Northian nouns

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

History

The Northian noun classes were named by Praetorianus of Duuora (c. 950? – 1027) in his studies on Galic language. Praetorianus was descended from Æþurian settlers who populated the north of the modern Northern States in the course of the 8th and 9th centuries. From a family seeking to build relations with the more southerly cities of Northian heritage, he was sent to take holy orders in the city of Cleiden at the age of 16; he first spent four years acquiring the Galic language before joining the order of training-priests and then graduating to an under-priest in 978, the first firm date of his biography. He celebrated his promotion as plenary priest in 993 with a large banquet for over 100 guests.

Later in life, he published in West Nordic on his priestly career, in which a full third was spent describing the way the language was taught in Cleiden. He engaged in an early form of comparative linguistics and identified many cognate words in Elder Nordic and Galic Northian. For example he said sunuz was the same as huiiuš and furthermore all genitives ending in -auz in Nordic ended in -ō in Northian. He did not discover any evolutionary principles between the two languages, considering them the same language, and instead attributed the difference to speech speed, as according to him, -auz spoken quickly was the same as -ō. In his effort to describe Northian, he summarized the various noun paradigms under the heading of an exemplar, which is still followed in modern education and called elsewhere the Praetorianian caput.

The pre-praetorianian method of language instruction followed the order of words in which they were encountered in the Gales, which intermixed the different parts of speech.

Nouns

Obstruent stems āfš, op

The category of consonant-stems consist only of those that end in -p and -k, and all are root nouns, as apparently the parent language did not have any suffixes that ended in *-p or *-k, with one exception for the adjective meraxš "soft". There are two ablaut-cum-accent patterns attested in these nouns: one is static on the root syllable, and another shifts to the ending in oblique cases. The static accent is generally (but not universally) seen with the lengthening of the root syllable in direct cases. Phonetically, 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 forms and clear ablaut alteration between ā ~ a. Here we also encounter the first diachronic variation: in the Didaskalic Material (noted in small type dm) the long grade is deployed only in the nominative singular, since the long grade was more typically associated with that desinence by way of the much commoner amphikinetic and hysterokinetic nouns. Theoretically, given this tendency, we should also expect the DM to yield nom. du. *apa with the short grade of the stem, but that cannot be confirmed either way as it is not attested there (also noted for interest). In the plural, there is attested a separate collective apō "the divine waters", which has singular number and no separate accusative form.

ap "force" is used for neuter nouns, displaying PEE e ~ Ø ablaut > Galic o ~ Ø. Forms with initial b- are due to vocalization of initial *p-.

	hā āfš, "river"			θaṯ op, "force"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	āfš	āpi dm ?	āpaŋhā	op	opī	opi
voc	ap
acc	āba dm apa		abā̊
gen	afš	apuš	apõm	bō	bōš	bõm
loc	api	apū	apšū	opi		fštū
dat		afma	afmuš	bā	βmō	βmuš
ins	api		dm aōβiiōḫ	bōi		βžβiiōḫ

t-stems

nēpōs

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	nepotōi	neptaŋhā
voc
acc	nepotā		neptā
gen	neptō	neptō	neptõm
loc	nepeti		nefšu
dat	neptā	neptmō	nepšmuš
ins	nepti

āmr̥tās

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 > Galic āmr̥tās.

	hā āmrtās, "immortality"
	sing	du	pl
nom	āmr̥tās	āmr̥tāϑōi	āmr̥tāϑaŋhā
voc	āmr̥tāṯ
acc	āmr̥tāϑəm		āmrtāϑā̊
gen	āmr̥tāϑō	āmr̥tāϑō	āmr̥tāϑõm
loc	āmr̥tāϑi		āmrtāštū
dat	āmr̥tāϑā	āmr̥tāsmō	āmr̥tāsmuš
ins	āmr̥tāϑi

melit, xaput, ezat

This group of neuter nouns combines suffix -t with a semivowel or resonant. Neither the stem nor suffix displays ablaut, and accent is persistent over the root.

	hā melit, "honey"
	sing	du	pl
nom	melit	melitōi	meliti
voc
acc
gen	melitō	melitō	melitõm
loc	melit		melištū
dat	melitā	melismō	melismuš
ins	meliti

hašt

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	hašti	haštā
voc
acc	hašta
gen	haš	haštuš	haštõm
loc	hašti	haštū	haštū
dat		haštmō	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, -tkaṯ < *-dḱm̥-t.

