Northian grammar

Northian grammar is highly synthetic.

General overview

Ablaut

Ablaut is a system of vowel apophony, altering the quality or quantity of vowels but not the meaning of the morpheme in which they are located, that is inherited from Proto-Erani-Eracuran. It affects most classes of words in Northian.

Though ablaut was a regular process closely tied to accent in the reconstructed proto-language, with some authorities proposing a direct correspondence between the accent and the full-grade vowel, by Galic times any precise corresondence had been lost (probably already by the final stage of the proto-language). 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 plethora of alternate morphologies that often confuse even later Hamruvunts, whose theses about correct grammar are sometimes woefully misguided by modern standards.

In nouns, there are four main ablaut patterns that Northian inherited and evolved from its ancestors, in the scholarly discourse termed acrostatic, proterokinetic, amphikinetic, and hysterokinetic. The medieval Northian grammarians astutely observed that the position of the accent in the dative singular predicts the correct set of endings: where it was on the final syllable (oxytone or OX), full-grade endings (e.g. -ṓ, -aí) was used in the oblique cases, and where not on the final syllable (paroxytone or PX), the zero-grade set of endings (e.g. -i) were used. The former situation regularly developed from amphikinetic and hysterokinetic patterns, and the latter from the acrostatic and proterokinetic ones. The OX nouns were characterized by the nearly-universal genitive singular ending -ṓ, while the PX nouns had unpredictable endings there owing to the vagaries of sound change.

The medieval grammarians were not able to distinguish between the proterokinetic and acrostatic ablaut patterns because the latter were quite few and subject to the heaviest erosion in identifiable morphs and thus relegated as "irregularities" to be learned by rote. Surprisingly, Himinastainas observed that such "irregularities" arose mostly in body parts and the commonest objects, so learning them by rote "is imperative". Amphikinetic and hysterokinetic nouns were not distinguished, on the other hand, because they differed principally in the nominative singular, which, on the surface, is largely irregular and must be learned by rote anyway.

Accent		Root	Suffix	Ending	Pre-form	Root	Suffix	Ending	Outcome	Galic
Acrostatic	nom	ó	Ø	Ø	*nókʷ-t-s	ó	Ø	Ø	noxṯ	Paroxytone
	acc				*nókʷ-t-m̥				noxtam
	gen	é	Ø	Ø	*nékʷ-t-s				noxš
Proterokinetic	nom	é	Ø	Ø	*mér-tis	é, Ø	Ø	Ø	mərətiš
	acc				*mér-tim				mərətim
	gen	Ø	é	Ø	*mr̥-téi̯-s	Ø	é	Ø	mərətaiš
Amphikinetic-I	nom	é	ō	Ø	*léy-mō	é	ō	Ø	láimō	Oxytone
	acc	é	o	Ø	*léy-mon-m̥	e	ṓ, ó, Ø	Ø	limṓnąm
	gen	Ø	Ø	é	*li-mn-és	Ø	Ø	ó	limnō
Amphikinetic-II	nom	é	Ø	Ø	*kré-tu-s	Ø	Ø	Ø	xarətuš
	acc	Ø	é	Ø	*kr̥-téw-m̥	Ø	Ø	Ø	xarətum
	gen	Ø	Ø	é	*kr̥-tu-és	Ø	Ø	ó	xarəźuuā
Hysterokinetic	nom	Ø	é	Ø	*ph₂-tḗr	Ø	é	Ø	fitō
	acc				*ph₂-tér-m̥				fiterəm
	gen	Ø	Ø	é	*ph₂-tr-és	Ø	Ø	ó	fiδrō

In the most summary way, the acrostatic nouns had a persistent accent on the root syllable, while the proterokinetic ones shifted the accent one syllable to the right (namely to the suffix) in the oblique cases. The amphikinetic nouns were of two types, differing only in the nominative singular: one type, the more common, had a lengthened o-grade in the suffix, while the other one had the zero grade. In both, the root was accented. The sources of both the unaccented o-grade and its length are disputed. The corresponding accusative had an accented suffix, and the accented shifted further right to the ending for the oblique cases. The hysterokinetic nouns had an accented suffix in the direct cases and accented ending in the oblique.

In their evolution to Galic Northian, the following changes have occurred. For amphikinetic nouns with an o-grade suffix, the nominative stem extended to the accusative; this must have been a fairly late alteration as the accusative suffix often has the long vowel of the nominative, showing that the long vowel was no longer analyzable as a full grade plus a lengthening element specific to the nominative, i.e. out of place in the accusative. There are also sporadic survivals of the short accusative suffix.

Amphikinetic nouns with the zero-grade suffix had differing developments: where the oblique stem ended in an approximant (-u, -i), it spread to accusative; perhaps this occurred under the influence of the proterokinetic, as with them these amphikinetics shared a zero-grade suffix in the nominative, cp. amphikinetic xrétuš "will" and proterokinetic xrétuš "powerful". It is possible that the vocalized approximant was re-analyzed as a full-grade vowel, i.e. xarətúm with a "u-grade" before the accusative ending -m. Where the stem did not end in an approximant (-r, -s, -m, -n), the development was largely arbitrary, e.g. acc. sing. both more common xmam (formed from the oblique stem xm- plus acc. ending -am) and more archaic xā̊ < *dʰǵʰḗm, from taɣam < dʰéǵʰ-m̥.

Proterokinetic nouns had their root syllables levelled nearly completely in favour of the zero grade, unless this produced an impermissible sequence of consonants, but the accent position is usually not altered and often discloses a former full grade. There are sporadic survivals of the full-grade root, but none in the productive suffixes of -ti- and -tu-, and accented zero-grade suffixes are common there, perhaps also under the influence of the hysterokinetics. This produced a morphologically proterokinetic but accentually static pattern that became dominant for these suffixes in later Northian. The hysterokinetic declension survives particularly well in Northian, preserving a distinct full-grade in the accusative and a zero-grade in the oblique cases.

