3P	-t	-tes	-nθ	3P	-to	-atē	-r

Thematic active endings				Thematic middle endings
	Sing.	Du.	Pl.		Sing.	Du.	Pl.
1P	-ō	-ou̯ōs	-omōs	1P	-ōi	-ou̯ōzθa	-omozθa
2P	-ei̯e	-etas	-ete	2P	-etai	-etom	-eθō
3P	-ei̯te	-etes	-o	3P	-etoi	-etēm	-ēr

Imperative active endings				Imperative middle endings
	Sing.	Du.	Pl.		Sing.	Du.	Pl.
1P	—	—	—	1P	—	—	—
2P	-θe	-ta	-te	2P	-to	-te	-nθo
3P	-sō	-te	-θō	3P	-tō	-tē	-nθō

Perfect active endings				Perfect middle endings
	Sing.	Du.	Pl.		Sing.	Du.	Pl.
1P	-a	-ō	-me	1P	Where the perfect has transitive meaning, the middle is formed with the injunctive of es "to be" + perfect active participle
2P	-ta	-eta	-e	2P
3P	-e	-ēte	-r	3P

Evolution

Northian is one of the few Erani-Eracuran languages that retains multiple productive ablaut patterns in nouns, though hysterokinetic endings have gained ground in many stem-classes at the expense of proterokientic and acrostatic formations. This tendency is attributed to surface consistency in hysterokinetic endings, which are regularly accented sing. gen. -ō < *-os and dat. -ē < *-ei̯.  The proterokinetic and acrostatic endings tended to disappear through the erosion of final consonants and unaccented vowels. After most consonants, final -s disappears, lengthening the preceding vowel and modifying consonants in several ways, while final -i lowers to -e and causes preceding -e- > -ei̯- and -a- > -ai̯-. The places where *-s and *-i remain in situ are the i-, u-, ī-, ū-, ē-, and neuter n-stems (*-i only).

Despite recession, former proterokinetic nouns appear from "irregular" nouns that either retain proterokinetic endings, accentual positions, or both. The hysterokinetic ending is often simply appended to the stem already reflecting the proterokinetic ending, e.g. Epic pau̯ḗnō from Galic pau̯ḗn + hysterokinetic gen. ending -ō, whereas a "true" hysterokinetic noun would have ending -ṓ and not a full-grade suffix.

In the dual nom. the preference for hysterokinesis was evident, and only neuter nouns were consistently inflected proterokinetically, probably because it had a distinct ending -ī that resisted phonetic assimilation. Where the stem ended in a resonant, the animate ending *-ə disappeared by regular sound change and cause compensatory lengthening. This created an anomalous stem with long vowel where it was not expected (only in the nom. sing. was long vowel expected). When this happened, only stem and root ablaut distinguished it from the inst. sing., so if the stem had lost ablaut, as often was the case, it would become identical to that form. In the other dual cases, however, proterokinetic forms survived for longer, but once the hysterokinetic form was introduced to the nom., it too often crept into the other cases (especially in the same speaker's utterances).

Some linguists propose that Galic poets retained more archaic patterns for their flexibility in verse, as full-grade endings generated heavy syllables and zero-grade generated light syllables. It is criticized that metrical considerations are absent in common speech, so it is questionable if ablaut patterns were retained there as long as it did in the poetic language. Indeed, while younger Galic metre may have been written as late as the 5th century BCE, productive proterokinetic patterns in Epic verse has been whittled to the i-, u-, and n-stems. The acrostatic pattern has been a vestigial, closed set since the earliest stages of Northian canon—it seems hard to avoid this conclusion if a term as basic as E.Nr. maetūr (G.Nr. mētūš) "mother's" was disappearing from children's speech in favour of maeθrō. Acrostatic n- and s-stems were no longer viable even while their proterokinetic cousins were. On the other hand, acrostatic formations have spread prehistorically to proterokinetic ones, in the ins. sing. of i- and u-stems, which often show zero-grade ending where full grade is expected.

Awareness of multiple ablaut patterns persisted well into the period of the Late Canon, attested in the chastisement of children who substitute oxytone endings for their paroxytone counterparts. Ancient grammarians divided nouns into two kinds based on the position of the accent in the gen. sing. form. The oxytone group includes all nouns that have accented endings, and paroxytone group, nouns that have unaccented endings. The grammarians teach that this predicts the endings and accent positions in other forms. Modern scholars accept that some parts of their teaching correctly identifies the contrast between proterodynamic and hysterodynamic endings, but the shape of the stem was not connected by the ancient grammarians to the position of the accent. Acrostatic nouns were considered an irregular type of proterokinetic nouns and not as its own class.

Nouns

Classes

The principal classes of nouns are discussed first. The following chart lists the stems and accent patterns that are attested in Galic Northian, as well as the genders of attested nouns. A green cell indicates that the attestation of a stem-accent paradigm is solid (five lemmas or more and paradigm more or less complete); a yellow cell indicates a marginal attestation (one to four lemmas or paradigm incomplete); a red cell indicates no or only dubious attestations.

	-C	-m	-ns	-mn	-n	-r	-l	-s	-os/es	-i	-u	-h₁	-h₂	-ī	-ū	-r/n	-d	-t	-nt	-woḏ	-ā	-o
OX	M/F	F	M	M/F	M/F	M/F	All	M/F	N	M/F	All	M	No	M/F	F	N	M/F	M/F	All	All	F	M/N
PX	F/N	No	No	N	No	M/F	No	No	N	All	All	No	F	F	F	N	N	No	No	No	No	No
PPX	F/N	Yes	No	N	No		No	F	N	All	All	N	No	No	No	N	No	All	No	No	No	No

As will appear from this schematic, there are few noun classes that exhibit all three patterns that continue the ablaut patterns of the proto-language; rather, there was a strong tendency for noun classes to coalesce on one pattern identified with the stem, or for masculine and feminine nouns to coalesce on one pattern and neuter nouns on another. In the latter case, neuter nouns are almost always identified with the paroxytone pattern, and masculine and feminine nouns with the oxytone. The exception is for i-stems and u-stems, where a considerable portion of masculine and feminine nouns inherit acrostatic patterns from the proto-language. In other cases, the skewed distribution of gender is inherited from the proto-language, as in the case of ī- and ū-stems, which historically are combinations of *i-h₂- and *u-h₂- and therefore take their feminine gender and proterokinetic pattern from the h₂-stems in PEE. Some nouns of this class have been further elaborated with an -s ending, which brings about the oxytone pattern and can be masculine in gender.

With the r-stems the acrostatic pattern has bled into the PX pattern.

Consonant-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 noun āps < 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. op "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.

	sā āps, "river"			tod op, "force"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	āps	āpē	āpiš	op	opī	opa
Vocative	āp
Accusative	āpum		āpə̄ṇġ
Genitive	apō	apōs	apõ	pō	pōs	põ
Locative	ai̯pi	apō	apšo	ei̯pi	pō	pšu
Dative	apē	apmō	apmuš	pē	bmō	bmuš
Instrumental	apē			pē

Another noun used for the same purpose is aps "river".