• θrítkaṯ < *tri-dḱm̥-t, "thirty"
• kóswr̥tkaṯ < *kʷetwr̥-dḱm̥-t, "forty"
• patótkaṯ < *pn̥kʷe-dḱm̥-t, "fifty"
• xšwáxštkaṯ < *ksweks-dḱm̥-t, "sixty"
• háptatkaṯ < *septm̥-dḱm̥-t, "seventy"

nt-stems

The nt-stems are very closely associated with the formation of the present active participle in -nt-. But while participles are adjectives that have distinct gendered forms that agree with their principals, 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). In the following example, the oblique stem is from *h₁dn̥t-; as the vocalic *n̥ indeed follows two consonants, it is short by Cloverdale's law. In the acc pl, the -ā ending is for *-ah, which is regular following two consonants, disclosing the strong stem ending in *ent- that has been replaced by the oblique in at-.

	ha də̄, "tooth"
	sing	du	pl
nom	də̄	dəntōi	dəntā
voc	dən
acc	dəndā		datā
gen	datō	datō	datõm
loc	dənti		daśū
dat	datā	daśmō	daśmuš
ins	data

m-stems

This class is known from only a few but important nouns, e.g. ϑáHā "earth" and xayō "winter", as well as from the root, tā̊ "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.

xayō

Outside of nouns, it is also known in numerals for 1, 7, and 10—hā̊ hafθa tezā—and the solitary adjective mərā "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 xayō, "winter" = hiemps
	sing	du	pl
nom	xyō	xyamōi	xyamaŋhā
voc	xayõm
acc	xayā̊		ximā
gen	ximō	ximō	ximõm
loc	ximəm		xiṃśū
dat	ximā	ximmō	ximmuš
ins	ximōi		ximβiyō

ϑáHā

Most suffixed nouns with OX inflection have a long o-grade suffix in the nominative singular, cf. xayō, akin to the n-stems. Indeed, given phonetic change, *-ōm and *-ōn 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. ϑáHā χmō "earth" has an ultima reflecting a zero grade as in *dʰégʰ-m̥. 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 acc, the sequence *-em-m̥ in the proto-language resolves prehistorically to *-ēm via Stang's law and appears in Galic as -ā̊, while the equivalent sequence for n-stems *-en-m̥ yielded Northian -əmā. 

	hā ϑáHā, "ground, earth" = χθών
	sing	du	pl
nom	ϑáHā
voc
acc	xā̊		lg ϑámō
gen	xmō
loc	xšəm
dat	xmā
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.

práwmō, fnaōmən

A common subtype of the n-stems is through the suffix *-mn-, which is productive 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 práwmō in the following example, while others are of hysterokinetic origin.

In práwmō "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 final *-n in the environment of *-ōn, though some languages have evidently restored this *-n. Ablauting nouns in this class 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.

There are two phonologically-regular oblique stems arising conditionally: where the ending began with a vowel, the *m part of the suffix -mn- was vocalized, and where it began with a consonant, *n was vocalized instead. Then, particular to this root, where *m was vocalized, *r was vocalized, and otherwise *w was vocalized instead. This rule thus generated the two stems, prwān- (written puruvān- in manuscripts) for *pr̥wm̥n- and prumā- for *prw̥mn̥-. Yet it should be noted that such a regular application of the vocalization rule is exceptional, and most terms have generalized one pattern of vocalization at the expense of the other where this possibility existed.

The kʷetwóres rule intervenes in the nom. pl. and shifts the accent to the suffix syllable; this is not true of acc. pl., where the accent remains on the root.

	ha práwmō, "lung"
	sing	du	pl
nom	práwmō	práwmənōi	prawmənaŋhā
voc	práwmən
acc	prumənā		práwānā
gen	pr̥wānō	prwānō	pr̥wānõm
loc	prumən		prumāhū
dat	pr̥wānā	prumāmō	prumāmuš
ins	pr̥wānōi		prumāβyō

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	frumā̊		frumemβiiōḫ

apṓ

apṓ "holy waters" < *h₂ep-Hō(n) has the same suffix, but preceded by a laryngeal that colours the vowel. 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 here in the gen. and loc. du. it is the suffix *-n- that becomes vocalized when followed by a consonant. The resulting vowel is short on account of the preceding laryngeal, with regular alterations of quality and quantity to surrounding vowels.