It is notable that, perhaps owing to a lack of ablaut in the root syllable, the hysterokinetic pattern was the most stable and productive (the acrostatic pattern is assumed to be vestigial even in the proto-language). The patterns with root ablaut, namely amphikinetic and proterokinetic, either lost productivity or were levelled to remove ablaut in the root. Many suffixes which have original amphikinetic patterns developed hysterokinetic compounds which later became productive, while the amphikinetic suffix lost productivity. Issinar asserted in 1940 that, taking the root and suffix together as a unit and allowing for the long-grade in the nominative, Northian nouns could have a maximum of two distinct stems; this rule appears to hold in many cases, though not without exception.

Ablaut rules developed differently in many suffix classes. For example, the mn-stems usually had the long suffix original to the nominative intruding the accusative, but the wn-stems often has a zero-grade suffix in the accusative; possibly this is because the combination C-wn- was vocalized as C-un- early, and the -u- there was thought of as an original, full-grade vowel. Additionally, many words show compounds of suffixes, particularly derived feminines in -ī and -ū, and the accentual rules in these words sometimes depends on the character of the root, compulsorily it is verbal, and in other times becomes static on the suffix. Some classes of words apparently had vacillating accent or even no recorded accent, suggesting that these derivations were not common enough to have a widely-recognized pattern even if their meanings can be worked out.

Nominals

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, with the dative and instrumental in the dual, and the dative in the 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 PPX for the paroxytone and proparoxytone 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	PPX	OX	PPX
Nominative	-ō, -ā̊, -s, -š, -Ø, -Ø		-ōi, -āḥ, -ōḥ, -īḥ	-a, -ā̊, -ī̆ḥ, -āḥ, -V̄R-Ø, -īḥ	-iš, -āḫ, -ōḫ, -a, -V̄R-Ø	-ō
Vocative	-Ø
Accusative	-m, -ā̆m, -ąm, -əm, -ā̊				-ā̊, -ūš, -ī
Locative	-i, -eC-Ø	-eC-Ø	-ō	-ū	-hū, -štū	-eC-Ø
Genitive	-ōḫ, -ā̊	-s, -š, -ā̆ṇġ, -ā̊, -Ø	-ōš	-uš, -auš	-õm, -ą̄m
Ablative			-mō	-mō, -ma	-muš
Dative	-ai, -oi	-i
Instrumental	-C-a, -V̄R-Ø				-(m)βiiōḫ, -βiš, -βīš, -īš

nom sing A general discussion of the athematic declension cannot omit the comment that, while many divergent forms are phonetically conditioned, there too are divergences resulting from divergent proto-forms. In no other place is this statement truer than in the nominative singular.

The marker of the nominative singular has been a tormented subject, in no small part due to the fundamental disagreement on whether the parent language had a nominative-accusative or ergative-absolutive alignment. Languages with the former usually had an unmarked nominative, while the ergative (the case of the agent) often developed from a marked genitive, the absolutive then being unmarked. Animate (= masculine and feminine) nouns may have been in the proto-language sigmatic, that is ending in *-s, or asigmatic, that is without final *-s and taking the zero or long o-grade in the suffix; as root nouns had no suffix, they were thought to have been obligatorily marked by *-s. The source of this long o-grade, in default of *-s, is disputed: some authorities regard it as a vestige of a final *-s dropping after a resonant, but others hold there was no *-s originally and attribute the long vowel to ablaut variation sensitive to the case.

In Northian, final *-s has been suffixed to animate nouns quite broadly but haphazardly in prehistory, 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.

1. -s is always present and surfaces as -š after *i- and *u- in animate nouns, and its absence in these stems indicates neuter gender, both instance without regard to ablaut pattern.
2. Final *-s was absent in resonant-stems (-m, -n, -r, -l), whose nom. sing. was often signified by lengthened o-grade in OX and PX (though a few nouns have zero-grade). The long final syllable ending in a resonant was then opened, giving rise to -ā̊ and -ō.
3. After obstruents the distribution of *-s is not predictable: bā̊ "wife" and ϑanū "body" were asigmatic, but ą̄mərətās "immortality" certainly had *-s.

In OX resonant stems the lengthened grade is altered prehistorically by the opening of closed long syllables ending in a resonant. In PX and PP resonant stems, e.g. mātar and dā̊, as well as select OX nouns with the "reverse endings", e.g. táɣam, the nominative was also endingless but is affected by the vocalization of the zero-grade suffix, which is sensitive to the length of the preceding syllable. If short, the vocalized suffix will be long, and vice versa.

voc sing 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.

acc sing In the proto-language, the accusative ended in *-m; as it contained no vowel, it could never bear an original accent. In stems ending in non-resonants, the ending is vocalized as -m̥ > *-am. In auslaut, this ending is often lengthened if the preceding syllable is light to -ām, varying according to the length of the preceding syllable; in sandhi forms, this lengthening does not always occur in front of a disyllabic enclitic. If the ending followed -i, long or short, it becomes -in. If the stem ended in a long vowel, such as with gunā- and ponθō-, the final syllable with -m is opened and becomes -ą̄ as with the nom. sing. Where the stem ended in -m itself, the sequence -m-m̥ was syncopated into the stem and surfaces as a long vowel at the PNN level, but likewise it is opened in Galic as -ā̊.

loc sing The locative generally took the accusative stem and either added final -i or was endingless. For the effects of -i on the preceding vowel, see dat. sing. entry.

gen sing In OX the gen. singular always ended in -ōḫ < PNN *-os; its consistency led grammarians to consider it the feature of the OX declension. Where the stem ended in a open long vowel, the ending can become -ā̊ḫ, but this is merely orthographic—this ending is always disyllabic.