While o/e ablaut is considered canonical for PEE root nouns with acrostatic inflection, neuter nouns in Northian show neither o/e ablaut nor PP inflection: they are, for an unknown reason, all PX.

	tōd osta, "bone"
	Singular	Dual	Collective
Nominative	osta	ostī	ostō
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	stēs	steuš	ostō
Locative	stēi̯	steo	ostēi̯
Dative		stēma	ostē
Instrumental	stē

osta "bone" is from PEE *h₃esth₁ and behaves somewhat like a -h₁ stem somewhat similar to ponθōs. In the sing. nom. the accented syllable is in e-grade which, under the influence of the initial laryngeal, becomes Galic o-. In the oblique cases, the root is in zero grade, the suffix being accented, and surfaces as stē < *h₃steh₁-. In the du. gen. and dat., the laryngeal ending of the stem scans as part of the ending syllable beginning in vowel and thus does not lengthen the stem vowel, creating the stem of ste-; in the dat. the ending does begin with a consonant, which then causes the laryngeal to be part of the suffix syllable and lengthens it. The plural is a collective and shows e-grade in the root and vr̩ddhied o-grade in the nom. ending < *h₃estōh₁ "bones (of a skeleton)". The oblique stem of the collective is from *h₃esth₁-, the full-grade root having spread from the nom., replacing *h₃sth₁-. Gen. ostō reflects *h₃esth₁-os. The collective loc. has *h₃esteh₁ > ostē-.

m-stems

This class is known from only a few but important nouns, θéɣå "earth", žō "winter", and då "house". All m-stem nouns in Northian are feminine in gender, though with only a few examples, this may not be an actual rule in the proto-language.

	se θéɣå, "earth"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	θéɣå	zémē	zémiš
Vocative	θéɣō
Accusative	zémā		zməṇġ
Genitive	gmō	gmōs	gmõ
Locative	zei̯me	gmō	gumho
Dative	gmē	gummō	gummuš
Instrumental	gūm

θéɣå is one of the rarer Northian words that reflects all three ablaut grades.

The behaviour of žõ "winter" is underlyingly similar to that of θéɣõ, but other phonetic changes have caused the surface forms to be altered in other ways.

ns-stems

mā̊ṇġ "moon" has one of the less transparent paradigms in Galic. In the received texts this word represents four morae, but the spelling does not reveal what the missing vowel. In view of the general development of PEE *-Hn̥s, most authorities write this word phonologically as måə̄ṇġ, standing for [māʔə̄ŋɡ̚]. It stands for PEE *mḗh₁n̥s > PNN *mḗuns > PN *māə̄ṇġ.

	sā mā̊ṇġ, "moon, month"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	mā̊ṇġ	måə̄ṇhē	måə̄ṇhiš
Vocative	mā̊ṇġ
Accusative	mēṇhum		måə̄həṇġ
Genitive	mēṇhō	mēṇhmōs	mēṇhõ
Locative	mə̄ṇġ	mēṇhō	mēṇhsu
Dative	māi̯ṇhe	mēṇhmō	mēṇhmuš
Instrumental	mə̄ṇha

mn-stems

The mn-stems are prolific in Northian in both the Galic and Epic languages, and they exhibit three ablaut patterns. In this case, the oxytone pattern was normalized in masculine and feminine nouns, and the paroxytone in neuter nouns. The acrostatic ablaut pattern is restricted to a few inherited terms.

	sā akmō, "stone"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	akmō	akmenē	akmeniš
Vocative	akmo
Accusative	akmenum		kāṇġmuṇ
Genitive	kāṇhmō	kāṇhmōs	kāṇhmõ
Locative	kumeine	kumnō	kumuṇsu
Dative	kāṇhmē	kāṇhmō	kāṇhmuš
Instrumental	kāṇġma

	tod θēmə̄, "house of a god, temple"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	θēmə̄	θēmnī	θēmnō
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	šmēn	šmenuš	θumnō
Locative		šmeno	šmeni
Dative	šmeni	šmāṇma	θumunmuš
Instrumental	šmēn

	tod nomə̄, "name"
	Singular	Dual	Collective
Nominative	nomə̄	nomnī	nomå
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	nemə̄n	nemnuš	numnō
Locative		nemnu	nuṇhu
Dative	nemne	nemuṇma	numuṇmuš
Instrumental	nemūn

n-stems

There are also n-stems not as part of a suffix of *-mVn. As they are considerably rarer than the latter type, they are sometimes emphasized as "bare" n-stems. They are of two types, distinguished in the nom. sing., those with -ō and those with -ēn. Though uncommon, they are typical of family names in the Epic age.

In wei̯ō "wine", of the type ending in -ō, PNN stems are ablauting *wei̯-on- < *wei̯-Hon and *wī-n- < *wiH-n-. In the nom. sing. the root vowel is attracted by the final ō and becomes wei̯ō. In the oblique cases, stem *-n is altered before endings beginning in -m and becomes -ṇ.

	sā wei̯ō, "wine"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	wei̯ō	wei̯onē	wei̯oniš
Vocative	wei̯a
Accusative	wīonum		wei̯onə̄ṇġ
Genitive	wīnō	wīnōs	wīnõ
Locative	wīen	wīnō	wīṇhu
Dative	wīē	wīṇmō	wīṇmuš
Instrumental	wīn

ōrēn "lamb, ram" exemplifes the stems ending in -en-. The direct stem reflects PEE *wr̥h₁-en- > Galic ōr-en, by way of PNN *wurə-en, and the oblique *wr̥h₁-n- > PNN *wurə-n-. In both cases, PNN *wu dissimilates to *wo, and in Galic gives ō. This ablaut pattern contrasts with those in -on- in that the root is never accented and always shows zero-grade.

	sa ōrēn, "ram"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ōrēn	ōrenē	ōreniš
Vocative	ōren
Accusative	ōrēn		ōrenəṇġ
Genitive	ōrnō	ōrnōs	ōrnõ
Locative	ōreine	ōrnō	ōrāṇhu
Dative	ōrnē	ōrāṇmō	ōrāṇmuš
Instrumental	ōrnē

r-stems

R-stem nouns contain members from all three accentual patterns. mātə̄ "mother" represents the group with PPX accent, which persists on the root syllable and always takes suffix and ending in zero-grade.  vrātə̄ "brother" is declined in the same manner. This is a small group of nouns recognized by their unaccented endings in -ə̄.

	sā mātə̄, "mother"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	mātə̄	mātūr	māθriš
Vocative
Accusative	māθrum		mātə̄rəṇġ
Genitive	mātūš	māturuš	māθrõ
Locative	māθre	māturo	mātuššu
Dative		māturma	māturmuš
Instrumental	māθra

Gen. mātūš < PNN *māturs < PEE *meh₂tr̥s, while māetūr is from the Epic language, which has restored the *r that has been dropped in *-rs. Dat. māθre < PEE *meh₂tri, with the (possibly) innovated zero-grade ending, contra full-grade ending *-ei̯. In the du. the stem ending in resonant causes final *-ə to drop and lengthen the preceding *u. The acc. pl. seems to reflect PEE *meh₂tr̥n̥s, which is irregular, but the other Nordic languages point to *meh₂tern̥s (with full-grade in the suffix), and neither form is particularly informative as both are in unison with respective nom. pl. stems. The Nordic form is assumed to be the original, with Northian one having undergone some assimilation not seen elsewhere.