voc sing ápan has regular recessive accent for vocatives; otherwise accent is regularly on the suffix syllable. acc pl requires the weak stem of *h₂ep-Hn-m̥s. Under Cloverdale's law, interconsonantal laryngeals count as consonants, which means the word is underlyingly scanned as *h₂epH-nm̥s; thus the vocalized *m̥ will be short and produce *-ah > -āʰ. In some Early Galic phrases, this word was indeed only dysyllabic and not trisyllabic as the orthography suggests, recovering the extreme antiquity of the scansion of -i- as a laryngeal consonant.

	ha apṓ, "holy waters"
	sing	du	pl
nom	apṓ	aponōy	aponaŋhāʰ
voc	ápan
acc	aponąm		apināʰ
gen	apinōḫ	aponōʷ	apinõm
loc	apón	apinōʷ	apaštū
dat	apinay	apamō	apamuš
ins	apnā

xaēñin

This group of nouns had the compound suffix *-i-n- and showed no ablaut, irrespective of gender.

	ha xaʸñin, "girl"
	sing	du	pl
nom	xaēñin	fraṓmanōi	xaʸninaŋhāʰ
voc
acc	xaēñinąm		fraṓminā̊
gen	furuvąnōḫ	furuvąnōš	furuvąnõm
loc	frumen	furuvąnō	furuvaŋhū
dat	furuvąnai	furuvąnmō	furuvąnmuš
ins	furuvąnōi		furuvamβiiōḫ

xrauuštō, anžiiō

	ha xrauuštō, "reputation, honour"
	sing	du	pl
nom	xrauuštō	xrauuštenōi	xrauuštónaŋhāʰ
voc	xrauuštan
acc	xrauuštṓnəm		xrauužnā̊
gen	xrauužnōḫ	xrauužnōš	xrauužnõm
loc	xrauuštan	xrauužnō	xrauužnū
dat	xrauužnai	xrauužnmō	xrauužnmuš
ins	xrauužnōi		xrauužāβiiōḫ

	ha yaoxštō, "team of draft animals"
	sing	du	pl
nom	yaoxštō	yaoxštenōi	yaoxštonaŋhāʰ
voc	yaoxštan
acc	yaoxštinąm		yaoxštanā̊
gen	yāoxnōḫ	yāoxnōš	yāoxnõm
loc	yaoxštan	yāoxnō	yāoxnū
dat	yāoxnai	yaoxštmō	yāoxāmuš
ins	yāoxnōi		yāoxzāmβiiōḫ

hmerun

There is some debate over the origin of this class of nouns that seemed to be rare otherwise in the other daughter languages, as there are few comparanda. Such a conspicuous absence of comparanda could very well indicate this type was young or even arose after Northian had split off from the parent language. In support of that chronologization, all members of this class had completely non-ablauting roots with accented full grade, and an invariant suffix in zero-grade. The stem nevertheless exhibits inverse vocalization patterns depending on the vocalism of the ending, which means it must at least predate the vocalization of syllabic resonants.

A few members of this class are also neuter in gender, which are declined with the same apophonic pattern, except with accusatives identical to the nominative; some of them are associated with the acrostatic u-stem, e.g. hánun "knee". It has been noted this entire declensional pattern reminiscs of the old acrostatic neuter pattern ending in *-u, only enlarged with a suffix *-n of unclear function. That connection is mooted by a unique, newly-identified (2020) instance of gen sg ending -ū in G.Nr. 1127 hánū, which by that analysis represent the zero-grade genitive ending in *-un-s. Such a form would be difficult to ascribe as a recent innovation. As yet, it is not agreed which type was the older or if they share a common origin; the more prevalent view regards the neuter type as the original, and the non-neuter type as secondary to other nouns.

The Nordic scholar Havarsson has connected this suffixal *-n to the Nordic weak noun declension, which were n-stems in the ancestral language, saying "this mysterious Galic word could bear witness to the ancient origin of the weak nouns, hitherto believed to be a young and deviant noun type." Yet he also provides that since hanun is a hapax legomenon and is glossed as an equivalent to nom sg hánū "knee", it would be most difficult to explain functionally how these formations are alike in origin.

	ha hmerun, "bone marrow"
	sing	ntr	du	ntr	pl	ntr
nom	hmerun	-un	hmerunōy	-unī	hmerunaŋhāʰ	-ū
voc
acc	hmerunąm				hmerūš
gen	hmerunōʰ	-ū	hmerwaō		hmerunõm
loc	hmeruni				hmerwāhū
dat	hmerunay		hmerwāmō		hmerwāmuš
ins	hmeruna				hmerwāβiyōḫ

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.

	ho uxšō, "bull"
	sing	du	pl
nom	uxšō	uxšənōi	uxšənā
voc	uxšən
acc	uxšənā		uxnā
gen	uxnō	uxšənō	uxšənõm
loc	uxšəni		uxšahū
dat	uxnā uxšənā	uxšamō	uxšamuš
ins	uxnōi		uxšaβyō

r-stems

duxiϑṓ

duxiϑṓ "daughter" represents the oxytone group of the r-stems, which includes many agentive nouns that terminate in *-tēr.