In PX and PP, the ending *-s when attached to the stem surfaces with a motley of forms, and this (compared to OX) irregularity in turn is the feature of the PX declension. In stems ending in a short vowel plus nasal, *-s becomes something like a glottal stop, as in fūvāṇġ < PNN *fiwen-s. Where the stem ended in a liquid, as in abel-, -s survives at the expense of the stem consonant and also causes the vowel to lengthen, here as abēs. In PX forms, final *-s is attached to a zero-grade suffix, as in mātūš < PEE *meh₂tr̥s and nomaṇġ < *Hnomn̥s. Conversely, if the stem ended in -ā or -ē, the result is -ā̊ < *-ās, e.g. jñiϑriiā̊. In s-stems, the ending generally disappears, e.g. māṇġ < *mn̥s-s. The ending is only neatly preserved after -i and -u and their respective allophones.

abl sing For all athematic nouns, the ablative singular was syncretized wtih the genitive singular.

dat sing In OX the dat. sigular ending was *-ei̯. This ending susceptible to colouring by a preceding *h₂-, as well as the influence of -i̯, to become -ai. If the preceding consonant was *u̯- or *h₃-, result was -oi. In PX, the ending was *-i. For all resonant stems, the ending -i caused the preceding vowel to mutate; an original *a became aē, and an accented *é became -ái. For stems ending in -n, the -n sandwiched between i became ñ. In all cases the dat. singular ending following a vowel was a separate syllable.

ins sing The OX ending -ōi̯ for the ins. singular originated as *-eh₁ in the proto-language. This ending is rarely problematic by phonological processes, but it is liable to be replaced in some stems, e.g. endings -ī and -ū in the i- and u-stems respectively, from the PX declension. The PX ending evolved from *-h₁. This ending was preserved only after plosives as -a. Following resonants, the preceding vowel was lengthened. If the preceding vowel was already long, disyllabic -ā̊ was the general outcome.

nom / voc / acc du For animate nouns, the du. ending for all direct cases in OX was generally -ōi̯ < *-ē. After i, the ending became -ā, and after u, -ō. After stems ending in laryngeals, the outcome was -å. In PX, the ending -a is visible after only after plosives, as it had the proto-form of *-h₁. After resonant and vowel stems, the ending was dropped causing the preceding vowel to lengthen, e.g. dorāu̯. After laryngeals, -å could also appear, since the intervening laryngeal caused ending to become vocalized. For all neuter nouns, the ending was -ī.

loc du In OX the dual loc. ending was -ō < *-ou̯. In PX, the ending was -ū, which developed from original *-u lengthened in final position; the ending is only altered after stems ending in -u̯-, where prehistorically the ending dissimilated to *-o and then became -a in an unaccented position.

gen du The proto-form of the dual genitive is usually considered the same as the locative, with added *-s at the end. Thus in OX the ending that surfaced was -ōš for *-ou̯s. In PX, the ending was -uš, which like the locative dissimilated to *-os if there was a preceding u. In this case, the ending was -ōḫ.

abl / dat / ins du These three forms were syncretized in Northian as -mō in OX and -ma in PX.

nom / voc pl The proto-form here was *-es. If this ending followed i, it became -āḫ, or if it followed u, -ōḫ. Otherwise, since this ending was never accented, it became -iš. For neuter nouns, the nom. and acc. ending was from *-h₂, which appears as -a following stops and causes preceding vowels to lengthen if adjacent to one or separated by a resonant.

acc pl This ending was derived from PEE *-n̥s following consonants or *-ns following vowels. *-n̥s generally gave rise by way of PNN *-uns to -ā̆ṇġ and -ā̆ŋhiš, both sensitive to the length of the preceding vowel. -ā̆ŋhiš is an allomorph that probably represents the nom. pl. ending appended to the acc. pl. ending, which had become rather opaque. In the case of *-i-ns, such as with the i-stems, the resulting ending was -īš.

gen pl The ending was consistently -õm, or -ą̄m after vowel stems.

abl / dat pl The ending was consistently -muš.

ins pl The ending was consistently -bi̯āḫ.

Thematic

	Basic ā-stem endings			Basic o-stem endings
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	-āḥ	-ayī	-aŋhā̊	-ōḫ, -õ	-ō, -oịī	-ā̊, -ohiš, -āḥ
voc				-i
acc	-ā̊		-a·ā̊	-õm	-ə̄ṇġ
loc	-ayi	-āvū	-āŋhū	-ōi̯	-ū	-ohū
gen	-ā̊	-āvuš	-a·ą̄̊m	-ōiiō	-ōš	-o·ōm
abl	-a·āṯ	-āmiiā	-āmβiiā̊	-ōṯ	-omiiā	-omβiiā̊
dat	-a·ai̯			-ōi̯
ins	-ā		-āi̯š	-ō		-ōi̯š

nom sg The ā-stems showed the expected ending -ā. M. and f. o-stems have -ōḫ < *-os, which scans short at the end of sentences and other pauses. N. o-stems have -õm.

voc sg The ā-stems have the same form as the nom. M. and f. o-stems have -i < *-e, while n. o-stems have the same form as the nom. In both cases, the accent is always retracted to the first syllable of the word.

acc sg for ā-stems is affected by Stang's law, which appears as -ā̊. The ending for m. and f. o-stems is the same as the n., -õm.

loc sg ā-stems have dysyllabic -ayi; o-stems have monosyllabic -oi.

gen sg ā-stems show -ā̊ for *-eh₂-s; o-stems have the compound suffix -ōiio, for *-osyo.

abl sg in ā-stems is dysyllabic aā̊ṯ; the quantity owes to dissimilation.

dat sg ā-stems

ins sg ā-stems

Verbs

Stems

Unlike nouns, verbs may form more than one stem and be still considered the same lexical item. It is thus necessary to discuss the relationship between the various stem-formations as they are attached to the root. The relationship between verb-stems and endings they receive are as follows in the Galic language:

	Present stem	Aorist stem	Perfect stem	Bare root	Future stem
Primary endings	Present indicative				Future indicative
Thematic endings				Root subjunctive
-e ~ o- + thematic endings	Present subjunctive	Aorist subjunctive	Perfect subjunctive
e- + secondary endings	Imperfect	Aorist	Pluperfect
-i̯ā ~ ī- + secondary endings	Optative	Aorist optative	Perfect optative		Future optative
Secondary endings	Injunctive	Aorist injunctive	Perfect injunctive		Future injunctive
Imperative endings	Imperative	Aorist imperative	Perfect imperative	Root imperative	Future imperative
Future imperative endings	Future imperative		Future perfect imperative
Perfect endings			Perfect indicative

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.