In Galic, mātūr "two mothers" is often an ellipsis for "mother and father".

sóhitə̄ "daughter" represents the oxytone group of the r-stems, which includes many agentive nouns that terminate in -er and -or. They are recognizable by their zero-grade nom. endings and full-grade -ō endings in gen. The behaviour of the word ɣehə̄ < PEE *ǵʰésr̥ "arm" is underlyingly identical. In the nom. sing. the strong stem reflects PNN *dʰwegə- < PEE *dʰwegh₁-; the weak stem from PNN *dʰugə- The initial *dʰwe > Galic sō-. The weak stem should expect to surface as *θuɣaθr-, but the initial aspirate is simply de-aspirated probably in avoidance of three consecutive fricatives to give attested *duɣaθr-, to which regular OX endings are appended.

	sā sōhitə̄, "daughter"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	sōhitə̄	duɣaterē	duɣateriš
Vocative
Accusative	duɣaterum		duɣaterəṇġ
Genitive	duɣaθrō	duɣaturōs	duɣaθrõ
Locative	duɣaθrē	duɣaturō	duɣatuššu
Dative		duɣaturmō	duɣaturmō
Instrumental	duɣaθrē

patå "father" is at a small variance from the pattern of "daughter", where in the nom. the accent is on the ending instead of the stem; otherwise, it follows the pattern of "daughter" nearly exactly. Only the gen. form paθrūš is aberrant and is influenced by "mother"; this genitive ending is common to all two-syllable nouns ending in -r, with the exception of "hand". patå reflects PNN *patēr, with resonants regularly lost after long vowels in final position, possibly becoming *patēə then > patå /patā.a/.

	sa patå, "father"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	patå	paterē	pateriš
Vocative	pater
Accusative	paterum		paterəṇġ
Genitive	paθrūš	paθrōs	paθrõ
Locative	paθrē	paterō	paθruššu
Dative		paturmō	paturmuš
Instrumental	paθūr

The paroxytone declension of āštə̄ "star" has a unique blend of formations expected from PPX and PX patterns. The nom. sing. āštə̄ reflects PEE *h₂eh₁str̥, a form not seen elsewhere in Erani-Eracuran. Gen. strūš could mechanical restore to PEE *h₂h₁str̥s, but the zero-grade forms are, in all likelihood, from "mother" or "brother" and have displaced the expected PX form *h₂h₁sters, in a way contrary but not unparalleled in the general analogical preferences of Northian.

	sa āstə̄, "star"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	āštə̄	stēr	steriš
Vocative
Accusative	āsterum		strəṇġ
Genitive	strūš	struš	sterõ
Locative	steire	stro	steššu
Dative		sterma	stermuš
Instrumental	stēr

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

l-stems

The l-stems originally inflect as other ablauting consonant stems, but because intervocalic *-l- regularly > -y-, the resulting paradigm presents certain quirks not seen in the normal consonant-stem paradigm.

	sa sē, "salt" = ἅλς
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	sā	sai̯ē	sai̯iš
Vocative	se
Accusative	sai̯um		sai̯ə̄ṇġ
Genitive	slō	slōs	slõ
Locative	sai̯i̯e	slō	sullu
Dative	slē	sō	sullus
Instrumental	sla

	sa abō, "apple"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	abō	aboi̯ē	aboi̯iš
Vocative	abo
Accusative	aboi̯um		aboi̯ə̄ṇġ
Genitive	ablō	ablōs	ablõ
Locative	abei̯e	ablō	abllu
Dative	ablē	abllō	abllus
Instrumental	abla

s-stems

The noun au̯šōs "dawn" is an OX animate noun. The noun has 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.

	sā au̯šōs, "dawn"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	au̯šōs	ušezē	ušeziš
Vocative	au̯šō
Accusative	ušehum		ušehəṇġ
Genitive	uššō	uššōs	uššõ
Locative	ušei̯še	uššō	ūššu
Dative	uššē	uššmō	uššmuš
Instrumental	uššē

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

	sā mūš, "mouse, small rodent"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	mūš	mūšē	mūšiš
Vocative	mūš
Accusative	mūšum		mūšəṇġ
Genitive	mūšō	mūšōs	mūšõ
Locative	mūše	mūšō	mūššu
Dative	mūšē	mūšmō	mūšmuš
Instrumental	mūšē

os/es-stems

The os/es-stems are a class of very common neuter nouns in Northian and are directly cognate to those found in Nordic languages. Together they have both PX and PPX patterns. Though in Galic times and later only the PX pattern is productive, there are four or five very common PPX os/es-stem nouns constituting a nearly-complete paradigm.

In PX the nom. sing. ended in -ō, which is a regular reflex of PNN and PEE *-os; this *-os is not to be confused for the thematic nom. ending or the athematic OX gen. ending and instead is a bare stem. The gen. ended in -eh-ō < PNN and PEE *-es-os, intervocalic *s before back vowel regularly > h, possibly by retraction. In the dat. intervocalic *s > z before front and central vowel, as is the case in the du. and pl. nom. Before endings beginning with consonant, s is preserved or altered in regular ways.

	tod kretō, "intellect, power"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	kretō	kreteza	kreteza
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	kretehō	kretehuš	kretehõ
Locative	kretei̯ze	kretehu	kretessu
Dative		kretesma	kretesmuš
Instrumental	kreteza

The PPX version of this stem had a few differences to the PX version that enabled it to withstand the general tendency to substitute PPX with PX or OX forms; its preservation cannot be unlinked with the prevalence and prominence of the noun menō "mind", a central idea in the Galic religion and often mentioned in the Gales. The nom. sing. was menō < PEE *men-os, with ending -ō undergoing the same changes as the PX counterpart. The gen. had mēṇġ < PNN and PEE *men-s-s. In dat. meṇhi < PEE *men-s-i the preservation of final *-i is irregular.

	tod menō, "mind"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	menō	meṇha	meṇha
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	mēṇġ	meṇhuš	meṇhõ
Locative	meṇhi	meṇhu	meṇššu
Dative		meṇhma	meṇhmuš
Instrumental	meṇha

i-stems

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

	sa sokiš, "ally"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	sokiš	skoi̯ē	sokoi̯es
Vocative	soki
Accusative	sokim		skoim
Genitive	skiō	skiōs	skiõ
Locative	skoi̯e	skiō	skihu
Dative	skiē	skimō	skimuš
Instrumental	skī

	sā menθis, "thought"			tod more, "sea"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Collective
Nominative	menθiš	menθēi̯	menθei̯es	more	morēi̯	merōi̯
Vocative	meinθe
Accusative	menθim		menθīn
Genitive	munθēs	munθēuš	munθei̯õ	mrēs	mrēuš	meri̯õ
Locative	munθēi	munθēu	munθēhu	mrei̯ē	mrēo	merihu
Dative		munθēma	munθēmuš		mrēma	merimuš
Instrumental	munθēi̯			meri̯

	sa potis, "master"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	potis	potī	potiiš
Vocative	poti
Accusative	potim		potīn
Genitive	potis	potiuš	potiõ
Locative	poti	potio	potisu
Dative		potīm	potimuš
Instrumental	potī

u-stems

The plain u-stems of Northian reflect three ablaut patterns, and excepting the acrostatic they are both attested abundantly in the Galic language. The acrostatic pattern provides only inherited nouns, with no sign that new terms with this pattern were made.