Similarly inflected: fϑō piϑrō "father", nomina agentis in -ā̊ and -ō.

	hā duxiϑṓ, "daughter"
	sing	du	pl
nom	duxiϑṓ	duxiϑerōi	duxiϑéraŋhāʰ
voc
acc	duxiϑerəm		dúxiϑrā̊
gen	duxiϑrō	duxiϑarṓ	duxiϑrõm
loc	duxiϑraē		duxiϑrštū
dat		duxiϑrmṓ	duxiϑrmō
ins	duxiϑrōi		duxiϑrβiyōḫ

māzr

māzr "mother" represents the group with inherited acrostatic pattern, whose accent persists on the root syllable and always takes suffix and ending in zero-grade. βrāzr "brother" is declined in like manner. nom māzr is a phonological rendering of what nearly always appears as mānzarə.

Gen. māzrš <manzərəš> < *meh₂tr̥s; the voiceless *t became /z/ via Lamp's Law, on account of preceding *h₂ and a following vocalic resonant; where it did not precede a vocalic resonant, it became /h/ instead, e.g. in the acc sing where the sequence was *-r-m̥. The acc. pl. māzərą̄ seems to reflect PEE *meh₂tr̥ns (for expected *meh₂tern̥s), while most daughters, including Elder Nordic, reflect *meh₂tern̥s. The form is a prima facie 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 a firm rule in the proto-language. Perhaps the lack of vocalization here could also be explained by analogy to the acc. sing., where the -m is never vocalized.

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

	hā māzr, "mother"
	sing	du	pl
nom	māzr	māzr dm māzrōi	māhrāʰ
voc
acc	māhram		māzərą̄ dm māzərā̊
gen	māzrš	māϑarˀuš dm māzarū	māhrõm
loc	māhri dm māzray	māzarˀū	māzrštū
dat		māzrma	māzrmuš
ins	māzr		māzrβyōḫ

yāϑr

	hā yāϑr, "husband's brother's wife"
	sing	du	pl
nom	yāϑr	yaϑəra	yaϑeraŋhāʰ
voc
acc	yaϑram		yāϑrā̊
gen	yaϑōs	yaϑəruš	yaϑrõm
loc	yaϑéri	yaϑərū	yaϑrštū
dat		yaϑərma	yaϑərmuš
ins	yaϑəra		yaϑərβyōḫ

hwózr

There is also yāϑr which (partly) 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. The nominative is yāϑr, a new creation with irregular long grade, in place of regular *yaniϑr.

	hā hwózr, "sister"
	sing	du	pl
nom	hwózr	hwozórōy	hwózoraŋhāʰ
voc
acc	hwozóram		huzrā̊
gen	huzrōʰ	huzrōʷ	huzrõm
loc	huzeri		huzrštū
dat		huzrma	huzrmuš
ins	huzra		huzrβyōḫ

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.

nomβar

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

oṇkar

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

s-stems

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

xrétō

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 -ō; this from *-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 did not begin with a voiceless stop, the -s of the suffix disappeared or become -h intervocalically and coloured any neighbouring /e/ to /a/. As a result, the gen. ended in -aŋhā < *-es-es. 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.

	θaṯ xrétō, "intellect, power"
	sing	du	pl
nom	xrétō	xrétaŋhā	xrétā̊
voc
acc
gen	xrétaŋhā	xrétešuš	xrétahõm
loc	xrétā	xrétešū	xrétahū
dat	xrétaŋhā	xrétāmō	xrétāmuš
ins			xrétāβiyō

awšā̊

The noun awšā̊ "dawn" has feminine gender and therefore a distinct accusative. The noun had three 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-, which dissimilated to ušt- in Northian, with full-grade endings as expected in OX nouns.