Primary and secondary athematic

The athematic verb endings, like their noun counterparts, are directly attached to the verbal stem without an intervening theme vowel. The primary endings are used for the athematic present, and the secondary endings for the athematic present injunctive, the imperfect, and (with the suffix) the optative, as well as the aorist indicative, injunctive, and optative.

There are two sets of (phonologically conditioned) parallel endings called the long and short endings. The long endings (noted below in grey) arise from a laryngeal between the stem and ending, whose effects are determined by neighbouring sounds. Where it precedes a guttural consonant, it becomes a, and a coronal consonant, i. If it preceded e, as in the case of the act. 3 pl., the e is coloured according to the laryngeal's identity. Otherwise, all laryngeals in this position behave alike and are indistinguishable. If the laryngeal was separated from a following consonant by another laryngeal, as in the case in the mid. 1 and 3 sing. and 2 and 3 du., the two adjacent vowels resulting are liable to be contracted in orthography, but this is merely a writing convention.

Primary active endings				Primary middle endings
	sing	du	pl		sing		du		pl
					trans	intrans	trans	intrans	trans	intrans
1p	-aē-mi	-ū-viñi	-aē-miñi	1p	-a-ai̯		-ū-vozδa		-a-mozδa
2p	-i-si	-i-tāḫ	-i-te/ti/ta	2p	-i-tai̯		-a-ātaδai		-i-zδuuo
3p	-i-ti	-i-tes/tiš	-enδi/ā̆t	3p	-i-toi̯	-o	-a-ātāi̯ī	-a-ā	-i-nδro	-i-r/ro/ūš

Secondary active endings				Secondary middle endings
	sing	du	pl		sing		du		pl
					trans	intrans	trans	intrans	trans	intrans
1p	-(ā̆)m/n	-ūvōḫ	-amōḫ	1p	-aa		-ūvoδa		-ameδa
2p	-i(s)	-itam	-ité	2p	-ita		-ii̯(a)tāδi		-iδō
3p	-it	-itim	-ā̆t	3p	-ito	-o	-ii̯ātā	-aā	-(a)r

1 sing. The primary and secondary active endings differ with the hic et nunc particle *-i in the proro-language, for the singular active. The element m is accepted in mainstream reconstructions of Proto-Erani-Eracuran to signify the first person. As m is a sonant, the ending -i in the primary conjugation can trigger mutation in the preceding syllable in the usual manner, e.g. diθēi̯mi < *didʰeh₁mi. In the secondary conjugation, final -m can vocalize to -ā̆m if following a stop.

In the middle voice, the ending evolves from *-h₂ey > -ai̯.

2 sing. In the primary conjugation, the signifying element of the active second singular *s can become h or z depending on the phonetic context. In the secondary is usually dropped after stems ending in a plosive or sonant, but it does regularly appear in the optative where it obligatorily follows a vowel.

The middle ending here is *-th₂ey > -tai̯.

3 sing. This -ti ending is usually retained in the primary conjugation. If the stem ended in a dental, the ending was liable to mutate in several ways. In the secondary, -t can displace preceding stops or be dropped in some contexts.

The middle ending of the third singular depends on the meaning of the word and the stem used, which is not quite predictable and must be learned in some cases. In many stem-classes, an middle verb with intransitive menaing will take the ending -o, and those with transitive meaning, -toi̯. In other cases, the ending -toi̯ is always used, regardless of meaning.

1 du. The active ending is from *-weni; mutation inevitably occurs in the first syllable, giving -u̯iñi.

In the middle, the form -u̯ozθa < *-wesdʰh₂ is found.

2 du. Here the active ending -tāḫ is for *-th₂es. An epenthentic -s- is sometimes found if the stem ended in a dental to avoid a sequence of two dentals together, and the resulting combination is sometimes resolved to prehistoric *-ss-. But this was not a universal phenomenon, and sometimes the geminate dental either drops or evne surfaces. Such examples are often interpreted by analogical restoration.

-tõ is found in the middle for *-tom.

3 du. The active allomorphs -tes ~ -tiš reflect *-tes, in accented and unaccented positions, respectively. For most athematic verbs the accent is mobile, consistently on the ending, so the former will be more common; the latter is seen on verbs with recessive accent like déθitiš and éstiš "you (pl.) give" and "sit". As with all endings which begin with t, it is liable to following another dental.

As in the case of the third singular, the middle ending here is sensitive to the stem-class of the verb and its general meaning. The transitive ending is -tą̄ < *teh₂m, and the intransitive ending is usually -ā. This latter ending is unique in the Erani-Eracuran family and has no known comparanda, and so it is possibly an innovation, though it is also argued to be an unique archaicism. But it is phonologically rather opaque, which hampers restoration of its proto-form.

1 pl. In the active one finds -miñi < *-meni, which is usually retained without complication.

In the middle, the ending -mozθa is encountered, for *-mesdʰh₂.

2 pl. Here, much akin to the 3 du., the allomorphs are either -te or -ti. -ti is clearly from *-te and is seen on verbs of recessive accent. However, a deviant form -ta also exists for some verbs, but the origin of -ta is unexplained.