	sā genōš, "chin"			tod dāno, "dew, tears"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	genōš	geneu̯ē	geneōs	dāno	dāunnī	dānū
Vocative	genō
Accusative	genōm		geneõ
Genitive	gunnō	gunnōš	gunuõ	daunnō	daunnōš	daunnõ
Locative	gunei̯ō	gunnō	gunuhu	?	daunnō	daunuhu
Dative	gunōi̯	gunumō	gunumuš	daunōi̯	daunumō	daunumuš
Instrumental	gunū			daunnū

The OX pattern had a nom. sg. ending in PNN *-ou̯-s which regularly gave Galic -ō-š, the final -š being a regularly conditioned result of *-is and *-us. The gen. and dat. reflects PNN *-u-os and *-u-ei̯ as expected in a hysterokinetic pattern. The loc. shows full-grade in the stem reflecting PNN *-eu̯-i > *ei̯-u̯e > Galic -ei̯-ō. The ins. may reflect PEE *gen-u-eh₁ or *gen-u-h₁, and the metre does not clarify. The dual behaves as expected. In the plural, final -eōs < *-eu̯-es, as though *-e-u̯es. The expected *-eu̯-iš anomalously does not occur with OX nouns but does with PX nouns, which may be a dialectal influence. The acc. shows -eõ which is from *-eu̯-ōn < *-eu̯-ons < *-eu̯-uns.

In contrast with common-gender u-stem OX nouns, neuter u-stem OX nouns are very rare, and only one item dāno "dew, tear" is well-attested. The nom. sing. is from PEE *déh₂nu > PNN *dānu. The oblique stem is from PEE *dh₂n̥-u- > Galic daunn- because *-nu̯- is subject to assimilation to -nn-. The dual has *dāun-w- (effectively a mixture between direct and oblique stems) because the neuter dual ending is vocalic and causes the preceding *-w- to become a consonant, which then causes the *-n- preceding it to become *-n̥-. Interestingly, a person's tears is usually inflected as a dual, possibly itemizing tears as "streams of tears" coming from a person's eyes (which is by default inflected as dual).

	sa sui̯us, "child" = υἱύς			tod pōi̯o, "flock" = πῶυ
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	sui̯uš	sui̯ēu̯	sui̯eu̯iš	pōi̯o	pii̯ēu̯	pii̯ēu̯
Vocative	sui̯o
Accusative	sui̯um		sui̯ə̄ṇġ
Genitive	sui̯ōš	sui̯eu̯ō	sui̯eu̯õ	pii̯ōš	pii̯eu̯ō	pii̯eu̯õ
Locative	sui̯eu̯i	sui̯eu̯a	sui̯eu̯hu	pii̯eu̯i	pii̯eu̯a	pii̯eu̯hu
Dative		sui̯eu̯ma	sui̯eu̯muš		pii̯eu̯ma	pii̯eu̯muš
Instrumental	sui̯ēu̯			pii̯ēu̯

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, but it is not uncommon in the Late Canon material to see -ō. While many 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 *seu̯i̯uš or *sou̯i̯uš would be expected based on the general ablaut tendencies, but it is in fact the proto-form of sui̯uš that is attested in all EE languages. The gen. ended in *-ou̯-s, whence -ō-š. All the other oblique cases show -eu̯- in the suffix, which does very early spread to the gen. as well, such that -eu̯-s actually outnumbers the older -ou̯-s by a factor of more than 40 to 1.

The ins. sing. and nom. du. have identical endings becuase their PEE forms were both *eu̯-h₁ > Galic -ēu̯. The gen. du. has -eu̯ō, which reflects *eu̯-us; here, the final *-us dissimilated from the preceding vowel and became *-os, which regularly > -ō. The loc. has -eu̯-a which is the reflex of *-eu̯-o dissimiliated from *-eu̯-u. The nom. pl. and acc. have the expected forms, with PNN *-uns > Galic -ə̄ṇġ. All other forms in the plural are straightforward.

The neuter version of the PX u-stems displays regular ablaut, which alternates strong and weak stems. The strong has o-grade from PEE *poh₂-i̯u > PNN *pōi̯u > Galic pōi̯o. The oblique stem is from PEE *ph₂-i̯ou̯-s > PNN *pə-i̯ou̯-s > Galic pii̯ōš, where PNN *ə regularly becomes Galic -i- before high vowels or their allophones. The du. and pl. nom. have the same form because their endings in PEE were *-h₁ and *-h₂ respectively, which were levelled and trigger Cammer's law lengthening the preceding vowel.

	sa θeɣus, "fish" = ἰχθύς			tod doru, "wood" = δόρυ
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	θeɣuš	θeɣō	θeɣōs	doru	dorō	dorō
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	zuš	zuuš	zuõ	deruš	deruuš	deruõ
Locative	zui	zuo	zuru	derō	deruo	denuru
Dative		zuma	zumuš		deruma	derumuš
Instrumental	zū			derū

xͮōn

xͮōn "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-, and the zero-grade *gʷnéh₂-.

	sā xͮōn, "woman" = γυνή
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	xͮōn	žnå	xͮenas
Vocative	xͮen
Accusative	xͮenum		xͮenān
Genitive	žnās	žnāuš	žnāõ
Locative	žnāi̯	žnāo	žnāhu
Dative		žnāma	žnāmuš
Instrumental	žnå

ī-stems

The ī-stems in oxytone is rare and contains only a few nouns.

	sā sθerīs, "heifer"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	sθerīs	sθerī	sθurīiš
Vocative	sθerī
Accusative	sθerīum		sθurīəṇġ
Genitive	sθurīō	sθurīōs	sθurīõ
Locative	sθurīē	sθurīō	sθunīru
Dative		sθurīmō	sθurīmuš
Instrumental	sθurīē

By contrast, the ī-stems in paroxytone has remained productive down to the Epic period as a feminizing suffix for athematic nouns.

	sā genaθrī, "genitrix"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	gēnθrī	genaθrī	genaθrīes
Vocative
Accusative	gēnθrīum		genaθrīəṇġ
Genitive	gunaθri̯ēs	gnaθri̯ēuš	gnaθri̯ēõ
Locative	gnaθri̯ēi	gnaθri̯ēo	gnaθri̯ēhu
Dative		gnaθri̯ēma	gnaθri̯ēmuš
Instrumental	gnaθri̯ē