The acc. sing. shows elision of *z and compensatory lengthening. The *z was generated before a syllabic nasal *m̥. Exceptionally, the plural has a distinct vocative. This arose after the insertion of a nasal between two vowels of /a/ quality separated by a guttural consonant, but only if the first was accented. As the vocative had the accent on initial /u/, this change did not spread to the vocative, which incidentally retains the original nominative form. The pl. acc. reflects *h₂us-es-n̥s, with the ending reflected as -ō after dissimilation from a preceding /a/, either bordering (as in the case of the feminines in *-eh₂-n̥s) or separated by only a guttural consonant.

The ins. pl. has the Sievers's form -βiyō, which requires a heavy syllable in the root-suffix. Thus it must predate the resolution of *-ss- to *-s-.

	hā awšā̊, "dawn"
	sing	du	pl
nom	awšā̊	ušaŋhā	ušáŋhā
voc	awšō		ušaŋhā
acc	ušáŋhā		uššā
gen	uššō	uššō	uššõm
loc	ušā		ūššū
dat	uššā	ušmō	ušmuš
ins	uššōi		užβiyō

i-stems

mātiš

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 məʸri "sea". Most other neuter nouns can be shown to be petrified neuter forms of adjectives in i-stem. It is assumed that the neuter i-stems would have formed a collective in the same way as the u-stems, but such is not attested.

	hā mātiš, "thought"			ϑaṯ məri, "sea"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	coll
nom	mātiš	mātī	mātayā	məri
voc	māti
acc	mātim		mātī
loc	mātō	mātayō	mātišū
gen		mātayuš	mātayõm
dat	mātayā	mātima	mātimuš
ins	mātī		mātiβyō

hokō

The OX pattern of the i-stems was moderately productive in Galic times and less so by later ages. In the nominative du. and pl., the suffix is in long o-grade; the suffix consonantal *-i is lost. 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.  

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

This pattern has a neuter equivalent that ended in -ā < *-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 -ī < *-ih₁ may have originated in the i-stems and elsewhere 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. The ending *-h₁ is also seen in the u-stems, where the du. ending was -ūḥ.

	ha hokō, "friend, ally" = socius			θaṯ óxϑai, "palm"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	hokō	hokoyā dm hokoyōi	hokoyā	óxϑā
voc
acc			hokā
loc	hokā	škiHō	škišū
gen	hyō		hyõm
dat	hyā	škimō	škimuš
ins			škiβyō

u-stems

huyuš, oyū

	ho hūyuš, "child" = υἱύς			θaṯ oyū, "life, generation"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	coll
nom	hūyúš	hūyū	hūyáwā	oyū		oyō
voc	hūyō
acc	hūyúm		hū́yū
gen	hūyō	hūyáwō	hūyawõm
loc		hūyū	hūyušū
dat		hūyumō	hūyumuš
ins	hūyū		hūyumβyō

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, though combinations with -m- and -s- are also seen.

The nom. ended in -uš. While many Northian nouns showed root ablaut, none of the nouns in the pattern of huyuš do and therefore have all components in zero grade in the nom sing; the hypothetical forms *hawyuš < *sewHyus or *hōyuš < *sowHyus might be expected based on general ablaut tendencies, but it is in fact the phonological pre-form of huyuš that is reflected in all Erani-Eracuran languages, showing, if once these nouns had a full-grade root, that the spread of the zero-grade root probably occurred in the proto-language. Yet it is also suspected this pattern only became productive after root ablaut ceased to be productive, as suffix ablaut is aberrant compared to other stem types (viz. below).

The voc. huyaw has final -aw written this way as it does not precede another vowel or *-s. The gen., dat., and loc. forms are all huyō in the oldest texts, but they have different sources. The gen. ended in *-ou̯-s, where *-s has dropped after the final resonant, giving *-ōu̯, which changed to -ō in Northian in final position. In the dat. and loc. the final *-i is lost after the stem resonant. But the stem-final -u̯ lingers as a spectre in sandhi: a following *-kʷe delabializes and becomes -xa < *-ke. In the later Gales, a final -s is often restored to the genitive unless prohibited by metre. In this instance, Northian presents the most archaic forms and demonstrates that widespread compensatory lengthening had indeed occurred prior to analogical restoration, which in all other branchs obscured the outcome of the sound change. The Northian restoration of -s must be later than the period when -s is retroflexed after *-w, as it is written -s.