The middle ending -θvo < *-dʰwe is found for the second plural. An -s- may be attached to the beginning of this ending for some verbs, and this augmentation is not restricted to those stems ending in a dental.

3 pl. In the third active plural, the ending -enθi is used. This ending is susceptible to laryngeal colouring if the verb stem ended in a laryngeal. Furthermore, this ending is the only one that regularly shows ablaut: where the accent was in the stem, the ending is *-n̥t > -at.

For the third plural middle, there are also endings which change according to the stem-class and meaning of the verb. Verbs with transitive meanings will generally have -nθro, while those with intransitive meanings may have either -ro or -ūš < *-r̥s.

Primary and secondary thematic

The primary and secondary thematic endings include a theme vowel between the stem and the ending-proper, varying between *e ~ o. The thematic endings formally differ in the active singular and third plural from the athematic ones but are transparently the same, with the addition of the theme vowel, in others. It is still a matter of active debate what the contrast between athematic and thematic endings was in the proto-language. The primary and secondary thematic endings are used in present and aorist stems in the same manner as the athematic ones.

Thematic active endings				Thematic middle endings
	sing	du	pl		sing	du	pl
1p	-ō	-ou̯ōḫ	-omōḫ	1p	-ā̊i̯	-ou̯ōzθa	-omozθa
2p	-ei̯	-etāḫ	-eti	2p	-etai̯i	-etõ	-eθō
3p	-ei̯i	-etiš	-onθi	3p	-etoi̯i	-etą̄	-ō

1 sg. The first singular active ending is -ō. The middle ending is -ā̊i̯ for *o-h₂e-i—the ending is disyllabic in Northian.

2 sg. The ending for the second active singular is -ei̯ The middle ending is the same as the athematic one, with the theme vowel e inserted.

3 sg. In the third singular one finds the ending -ei̯i; note that this ending is disyllabic, unlike that of the second singular. Ditto for the middle.

1 - 3 du. and 1 and 2 pl. For all these items the thematic forms are the same as the athematic ones, with thematic o or e added.

3 pl. The endings here are active -o and middle -ō.

Thematic secondary endings, active or middle, are all the same as athematic ones, with thematic vowel inserted in like manner as the primary.

Imperative athematic and thematic

The imperative in Northian does not have opposition between primary and secondary. It is observed that the imperative usually implies immediacy, while the stem has aspectual value regarding the action required. The first person imperative is always defective: a speaker expressing a requirement for oneself would use the future tense. For all dual forms, the imperative is the same as the indicative, there being no sign that these ever had distinct imperative endings in Northian.

Imperative active endings				Imperative middle endings
	sing	du	pl		sing	du	pl
1p	—	—	—	1p	—	—	—
2p	-θi	-tāḫ	-ti	2p	-svo	-ātaθa	-θvo
3p	-tū	-tiš	-nθū	3p	-to	-ātā	-nθō

The imperative forms for thematic verbs are as follows:

Imperative active endings				Imperative middle endings
	sing	du	pl		sing	du	pl
1p	—	—	—	1p	—	—	—
2p	-Ø	-etāḫ	-eti	2p	-esvo	-ātaθa	-esθvo
3p	-etū	-etiš	-enθū	3p	-eto	-ā̊tā	-onθō

Perfect

The perfect was an athematic formation, irrespective of the thematicity of the present or aorist stems.

Perfect active endings				Perfect middle endings
	sing	du	pl		sing	du	pl
1p	-a	-u̯o	-me	1p	If the perfect active is transitive, the middle is formed from the perfect subjunctive
2p	-ta	-āta	-é	2p
3p	-i	-ātā	-ṓ	3p

3 sg the ending -i is the unaccented outcome of *-e, which is coloured by any preceding laryngeal and therefore may surface as -a if the stem ended in *-h₂ or *-h₃.

2 pl -e is the accented outcome of *-e, which is also liable to be coloured by laryngeals and may appear as -a or -o with stems ending in *-h₂ or *-h₃, respectively.

Evolution

Northian is one of the relatively few Erani-Eracuran languages to retain multiple productive ablaut patterns in all classes of words, though OX 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. -ōḫ < *-os and dat. -ei̯ < *-ei̯.  The proterokinetic and acrostatic endings were easily eroded and disfigured by comparison. Despite morphological alterations, the grammar of nouns did not have considerable tendency to evolve.

The most dramatic change from the Galic to the Epic language must be found in verbs rather than nouns. The Galic verb formed multiple stems with aspectual value, to which suffixes and personal endings were added to specify mood and tense. This system is cognate to those found in sister languages acorss the Erani-Eracuran family, particularly in Tennai and Syara. Even in the Didaskalic material, this system was very much intact, yet early in Epic literature, around 650 BCE, a less diverse and less inflected verbal system was already dominant. Particularly, the opposition between present and aorist forms had been lost, and the perfect became a generalized past tense stem.

Nouns classes

Overview

The principal classes of nouns are discussed first. The following chart lists the stems and accent patterns in Galic Northian. A green cell indicates that the stem and accent combination is productive, either in se or through a compound suffix; a yellow cell indicates an attested stem-accent combination; a red cell indicates no or only dubious attestations. The far-left column gives the traditional classification of nouns into oxytone (OX) and paroxytone (PX) by their dative singular forms, which have subsequently been refined into two classes each reflecting the more specific ablaut patterns that have survived into Galic times.