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 nearly unrecognizable. The nom. sing. of hysterokinetic stems had accented root syllable and an ending in PEE *-uh₂-s > *PNN *-ūs > Galic *-ūš. The acc. would have ended in PEE *-u̯eh₂-m̥ > PNN *-wē-um. In Galic, *-wē- regularly > -i̯ō-, as also in loc. 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. The metrically trimoraic -ū ending represents final *-ūᵊ, as otherwise it would have become *-ō.

	sā tenūš, "body"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	tenūš	tunūᵊ	tunōs
Vocative
Accusative	tuni̯ōum		tunu̯åṇġ
Genitive	tunuō	tunuōs	tunuõ
Locative	tuni̯ōi	tunuō	tunūhu
Dative	tunūā	tunumō	tunūmuš
Instrumental	tunuā

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

	sā sokrō, "mother-in-law" = socrus
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	sokrō	sokrēu̯	sokrēu̯iš
Vocative
Accusative	sokrēu̯õ		sokrēṇġ
Genitive	sokrēu̯s	sokrēu̯uš	sokrēu̯õ
Locative	sokrēi̯e	sokrēu̯ō	sokrēu̯ru
Dative		sokrēu̯ma	sokrēu̯muš
Instrumental	sokrēu̯[a?]

The term pūlθvēs "crowd, multitude" has a unique pattern and is only found in the singular.

	sā pūlθvēs, "crowd, multitude" = plebs
	Singular
Nominative	pūlθvēs
Vocative	pūlθvē
Accusative	pūlθvēum
Genitive	pūlθuō
Locative	pūlθvē
Dative	pūlθuē
Instrumental	pūlθuē

r/n-stems

The r/n-stems, or heteroclitics, continue a class of (mostly agreed to be) archaic EE nouns that had different suffixes depending on case even at the level of the proto-language. They are special in that they are all neuter nouns with fundamental meanings and show acrostatic > PPX or proterokinetic > PX ablaut in the singular and dual. These nouns do not take plural endings in Galic times but rather form a "collective" which take OX singular endings. In this respect they are similar to mn-stems and dissimilar to es/os-stems, which are both reserved to neuter nouns. In the Epic language, many heteroclitics also formed ordinary plurals from the zero-grade stem, which agree with singular verbs and have meanings different to their collective brethren.

In the Galic language, many heteroclitic nouns have opaque forms owing to their (generally) short stem and susceptibility to ablaut, vocalization, and internal sandhi. From a historical angle, there are three heteroclitic stems that give rise to differing forms in Northian—those in *-wr̥/wn-, *-Hr̥/Hn-, and *-rr̥/rn-. The type of på "dwelling" ended in PEE *-r-r̥ in the nominative, but the second *r is syncopated into the first in its evolution to Northian; the oblique stem assimilates to -nn-. The type with nom. ending in -ō such as perå "mountain" ended in *-wr̥ in the proto-language. This ending would first become PNN *-wur, then Northian *-wor; in Galic, *-wo- following a vowel regularly becomes -å. For the stems ending in laryngeal, the effect is most noticeable before the PX ending *-ens; this ending surfaces as -āš after *h₂- and -ōḥ after *h₃-.

PP i̯å "year", is from *yoh₁-r̥ > *yō-ur, gen. *yeh₁-n̥-s > *yē-uns. In Galic, unaccented final -ur regularly drops and lengthens preceding syllable. The strong stem with *-r- is visible in the dual nom. In the gen., *uns > *ə̄ṇġ. In the dat. the long vowel resists mutation caused by final short *-i. The ins. ending has dropped, but the preceding long vowel cannot be further lengthened to *å because it is closed. The rest of the du. behaves as expected. In the collective, the stems are from the e-grade and zero grade (as opposed to o-grade and e-grade of the PPX singular and dual). The nom. has a vṛddhied ending. The zero-grade stem is from *ih₁-n- > Galic īn-, and OX endings follow as usual.

i̯å is famously found in G.Nr. 59/2, contemplating the relationship between a single revolution of the annual cycle and the cycle of annual cycles, i̯ā̊ toi̯ i̯ə̄ṇġ, īnō i̯å "years of that year, that year of years!"

	tod i̯å, "year" = ὥρα
	Singular	Dual	Collective
Nominative	i̯å	i̯ōrī	i̯ā̊
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	i̯ə̄ṇġ	i̯ēnuš	īnō
Locative	i̯ēne	i̯ēno	iei̯ne
Dative		i̯ēṇma	īnē
Instrumental	i̯ēn		īnā

pāu̯or "fire" represents the heteroclitic nouns with proterokinetic pattern, with accented stem in the oblique cases. The PNN form is *pāwur and gen. *pəwens, from PEE *peh₂-wr̥ and gen. *ph₂wen-s. In the nom., the sequence *-wu- differentiates to *-wo- prehistorically. In the gen. *ə before -e- regularly becomes -a-. Final *-s drops and causes the preceding *-e- to lengthen. Mutation occurs in the dat. with *-e- > -ei̯-.

	tod pāu̯or, "fire" = πῦρ
	Singular	Dual	Collective
Nominative	pāu̯or	pāu̯orī	pāu̯å
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	pau̯ēn	pau̯enuš	pūnō
Locative	pau̯ei̯ne	pau̯eno	pūne
Dative		pau̯eṇma	pūnē
Instrumental	pau̯ēn		pūn

Other common heteroclitic nouns include:

• PX aɣə̄ ɣēn "day"
• PX petə̄ ptå "feather"
• PPX ōθə̄ ōθə̄ṇġ "water"
• PPX perō perō "mountain"
• PPX på perə̄ṇġ "house"

l/n-stems

sā̊l, phonologically probably sāōl, "the Sun" continues the PEE heteroclitic stem in *-l/n-. The strong stem descends from PEE *seh₂w- > sāw-; the weak stem from *sh₂ew- > saw-. The nominative is due to the regular sound change of *wu > wo. Genitive has hu̯ə̄ṇġ, for expected *hwēn < *swens < *sh₂wens; this possibly suggests the proterokinetic ending *-ens was replaced by acrostatic ending *-n̥s prehistorically, as from from PNN *swuns < PEE *sh₂wn̥s. However, because other Nordic languages show a reflex of *sh₂wens, the insertion of the acrostatic ending must have occurred only after Northian diverged from PNN.