The nom. du. has the ending -ūḥ, which is from *-u-h₁, and then the gen. has -áwō < *-ew-ow; both have unexpected ablaut grades. It has been suggested the full grade in the gen. could have been introduced from the singular; if so, it must have been before the final *-ow > -ō. The loc. du. has -ū, which must reflect *-u-u, but this an irregular syncopation acorss a laryngeal boundary, which is otherwise well-preserved in Northian.

The nom. pl. has the expected forms, while the acc. pl. shows the suffix in the weak grade, *-u-ns > Galic -ū. The weak suffix in the acc. pl. is often taken as a sign of lateness. The gen. has the strong suffix again and shows *-ew-om. 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 oyū, save the regular lengthening of final *-u. The oblique stem is from *h₂i̯-ou̯-s > also unaltered Galic yō. For this word, of great canonical significance, final *-s is never restored in Galic.

hənuš, hiϑō, etc.

There are also u-stem nouns with an OX pattern, of which there are several sub-types that are subsumed under the heading of hənuš.

	hā hənuš, "jaw" = jaw			hā hayō, "horizon"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	hənuš	hənawā	hənawā	hayō
voc	hənū
acc	hənā̊		hənnā̊
gen	jñuuōḫ	gnuōš	jñuuõm
loc	jñaō dm jñauui	gnuō	gnuštū
dat	jñuuoi	gnumō	gnumuš
ins	jñuua

The OX nouns had a nom. sg. end that vacillated amongst the lexical items between -uš and -ō / -ōs < *-ou̯-s. These reflect the zero and full grades respectively. The gen. and dat. reflects PEE *-u-os and *-u-ei̯ as expected. 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.

The acc. pl. gennā̊ < *gen-w-ns has the suffix assimilated into the root.

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.

The other EE languages attest a neuter version of this OX patern as in Tennite madhu gen. madhvas < *medʰ-w-es that is not found in Northian. This word in particular is found as an acrostatic meδū gen. meδuš. Instead, there is a solitary neuter noun haiiaō "horizon" that seems to have a neuter ending in *-ew. It is quite uncertain whether this is an inherited pattern or a petrified Northian adjective on the pattern of the s-stems adjectives (though it is equally unclear what original adjective would give the meaning of "horizon"), or it could be somehow related to ei-stem nouns attested in Xevdenite.

ϑórū

Some neuter nouns in -ū, such as ϑórū "tree, wood", hanū "knee", uuəštū "settlement" descend from an old acrostatic ablaut pattern that subsequently gained proterokinetic forms in the oblique cases. The original oblique stem *deru- is still visible as a compounding form. These changes result in a locative singular that is identical to the nominative. These special nouns need to be distinguished from those that also end in -ū like oiiū "life", which have a distinct locative.

	θaṯ ϑórū, "wood" = δόρυ, "tree"
	sing	du	coll
nom	ϑórū	ϑorūḥ	ϑorōʷ
voc
acc
loc		draōmβuuō
gen	drō deru-	draōmβuuos
dat		druma
ins	drūḥ

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

ī-stems

orī

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-. Some 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.

Notice that, in the gen. oriiā̊, the laryngeal is syllabified with the preceding vowel and causes it to lengthen, but in the dat. oriiaē it syllabifies with the ending -i and does not lengthen the suffix; still, in both cases, 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 nom. pl. attests the ending -īš < *ih₂-s, which features an unexpected zero-grade suffix and a zero-grade variant of the nom. pl. ending, which is unique here and *-es everywhere else. This zero-grade variation has been explained by some as rather the nom. sing. ending but not to general acceptance.

The acc. pl. ending is the same as the nom., which indicates the final resonant failed to vocalize, thus from *-ih₂-ns rather than *-ih₂-n̥s. This renders it the same as the acc. pl. of the i-stems of the type mātiš. Such a syllabification is attested also in the 3 pl. of the athematic optative for stems with persistent accent, which has -inṯ < *-ih₂-nt rather than *-iyat < *-ih₂-n̥t.

	hā orī, "eagless, hen eagle"
	sing	du	pl
nom	orī		orīš
voc
acc
gen	oryā̊	oriiāouš	oriiaõm
loc	oriiayi	oriiaoū	oriiāštū
dat	oriiaē	oriiāma	oriiāmuš
ins	oriiā		oriiāβiyōḫ

hənitrī

In the example below, Sievers's law operates in oblique form as the agentive *-tr- invariably creates a heavy syllable before the yod of the full-grade feminizing suffix *-yeh₂. Thus, in old texts, the surface forms are trisyllabic hātriyā̊ and hāϑriyay, but the disyllabic forms hāϑəriyā̊ and hāϑəriyaHē are often seen in texts of an only slightly younger vintage. Jeweller indicates that metrical considerations can be discounted from this variance. Minimally, these could be analogical replacements from words in like stem where Sievers's law does not operate, or maximally they could indicate Sievers's law governed a kind of free variation but not a definite shift. The shortcoming of the former is that stems obtaining Sievers's are far more numerous than those not, owing to the preponderating usage of the feminizing suffix after another suffix.