	-C	-t	-m	-n	-r	-s	-i	-u	-ī	-ū	-r/n	-nt
OX-B	About 80 root nouns and suffixed nouns in -k, -l, -ns, -d, etc., fos = "foot", xō = "heart"	A few in -ōs, nepōs "child"	About 20 feminine, in -ō or -am; gīy-ō "winter"	Many, in -ō and -ə̄, often binds m-, n-, s-, t-, etc., θxām-ō "human"	haz-ərə "hand" and personal, feminizing suffix -ez-ərə	A handful in -ā̊, aōšt-ā̊ "dawn"; the perf. act. ptcpl. waiduš "knowing"	Some in -ō and -iš, hak-ō "friend, ally", ouu-iš = "ewe"; neuter var. in -ai, oxθ-ai "finger"	A few dozen in -ōš or -uš, gen-ōš "jaw", xrétuš "will"	Some in -ī, štoīr-ī "heifer"	A handful in -ū, θan-ū "body"	Derived collectives of heteroclitics, in -r ~ n-, long o-grade in nom. > -ā̊	A few in -āṯ, oδāṯ "tooth"
OX-A	No	Productive suffix -tāt-, āmmərə-tās "immortality" and -tūt-, wəš-tūs "moistness"	No	Productive, in -en, uxšt-ā̊ = "ox", and -ṓ, yəuu-ṓ "youth"	Productive through agentive -ter, duhit-ō "daughter"	Productive, comparatives in -iiā̊- maj-iiā̊ "bigger", perf. act. ptcpl. in -uuā̊-, βiβiž-uuā̊ "trusting"	No	No	No	No	No	Productive pres. aor. act. ptcpl. of thematic verbs, in -ās hadáii-ās "sitting"
PX	No	No	No	Productive, neuter var. of OX n-stems, exhibiting same bound suffixes	No	Productive, neuter var. of OX s-stems, in -ō; neβ-ō "cloud", xrat-ō "power"	Productive, animate in -iš, action nouns -tiš, gomβ-iš "a step"; neuter in -i, mor-i "sea"	Productive, animate in -uš, wiš-t-úš "witness"; neuter in -ū, oii-ū "life"	Proliferate suffix deriving feminines in -ī; geniδr-ī "genitrix"	Same as -ī but more common in adjectives, in -ū; hoxr-ū "mother-in-law"	Neuter, in -r ~ n- suffix, ya-ərə "year"; more in -tar, -mərə, -zərə	No
PP	About 30 root and suffixed nouns in obstruent stems	nox-ṯ "night" and haš-ṯ "bed"	No	No	māt-ar "mother", βrāt-ar "brother"	men-ō "mind" (with o-grade of the suffix), kraō-š "gore"	aŋhi "serpent"	Neuter nouns in -ū, gon-ū "knee", wəšt-ū "settlement"	Feminine pres. aor. act. ptcpl. with static accent, déδāṯīš "of the giving one"	No	A few, in -r ~ n-, f-ō "shrine"	A few nouns; pres. aor. act. ptcpl. with static accent, déδāṯ "giving"

As appears from this schematic, most suffixes are associated with more than one accentual pattern. But even in Galic, the majority of suffixes have only one productive accentual pattern or separate productive patterns associated with masculine-feminine gender and neuter gender (the case of the n-stems and s-stems). Additionally, some suffixes are only productive through petrified compounds, which tended to be hysterokinetic and have invariant stems, such as the comparative in -iiā̊- and perfect active participle in -uuā̊-; otherwise, the s-stems in amphikinetic is non-productive.

Where there are multiple productive accentuation patterns, neuter nouns are almost always identified with the proterokinetic pattern, and masculine-feminine with the hysterokinetic or amphikinetic. The exception is for i-stems and u-stems, wherein proterokinetic accentuation is standard, and particularly productive through the compound with -t.

Obstruent stems

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

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

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

t-stems

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

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

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

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

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

nt-stems

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

	ha dōs, "tooth"
	sing	du	pl
nom	dōs	dónδōi̯	dónδiš
voc	doṇṯ
acc	donδəm		dónδā̊
gen	dātōḫ	dātōš	dātõm
loc	dónδi	dātō	dāśū
dat	dātei̯	dāśmō	dāśmuš
ins	dāta

m-stems

This class is known from only a few but important nouns, e.g. θáɣā "earth" and zīi̯ō "winter", as well as from the root, dā̊ "house". All m-stem nouns in Northian are feminine in gender, though with only a few examples, this may not be an actual rule in the proto-language. Outside of nouns, it is also known in numerals for 1, 7, and 10—hā̊ haftā dekā—and the solitary adjective merə "particulate, ground up". Some authorities believe many m-stems may have, during the time of the proto-language, been either remade to thematic neuters or had an additional *-n added after the *m-, giving rise to the multitude of n-stems of the -mn- type, wherein the -m- is of otherwise unexplained origin.

	hā giyō, "winter" = hiemps
	sing	du	pl
nom	giyō	giyamōi̯	giyaēmiš
voc	giyõm
acc	giyā̊		gimā̊
gen	gimōḫ	gimōš	gimõm
loc	giyaēmi	gimō	giṃśū
dat	gimāi̯	gimmō	gimmuš
ins	gimō		gimβiiōḫ

Most suffixed nouns with OX inflection have a long o-grade suffix in the nominative singular, e.g. giyō, and in this regard they are the same as the n-stems. In fact, given the rules of phonetic change, *-ōm and *-ōn cannot be told apart, so it is possible this ending has been transported from the n-stems. But θā̀m xmōḫ "earth" has a nominative that must be disyllabic, i.e. θáɣam, with a short ultima reflecting a zero grade, in the nom. sing. Had the second vowel been a typical long o-grade, it would have become *ō and would not merge across the guttural consonant, giving *θáɣō.

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

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

	hā θáḥàm, "ground, earth" = χθών
	sing	du	pl
nom	θáḥàm	θáḥàmōi̯	θáɣaēmiš
voc
acc	xā̊		θāxmā̊
gen	xmōḫ	xštą̄ōš	xštõm
loc	xštémi	xštą̄ō	xštāŋhū
dat	xmai	xštą̄mō	xštą̄muš
ins	xmōi

To this table above must be subjoined that xā̊ < *dʰǵʰḗm < *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 had multiple subtypes, whose common feature was the stem-final consonant -n; their phonetic outcomes can be quite different due to vocalization rules.