The word sā̊l signifies a heavenly body that is considered a god 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". After the Late Canon period, the genitive dual sunuš < PEE **sh₂wn-us displaced the singular hu̯ə̄ṇġ in all but ritualistic contexts as the normal word for "Sun's". During the imperial period, the stem from the dual was re-interpreted as an o-stem and formed the neologism sunō for the nom. sing., which also replaced sā̊l in non-ritualistic contexts.

	sā sā̊l, "the Sun"
	Singular	Dual
Nominative	sā̊l	sāwa
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	hu̯ə̄ṇġ	sunuš
Locative	hu̯ei̯n	sunui̯
Dative		suṇma
Instrumental	hu̯ēn

d-stems

The d-stems are a special class in Northian because *-d behaves like a resonant, rather than an obstruent, in certain phonetic environments and permits compensatory lengthening when final *-ə drops after it, cf. dual nom. in paroxytone.

	sā xͮrēθs, "root"			tod kerd, "heart" = καρδία
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	xͮrēθs	xͮrēθē	xͮrēθiš	kerd	krēd	kordō
Vocative	xͮrēd
Accusative	xͮrēdum		xͮrēdəṇġ
Genitive	ōrdō	ōrdōs	ōrdō	krēθs	kreθuš	kurdō
Locative	xͮrēd	ōrdo	ōrššu	kerde	kreθu	kerde
Dative	ōrdē	ōrhmō	ōrhmuš		kresma	kurdē
Instrumental	ōrdē			krēd

t-stems

	sa nēp, "grandchild"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	nēpōt	nepotē	nepotiš
Vocative
Accusative	nepotum		neptəṇġ
Genitive	neptō	neptōs	neptõ
Locative	nepoti	neptō	neptru
Dative	nepte	neptmō	neptmuš
Instrumental	nepta

	sā nōi̯h, "evening, night"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	nōi̯h	nexͮša	noxͮšiš
Vocative
Accusative	noxͮšum		noxͮšəṇġ
Genitive	nēh	nexͮšuš	nexͮšõ
Locative	nexͮše	nexͮšo	nexͮššu
Dative		naohma	naohmuš
Instrumental	nexͮša

From PEE *n̥-mr̥teh₂ts > PNN *ummurtāts > Galic āṇmurtāθs.

	sā āṇmurtāθs, "immortality"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	āṇmurtāθs	āṇmurtātē	āṇmurtātiš
Vocative	āṇmurtāḥ
Accusative	āṇmurtātum		āṇmurtātəṇġ
Genitive	āṇmurtātō	āṇmurtātōs	āṇmurtātõ
Locative	āṇmurtāθ	āṇmurtātō	āṇmurtāššu
Dative		āṇmurtātē	āṇmurtāsmuš
Instrumental	āṇmurtāta

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 masculine participles and lexical gender. With nouns in -m, nt-stems often have three ablaut grades.

	sā wēθš, "wind"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	wēθš	ōnθē	ōnθiš
Vocative	wēnṯ
Accusative	ōnθum		ōnθəṇġ
Genitive	uunθō	uunθōs	uunθõ
Locative	ōnθe	uunθō	uunššo
Dative	uunθē	uunθmō	uunθmuš
Instrumental	uunθē

ponθōs

The word ponθōs "path" had a stem ending in PEE *póntoh₁- ~ pn̥th₁-, with dual ablauting syllables that always show the same grades. This word appears to be unique in all Erani-Eracuran languages in the stem formation it has.

	sa ponθōs, "path, way"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ponθōs	ponθōi̯	ponθōiš
Vocative
Accusative	ponθōm		punθōn
Genitive	punθō	punθōs	punθõ
Locative	ponθō	punθō	punθu
Dative	punθē	punθmō	punθmuš
Instrumental	punθē

a-stems

	sā mihrā, "mist"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	mihrā	mihrāī	mihrās
Vocative
Accusative	mihrām		mihrāṇġ
Genitive	mihrās	mihrāōs	mihrõ
Locative	mihrāi	mihrāō	mihru
Dative	mihrāi̯	mihrāmō	mihurmuš
Instrumental	mihrā

o-stems

	sa θūmō, "smoke"			tod i̯uɣõ, "yoke"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	θūmō	θūmō	θūmōis	i̯uɣõ	i̯uɣōī	i̯uɣō
Vocative	θūme
Accusative	θūmõ		θūmōn
Genitive	θūmōhi̯o	θūmōuš	θūmōõ	i̯uɣōhi̯o	i̯uɣōuš	i̯uɣōõ
Locative	θūmē	θūmōu	θūmōi̯o	i̯uɣē	i̯uɣōu	i̯uɣōi̯o
Dative	θūmōi̯	θūmōma	θūmōmuš	i̯uɣōi̯	i̯uɣōma	i̯uɣōmuš
Instrumental	θūmō			i̯uɣō

Acrean words

Many words in Northian are Old 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 numerouš that many were not nativized and were declined according to an approximation of the thematic declension in Old Nordic. For the most part, these endings are exact cognates with the thematic 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 Old Nordic had no locative case, this form is always identical to the dative where Northian syntax demands the locative.

	sa wulhʷā, "any lupine animal" = lupus		tod ēta, "food"
	Singular	Dual and plural	Singular	Dual and plural
Nominative	wulhʷā	wulhʷōs	ēta	ētō
Vocative
Accusative	wulhʷuŋ	wulhʷān
Genitive	wulhʷas	wulhʷõ	ētas	ētõ
Locative	wulhʷāi	wulhʷamas	ētai̯	ētamas
Dative
Instrumental	wulhʷō	wulhʷamis	ētō	ētamis

Irregular nouns

Country names

All country-names in Northian are feminine in gender, though the declensions may not reflect this readily. Nevertheless they agree with feminine adjectives and participles in all cases.

"Æþurheim", the name of the country to the southwest of Shalum, has an invariant stem with full grade throughout and initial persistent accent in Aí̯θrō-, which takes oxytone endings. The vocative form is identical to the nominative, showing full grade. Because the accent is in its expected position in the nom. and voc. forms, the acute accent on the i is not necessary there, while it is found in all other forms to denote the irregular accent.

"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.

"Acrea" is named Aṇhrōs, which is a compound from aṇh- "lord" and rōs "realm, power", gen. Aṇhurō.

	sā Ai̯θrō, "Æþurheim"	sā Halō, "Shalum"	sā Aṇhrōs, "Acrea"	sā Silū, "Silua"	sā Hu̯inī, "Svinia"	sā Ossorī, "Ossoria"
	Singular	Singular	Singular	Singular	Singular	Singular
Nominative	Ai̯θrō	Halō
Vocative
Accusative	Aí̯θrōnum	Halomnum
Genitive	Aí̯θrōnō	Halomnō
Locative	Aí̯θrōni	Halomei̯ne
Dative	Aí̯θrōnē	Halomnē
Instrumental	Aí̯θrōn	Halomna

Adjectives

Adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case, within their lexical paradigms. Inasmuch as nouns have differing endings that convey the same number and case, so too do adjectives have lexical paradigms; adjectives do not agree with the paradigms of nouns that they modify.

u-stems

Two-stem

meθus; umθeus

	m. and f. meθus, "sweet"			n. meθu, "sweet"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	meθus	meθēu	meθeuiš	meθu	meθuī	meθū
Vocative	meθu
Accusative	meθum		meθūŋ
Genitive	umθeus	umθeuō	umθeuõ	umθeus	umθeuō	umθeuõ
Locative	umθeu	umθeuo	umθeuhu	umθeu	umθeuo	umθeuhu
Dative	umθeui	umθeuma	umθeumus	umθeui	umθeuma	umθeumus
Instrumental	umθēu			umθēu