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 hənitrī, "genitrix" = genitrix
	sing	du	pl
nom	hənitrī
voc
acc
gen	hātriyā̊	hātriyaHō	hātriyaHõm
loc	hātriyā	hātriyaHā	hātriyāšū
dat		hātriHāmō	hātriyāmuš
ins	hātriHā		hātrīβiyō

štərī

This type, consisting mostly of feminine derivatives, was much more common in the Gales than in later texts.

	hā štərī, "heifer"
	sing	du	pl
nom	štərī	štəryā	štəryā
voc
acc			štəryā̊
loc		štrīHō	štrīšū
gen	štriHō		štriHõm
dat	štriHā	štrīmō	štrīmuš
ins	štrī		štrīβiyō

ū-stems

ϑənūˀ

The ū-stems were originally parallel to the ī-stems, but phonetic changes have rendered them distinct. The nom. sing. always had accented root syllable and an ending in PEE *-uh₂ > Galic *-ūˀ. The acc. requires a proto-form *-ueh₂-m, but already has simplified to *-u̯ām > -uā̊. In the oblique cases, the stem alternated between -ū preconsonantally and -uH prevocalically, to which full-grade endings were added. Other disfigurements are attributable to the shape of this stem. The stem in zn- occurs whenever the *u of the stem is vocalized in the environment of *tnuh₂-, and the stem in dā-, when *u borders a vowel and *n is vocalized instead, i.e. *tn̥weh₂-. The irregularity in this paradigm was preserved certainly owing to its frequent usage.

	hā ϑənū, "body"
	sing	du	pl
nom	ϑənū	ϑənnaHā	ϑənnaHā
voc
acc	ϑənnā̊		dāwā̊
gen	znuHō	znuHō	znuHõm
loc	dāwā		znuŋhū
dat	znuHā	znūmō	znūmuš
ins	znuHōi		znūβiyō

hōxrū

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

	hā hōxrū, "mother-in-law" = socrus
	sing	du	pl
nom	hōxrū	hōxrō	hōxrwā
voc
acc	hōxrwō
gen	hōxrwā̊	hōxrwāHuš	hōxrwaHõm
loc	hōxrwā	hōxrwāHū	hōxrwāhu
dat		hōxrwāmi	hōxrwāmuš
ins

H-stems

The H-stems or laryngeal-stems have a suffix consisting of an ablauting vowel followed by a laryngeal and were similar in structure to the ī- and ū-stems. But, there, semivowels *i- and *u- preceded the ablauting vowel, and so in oblique cases, they become vowels in the absence of the ablauting vowel and are lengthened by the laryngeal. Here, however, the ablauting vowel is not preceded by a semivowel and disappears completely in the oblique cases, causing the laryngeal to scan as part of the ending syllable.

pəntā̊

The word pəntā̊ "path" had a stem ending in PEE *póntoh₁- ~ pn̥th₁-. Fundamentally, it is a regular laryngeal-stem noun of amphikinetic origin of the same type that has full-grade root and o-grade suffix. In the accusative singular, the ending was *oh₁-m̥ > *ōm, with regular operation of Stang's law.

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.

	ho pəntā̊, "path, way" = "path"
	sing	du	pl
nom	pəntā̊	pəntōy	pəntoHaŋhā
voc
acc	pātā̊		pəntəṇh
gen	pātō		pātõm
loc			pāššū
dat	pātā	pāsmō	pāśmuš
ins	pātō

bā̊

bā̊ "woman" continues the proterodynamic declension ending in *-h₂, and the nom. was asigmatic. This suffix also underlies the ī- and ū-stem declensions in Northian but is otherwise rarely seen alone. The direct stem is from *gʷénh₂ > *gʷḗn > bā̊, and the oblique *gʷnéh₂- > gnā-. Both nominative and accusative forms are affected by Stang's law.