A common subtype of the n-stems is through the suffix *-mn-, which is common in Northian. The OX pattern was normal for animate nouns, and the PX in neuter nouns.

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

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

	ha fraōmō, "lung"
	sing	du	pl
nom	fraōmō	fraōmanōi̯	fraōmaēniš
voc	fraōman
acc	fraōmanəm		fraōmanā̊
gen	fərəuụą̄nōḫ	fərəuụānōš	fərəuụą̄nõm
loc	frumen	fərəuụānō	fərəuụāŋhū
dat	fərəuụą̄nei̯	fərəuụą̄nmō	fərəuụānmuš
ins	fərəuụą̄n

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 mōi̯ βā θxámin apū fraōmíñīḥ fərəuụānōš 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	frumenuš	frumenõm
loc	frumíñi	frumenū	frumáŋhū
dat		frumenma	frumenmuš
ins	frumā̊

There are also n-stems not part of a suffix of *-mn-. They are rarer than the type with -mn- and are 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 family names.

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

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

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

	ha yəu̯ụə̄, "youth"
	sing	du	pl
nom	yəu̯ụə̄	yəu̯ụənōi̯	yəu̯ụiñiš
voc	yəu̯ụən
acc	yəu̯ụənəm		yəu̯ụənā̊
gen	yūnōḫ	yuụa·ā̊š	yūnõm
loc	yəu̯ụəni	yuụa·ā̊	yuụahū
dat	yūnei̯	yuụamō	yuụamuš
ins	yūna

r-stems

dugitṓ "daughter" represents the oxytone group of the r-stems, which includes many agentive nouns that terminate in *-tēr. They are recognizable by their zero-grade nom. endings and full-grade -ō endings in gen.

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

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

	hā mātar, "mother"
	sing	du	pl
nom	mātar	māδəra	māδriš
voc
acc	māδrəm		māδərą̄s
gen	māδərəš	māδərouš	māδrõm
loc	māδri	mātəroū	māδərəštū
dat		māδərəma	māδərəmuš
ins	māδəra		māδərəβiiōḫ

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

There is also

	hā yatar, "husband's brother's wife"
	sing	du	pl
nom	yatar	yatiri	yatiriš
voc
acc	yaδrəm		yaterā̊
gen	yatās	mātərouš	māδrõm
loc	yatiri	mātəroū	mātərəšū
dat		māδərəma	mātərəmuš
ins	yatiri

s-stems

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

i-stems

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

u-stems

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

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

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

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

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

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

The OX pattern had a nom. sg. ending in PEE *-ou̯-s, which regularly gave Galic -ō-š. The gen. and dat. reflects PEE *-u-os and *-u-ei̯ as expected in a hysterokinetic pattern. The dual behaves as expected. The acc. is on account of the deletion of resonants before a syllabic nasal, genā̊ < *gen-ēm < *gen-eu̯-m̥. Note in this word some oblique forms have the stem jñuu-, which is an altered form of *gnw-. Northian generally permits up to three consonants (or four, if beginning with s-) in anlaut, but only if they contain no stops; if they do, stops are altered to fricative counterparts. This rule is not in effect for sequences of only two members in anlaut, hence the conserved gn- when the following *w is vocalized. Note also, the genitive and dative dual endings begin with a (lost) laryngeal, triggering the vocalization of *w.

ī-stems

The ī-stems in paroxytone has remained productive down to the Epic period as a feminizing suffix for athematic nouns. This suffix showed ablaut from full grade *-ieh₂ ~ -ih₂ > Northian -i̯ā ~ ī. As these nouns typically had a root that participated in ablaut, the suffix was in zero-grade in the strong cases and in full-grade in the weak ones. In the example geniδrīḥ "genitrix", the nom. is asigmatic. Notice that, in the gen. jñiδriiā̊, the laryngeal is syllabified with the preceding vowel and causes it to lengthen, but in the dat. jñiδriiayi it syllabifies with the following vowel and does not cause the one preceding to lengthen; in both cases, though, the preceding 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 a long -iiā-.

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 geniδrīḥ, "genitrix" = genitrix
	sing	du	pl
nom	geniδrīḥ	geniδrīya	geniδriyāḫ
voc
acc	geniδrī		geniδrīyā̊
gen	jñiδriiā̊	jñiδriiāouš	jñiδri̯aõm
loc	jñiδriiayi	jñiδriiaoū	jñiδriiāhū
dat		jñiδriiāma	jñiδriiāmuš
ins	jñiδriiaā̊

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

	hā šterīḥ, "heifer"
	sing	du	pl
nom	šterīḥ	šterii̯āḥ	šteriịāḫ
voc	šterī
acc	šterī		šteriịā̊
loc	šterī	štrii̯ō	štrīštū
gen	štrii̯ōḫ	štrii̯ōš	štrīi̯õm
dat	štrii̯ai̯	štrīmō	štrīmuš
ins	štrī

ū-stems

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

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

r/n-stems

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other common heteroclitic nouns include:

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

ā-stems

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

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

o-stems

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

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

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

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

Acrean declensions

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

Hybridized paradigms

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

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

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

a-stems

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

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

ō-stems

These are cognates of the ā-stems in Northian.

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

Venetian declensions

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

Irregular nouns

ā̊ "mouth"

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

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

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

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

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

ménōḫ "mind"

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

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

hāuuərə "Sun"

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

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

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

onkā "cream"

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

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

nomā "name"

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

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

mā·ā̊ḫ "moon" and xaṇġ "goose"

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

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

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

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

mā̊ "meat"

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

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

l-stems

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

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

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

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

fō "shrine"

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

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

d-stems

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

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

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

fonδā̊ "path"

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

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

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

t-stems with persistent accent

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

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

The very well-attested word nōxš "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 hašṯ.