-us/-o/-ō

	m. tenus, "thin"			n. teno, "thin"			f. tenō, "thin"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	tenus	tenēu̯	teneu̯iš	teno	teneu̯ī	tenēu̯	tenō	tenū	tenuas
Vocative	teno
Accusative	tenum		tenuṅ				tenūum		tenūūŋ
Genitive	tuneu̯s	tuneu̯ō	tuneu̯õ	tuneu̯s	tuneu̯ō	tuneu̯õ	tunu̯ōs	tunu̯ōus	tunu̯ōõ
Locative	tuneu̯	tuneu̯o	tuneu̯hu	tuneu̯	tuneu̯o	tuneu̯hu	tunu̯ōi	tunu̯ōu	tunu̯ōhu
Dative	tuneu̯i	tuneu̯ma	tuneu̯mus	tuneu̯i	tuneu̯ma	tuneu̯mus	tunu̯ōi	tunu̯ōma	tunu̯ōmus
Instrumental	tunēu̯			tunēu̯			tunu̯å

-us/-u/-wī

	m. hu̯ēθus, "sweet"			n. hu̯ēθo, "sweet"			f. hu̯ēsu̯ī, "sweet"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	hu̯ēθus	hu̯ēθēu̯	hu̯ēθeu̯iš	hu̯ēθo	hu̯ēθeu̯ī	hu̯ēθēu̯	hu̯ēsu̯ī	hu̯ēsu̯īi	hu̯ēsu̯ias
Vocative	hu̯ēθo
Accusative	hu̯ēθum		hu̯ēθuṅ				hu̯ēsu̯īəm		hu̯ēsu̯īə̄ṅḫ
Genitive	hūθeu̯š	hūθeu̯ō	hūθeu̯õ	hūθeu̯š	hūθeu̯ō	hūθeu̯õ	hūθui̯ēs	hūθui̯ēus	hūθui̯ēõ
Locative	hūθeu̯	hūθeu̯o	hūθeu̯šu	hūθeu̯	hūθeu̯o	hūθeu̯šu	hūθui̯ēi	hūθui̯ēu	hūθui̯ēhu
Dative	hūθeu̯i	hūθeu̯ma	hūθeu̯muš	hūθeu̯i	hūθeu̯ma	hūθeu̯muš	hūθui̯ēi	hūθui̯ēma	hūθui̯ēmuš
Instrumental	hūθēu̯			hūθēu̯			hūθui̯ō

i-stems

	m. θrēstiš, "sad"			n. θrēste, "sad"			f. θristēī, "sad"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	θrēstiš	θrēstī	θrēstēiš	θrēste	θristēī	θristē	θristēī	θristēīi	θristēas
Vocative	θrēste
Accusative	θrēstim		θrēstiuṅ				θristēīəm		θristēīə̄ṅḫ
Genitive	θristēš	θristēus	θristēõ	θristēš	θristēus	θristēõ	θristiēs	θristiēus	θristiēõ
Locative	θristēi̯	θristēo	θristēhu	θristēi̯	θristēo	θristēhu	θristiēi	θristiēu	θristiēhu
Dative	θristēi	θristēma	θristēmuš	θristēi	θristēma	θristēmuš	θristiēi	θristiēma	θristiēmuš
Instrumental	θristēi̯			θristēi̯			θristiē

nt-stems

From PEE *rh₁-wénts, "rich in possessions", from *reh₁s, "possession".

	m. raå, "wealthy"			n. raōn, "wealthy"			f. raōnθī, "wealthy"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	raå	raōnθē	raōnθiš	raōn	raōnθī	raōnθa	raōnθī	raōnθī	raōnθias
Vocative	raōn
Accusative	raōnθum		raōnθə̄ṇġ				raōnθīum		raōnθīə̄ṇġ
Genitive	raunθō	raunθōs	raunθõ	raunθō	raunθōs	raunθõ	raunθi̯ēs	raunθi̯ōus	raunθi̯ōõ
Locative	raōn	raunθō	raunššu	raōn	raunθō	raunššu	raunθi̯ō	raunθi̯ōu	raunθi̯ōhu
Dative	raunθē	raūṇhmō	raunθmus	raunθē	raūṇhmō	raunθmus	raunθi̯ēi̯	raunθi̯ōma	raunθi̯ōmus
Instrumental	raunθē			raunθē			raunθi̯å

The present active participles of verbs have a stem ending in -nt-. From PEE *h₁es-n̥ts.

	m. ehūš, "being"			n. ehūnθ, "being"			f. ehunθī, "being"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ehūš	ehunθē	erunθiš	ehūnθ	ehunθī	ehunθa	ehunθī	ehunθī	ehunθīas
Vocative	ehūθ
Accusative	senθum		senθə̄ṇġ				senθīum		senθīə̄ṇġ
Genitive	hunθō	hunθōs	hunθõ	hunθō	hunθōs	hunθõ	hunθi̯ēs	hunθi̯ōuš	hunθi̯ōõ
Locative	senθe	hunθō	hunššu	senθe	hunθō	hunššu	hunθi̯ō	hunθi̯ōu	hunθi̯ōhu
Dative	hunθē	huṇhmō	hunθmuš	hunθē	huṇhmō	hunθmuš	hunθi̯ēi̯	hunθi̯ōma	hunθi̯ōmuš
Instrumental	hunθē			hunθē			hunθi̯å

es-stems

	m. and f. humenēs, "well-intended"			n. huméniš, "well-intended"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	humenēs	humenezē	humeneziš	huméniš	humenezī	hunmeneha
Vocative	huméniš
Accusative	humenehum		hunenehəṇġ
Genitive	humenezō	humenehōs	humenehõ	humenezō	humenehōs	humenehõ
Locative	humenes	humenehō	humenessu	humenes	humenehō	humenessu
Dative	humenezē	humenehmō	humenehmus	humenezē	humenehmō	humenehmus
Instrumental	humenezē			humenezē

woḏs-stems

From PEE *bʰebʰidʰ-wṓs, forms perfect active participles from the zero-grade perfect root. The exact proto-form of the perfect active participle in Northian has long been an unresolved issue, as the final *-s of the stem does not undergo rhotacism as expected in other words. This has led to be postulation that the pre-form was actually *-wos-s or *-wōs-s, with a restored final *-s. The first *s then changed into a consonant of unknown value usually written *ḏ, which then disappeared in all forms except in the neuter nominative singular, where it surfaces as an anomalous -ḫ.