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

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.

yoHr̥ <yōrə> "year", is from *yoh₁-r̥. Proto-form of gen *yoh₁-n̥-s or *yeh₁-n̥-s should anticipate a PNR form like *yaH-ā̊, 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 across laryngeal borders is very rare in Northian, so this explanation has not achieved agreement by authorities. du loc yaŋhaˀū is surely for a rather awkward *yaˀāˀū < *yéh₁n̥Hu.

	θaṯ yoHr̥, "year" = ὥρα → "hour"
	sing	du	coll
nom	yoHr̥	yōrī	yōrō
voc
acc
gen	yā̊
loc	yəʸni	yaŋhaHū
dat
ins

fāwr̥ "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 fāwr̥, "fire" = πῦρ → pyro-
	sing	du	coll
nom	fāwr̥
voc
acc
gen	puwanh	fūvonuš
loc	puwən
dat	puwənay
ins	puwā̊

Other common heteroclitic nouns include:

• PX azr̥ 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 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. ā̊ōiiō, but it is the athematic originals that are discussed below. Nom. sing. ā̊ is for *ō-h < *HoH-s-Ø.

	θaṯ ā̊, "mouth"
	sing	du	pl
nom	ā̊	ōhīḥ	ōha
voc
acc
gen	ōs	ōhuš	ōhõm
loc	āḫ	ōhū	ōššū
dat	ōhi	ōma	ōmuš
ins	ōha

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

hāwr̥ "Sun"

hāwr̥ "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. On the other hand, the *-l ending may be reflected obliquely as the tendency to spell this word as <huvuorə> rather than the -arə or -ərə ending that is common for phonologically -r̥. The strong stem descends from PEE *seh₂w- > hāw-; the weak stem from *sh₂w- > *hiw- > huw-. Genitive has huwanh < *hiwanh < *sh₂wens, cf. Epic gen həuuā.  dat is attested as <huβuəenaē>, but this is often considered a historical alteration, since only the zero-grade dat ending *-i could have triggered mutation in the previous syllable.

The word hāwr̥ 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 hāwr̥, "Sun"
	sing	du
nom	hāwr̥
voc
acc
gen	huwanh	hānuš
loc	huwənā
dat
ins	huwō

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

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

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

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

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

šyō "god, sky"

This word šyō 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. šyā̊ is cognate to Syaran Ζῆν.

šyō often co-occurs with the epithet ufšištō "highest" as ufšištoz-dyō "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 šyō, "sky, Sky God"
	sing	du	pl
nom	šyō	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 it cannot be certain whether this noun was a root noun with ablauting vowel prior to final -r or consisted of a root in the shape *Hn- with a suffix *-r. The meaning of the noun was that of a male adult. The corresponding feminine word was drīḥ, gen. driyā̊, meaning "female adult". Unlike many r-stem nouns, nō is obligatorily male and cannot encompass females. The term stands in contrast to boys, not women. The word ątnrtōḫ < *n̥-h₂nr̥-tos "feeble" may attest that the root *h₂nr- originally point to the quality of having the competences of adults.

	ha nō, "man"
	sing	du	pl
nom	nō	drōi	neriš
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. beβizwā̊, "sympathetic" = πεποιθώς			n. beβizwō, "sympathetic"			f. beβiδušī, "sympathetic"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	beβižwā̊	beβižwóhōi	beβižwóhiš	beβižwō	beβižwóhī	beβižwóha	beβiδuštī	beβiδuźyā	beβiδuźyáā̊
voc	βéβižwō
acc	beβižwozā		beβižwózā̊				beβiδuźyā̊		beβiδuźyaHā
gen	beβiδušō	beβiδuźyō	beβiδušõm					beβiδuźyaHuš	beβiδuźyāõm
loc	beβiδuši		beβiδuštū				beβiδuźyayi	beβiδuźyaHū	beβiδuźyazū
dat	beβiδušā	beβiδužma	beβiδužmuš					beβiδuźyāma	beβiδuźyāmuš
ins	beβiδušōi		beβiδužβyō				beβiδuźyā		beβiδuźyāmβyō

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. xrésyā̊, "more powerful" = κρείττων			n. xrétiš, id
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	xrésyā̊	xrésyahi	xrésyohā	xrétiš	xrésyohī	xrétīš
voc	xrésyō
acc	xrésyaŋhā		xrétizā
gen	xrétišō	xrétiźyō	xrétišõm	= m.
loc	xrésyā		xrétišū
dat	xrétišā	xrétižmō	xrétižmuš
ins	xrétišōi

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