	m. vevizvå, "sympathetic" = πεποιθώς			n. vevizōḫ, "sympathetic" = πεποιθός			f. veviθuzī, "sympathetic" = πεποιθυῖα
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	vevizvå	vevizōha	veviθōziš	vevizōh	vevizōhī	vevizōha	veviθūhī	veviθūhī	veviθūhias
Vocative	veviθōh
Accusative	vevizōhum		veviθūhē				veviθūhīum		veviθūhīəṇġ
Genitive	veviθūhō	veviθūhōs	veviθūhõ	veviθūhō	veviθūhōs	veviθūhõ	veviθūhi̯ēs	veviθūhi̯ōus	veviθūhi̯ōõ
Locative	veviθūhe	veviθūhō	veviθūššu	veviθūhe	veviθūhō	veviθūššu	veviθūhi̯ō	veviθūhi̯ōu	veviθūhi̯ōhu
Dative	veviθūhē	veviθūhmō	veviθūhmus	veviθūhē	veviθūhmō	veviθūhmus	veviθūhi̯ēi̯	veviθūhi̯ōma	veviθūhi̯ōmus
Instrumental	veviθūhē			veviθūhē			veviθūhi̯å

yos-stems

i̯å, irō, i̯orum; i̯erī, ihi̯ēs, i̯erīum; i̯ō wesyoss, wesyos, wesyesiH; wesisos, wesisyeHs; wesyesm, wesyesiHm

	m. ōhi̯å, "better"			n. ōhi̯ō, "better"			f. ōhi̯ēzī, "better"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ōhi̯å	ōhi̯eha	ōhi̯ehiš	ōhi̯ō	ōhi̯ezī	ōhi̯eha	ōhi̯ēzī	ōhi̯ēzīạ	ōhi̯ēzīas
Vocative	ōhi̯ō
Accusative	ōhi̯ehum		ōhi̯ehūŋ				ōhi̯ēzīum		ōhi̯ēzīəṇġ
Genitive	ōzizō	ōzizōs	ōzizõ	ōzizō	ōzizōs	ōzizõ	ōzihi̯ēs	ōzihi̯ōus	ōzihi̯ōõ
Locative	ōzize	ōzizō	ōziššu	ōzize	ōzizō	ōziššu	ōzihi̯ō	ōzihi̯ōu	ōzihi̯ōhu
Dative	ōzizē	ōzihmō	ōzihmus	ōzizē	ōzihmō	ōzihmus	ōzihi̯ēi̯	ōzihi̯ōma	ōzihi̯ōmus
Instrumental	ōzizē			ōzizē			ōzihi̯å

r/n-stem

	m. pei̯wō, "fat"			n. pei̯ōr, "fat"			f. pīə̄rī, "fat"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	pei̯wō	pei̯ōnē	pei̯ōniš	pei̯ōr	pei̯ōrī	pei̯ōr	pīə̄rī	pīə̄rīạ	pīə̄rias
Vocative	pei̯ōn
Accusative	pei̯ōnum		pei̯ōnə̄ṇ				pīə̄rīum		pīə̄rīə̄ṇġ
Genitive	pīənō	pīənōs	pīənõ	pīə̄n	pīə̄nuš	pīə̄nõ	pīuri̯ēs	pīuri̯ōus	pīuri̯ōõ
Locative	pei̯ōn	ōzizō	pīəṅḫu	pīə̄i̯ne	pīə̄no	pīə̄ṅhu	pīuri̯ō	pīuri̯ōu	pīuri̯ōhu
Dative	pīənē	pīəṅmō	pīəṅmus		ōzihmō	pīə̄ṅmus	pīuri̯ēi̯	pīuri̯ōma	pīuri̯ōmus
Instrumental	pīənē			pīə̄n			pīuri̯å

mehas

mehas, meha, aṇhī

	m. pei̯wō, "fat"			n. pei̯ōr, "fat"			f. pīə̄rī, "fat"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	pei̯wō	pei̯ōnē	pei̯ōniš	pei̯ōr	pei̯ōrī	pei̯ōr	pīə̄rī	pīə̄rīạ	pīə̄rias
Vocative	pei̯ōn
Accusative	pei̯ōnum		pei̯ōnə̄ṇ				pīə̄rīum		pīə̄rīə̄ṇġ
Genitive	pīənō	pīənōs	pīənõ	pīə̄n	pīə̄nuš	pīə̄nõ	pīuri̯ēs	pīuri̯ōus	pīuri̯ōõ
Locative	pei̯ōn	ōzizō	pīəṅḫu	pīə̄i̯ne	pīə̄no	pīə̄ṅhu	pīuri̯ō	pīuri̯ōu	pīuri̯ōhu
Dative	pīənē	pīəṅmō	pīəṅmus		ōzihmō	pīə̄ṅmus	pīuri̯ēi̯	pīuri̯ōma	pīuri̯ōmus
Instrumental	pīənē			pīə̄n			pīuri̯å

Verbs

Athematic verbs

The athematic conjugation is demonstrated with the verb ed-d-eod-ēd "eat".  Its present stems are from PEE *h₁ed- ~ h₁d-, and perfect stems *h₁eh₁od- ~ h₁eh₁d-. This verb does not create an aorist stem, but all applicable endings are found below had it formed an aorist stem.

Indicative active endings				Indicative middle endings
	Sing.	Du.	Pl.		Sing.	Du.	Pl.
1P	edme	sōne	smei̯ne	1P	sai	sōzθa	smozθa
2P	esse	stas	ste	2P	stai	stom	zθō
3P	este	stes	dunθe	3P	stoi	stēm	dūs

Injunctive active endings				Injunctive middle endings
	Sing.	Du.	Pl.		Sing.	Du.	Pl.
1P	edum	sō	sme	1P	da	sōθa	meθa
2P	es	stas	ste	2P	sta	date	zθō
3P	est	stes	sunθ	3P	sto	datē	də̄

Subjunctive active endings				Subjunctive middle endings
	Sing.	Du.	Pl.		Sing.	Du.	Pl.
1P	edō	edou̯ōs	edomōs	1P	esōi	edou̯ōzθa	edomozθa
2P	edei̯ze	edetas	edete	2P	edetai	edetom	edeθō
3P	edei̯te	edetes	edo	3P	edetoi	edetēm	edēr

Opatative active endings				Opatative middle endings
	Sing.	Du.	Pl.		Sing.	Du.	Pl.
1P	si̯ēm	dīō	dīme	1P	dị	dīōθa	dīmeθa
2P	di̯ēs	dītas	dīte	2P	īta	dịte	dīθō
3P	di̯ēt	dītes	dīnθ	3P	dīto	dịtē	dīə̄

Imperative active endings				Imperative middle endings
	Sing.	Du.	Pl.		Sing.	Du.	Pl.
1P	—	—	—	1P	—	—	—
2P	sθe	sta	este	2P	sto	ste	sunθo
3P	stō	ste	zθō	3P	stō	stē	sunθō

Perfect active endings				Perfect middle endings
	Sing.	Du.	Pl.		Sing.	Du.	Pl.
1P	eoda	ēsō	ēsme	1P	Where the perfect has transitive meaning, the middle is formed with the injunctive of es "to be" + perfect active participle
2P	eosta	ēdeta	ēde	2P
3P	eode	ēdēte	ēdr	3P

Perfect imperative active endings				Perfect imperative middle endings
	Sing.	Du.	Pl.		Sing.	Du.	Pl.
1P				1P	Where the perfect has active meaning, the middle is formed with the imperative of es "to be" + perfect active participle
2P	eosso	ēdata	ēda	2P
3P	ēde	ēdāte	ēdūr	3P

See also

• Northian language