The word for "ten" in compounds of multiple of ten, e.g. twenty, thirty, etc. also displays the word dekam in zero grade extended by -t, -δɣāt < *-dḱm̥-t.

• θríδɣāt < *tri-dḱm̥-t.
• kozuuərəδɣāt < *kʷetwr̥-dḱm̥-t.

hōxrūḥ "mother-in-law"

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

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

gā̊ "woman"

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

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

Neuter nouns in -ū

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

	θaṯ δorū, "wood" = δόρυ
	sing	du	coll
nom	dorū	doruụīḥ	dorō
voc
acc
gen	draōš	doruu̯ōḫ	druu̯ōḫ
loc	derū	doruu̯a	doruu̯i
dat	drauui	doruma	druu̯ēi̯
ins	drūḥ

xāmō "human"

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

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

dā̊ "house"

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

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

potiš "master" in compounds

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

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

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

žiiaōš "god, sky"

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

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

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

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

ošta "bone"

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

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

hazərə "hand"

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

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

nō "man"

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

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

monuš "man, human"

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

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

monuš takes the oxytone declension in u-stem, gen. mŋʷuuōḫ, e.g. GNr. yōrō mŋʷuuōḫ "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

Adjective classes

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.

Classes

	-k	-n	-s	-i	-u	-h₂	-r/n	-t	-nt	-ā	-o
OX	meraxš "soft"	Masculine forms of adjectives with heteroclitic neuters, in -ṓ, fīuuō "fat, fertile"	Productive adjective in -ō, humenō "well-intended"; productive comparative in -iiā̊ -ištṓ, θáñiiā̊ "thinner"; productive perfect active participle in -uuā̊ -uštṓ, titauuā̊ "having made"	A handful	A handful, in -uš -uuṓ, meδuš "sweet"	máhiš "big"	Adjective forms of neuter heteroclitics, masculine form in -ō and feminine in invariant -r-ī, faōuuərə "fat, fertile"	dušṯ "bad"	Productive derivative meaning "rich in, bearing of" in -uuā̊, βuuā̊ "rich in power", from p- "power"; productive present active participles of athematic verbs with mobile accent in -ṓs -ā̆tṓ, and of thematic verbs, in -ṓs -óṇδō	Masculine and feminine in -ō, some obligatory feminine in -ā, neuter in -õm
PX	No	No	No	Productive, adjectives in -uš, feminine in -ū or -uuī, neuter -ū, fərətuš fərətūvī fərətū "flat"	Productive, adjectives in -iš, feminine in -yī, neuter -i, hámiliš hámilayī hámili "similar"	Productive, feminine derivative of u-stem and i-stem adjectives, in -ī -iiā̊	No	No	No
PP	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Present active participles of athematic verbs with root accent, in -ā̆t, -ā̆s

Adjectives need to agree with the nouns they modify not only in number and case but also in gender, but forms for each gender may not necessarily be distinct from each other. Synchronically, many adjectives have a single form for animate (both masculine and feminine) referents, and a handful have the same forms for all three grammatical genders. Whether an adjective has distinct forms for each gender is lexical, and there is no obvious semantic difference which appears to condition their presence or absence. The usual historical explanation is that the feminine gender was a late grammatical development and did not always correspond to semantics of biological gender, though the mechanisms of the grammaticalization of the feminine gender is uncertain.

For o-stem adjectives with a masculine nom. sing. terminating in -ōḫ, there is always a separate neuter form ending in -õ. Those which have a distinct, obligatory feminine form will have one ending in -ā. Thus these adjectives are called "three-ending" o-stem adjectives. Those without a distinct, obligatory feminine ending terminate in -ōḫ for both masculine and feminine referents. These are "two-ending" o-stem adjectives. It should be noted that feminine forms of o-stems add the -ā directly to the stem, not after the -o theme vowel; this is in contrast to the *-h₂ stems (see below) which is usually added following an existing suffix.

Adjectives terminating in -k, -n, -s, and -t generally do not have distinct forms for masculine and feminine referents, but a handful will have a -ī suffix following the existing suffix to create a distinct feminine form. The netuer form is distinguished from the animate form in one of two manners. It may be by ablaut, taking a short vowel grade when the animate has long grade or a zero grade when the animate has short. Or it may be by the absence of final -s in the nominative, where the animate nom. has -s.

Adjectives in -i and -u often have distinct feminine forms ending in -ī, but there are also adjectives which have just one form for animate refernets or even one form for referents of all genders. Furthermore, there are feminine forms which have a long vowel where the masculine has a short vowel, e.g. fem. nom. sing. -ī and -ū, contra masc. nom. sing. -iš and -uš. The long vowel is conditioned by final *-h₂, which is the same as in *-ih₂ > the usual feminizing suffix -ī.

Adjectives in -nt and -wos, mostly participles, create their feminine forms by adding -ī.

There is also a class of heteroclitic adjectives based on heteroclitic nouns, which are all neuter except hāuuərə "Sun", a feminine term. Those heteroclitic items which have PP inflection take the PX inflection for their primary adjectival forms, which are also neuter and have zero grade in the suffix. The masculine form is produced by adding OX n-stem endings, and the feminine by the -ī suffix to the neuter form. In the feminine, the heteroclitic suffix has full grade and the suffix zero grade in the strong cases, and vice versa in the oblique cases.

It has been noted that adjectives often show a different ablaut pattern compared to nouns derived from the same stems. That is to say, a noun with proparoxytone or paroxytone accent can often respectively form an adjective of similar meaning with a paroxytone or oxytone accent or oxytone accent. The source of this derivation is academically debated but remained visible and productive in Northian.

All Nordic languages have an extant distinction or some vestige of it between strong and weak declensions for the same adjective, where the "strong" represents the adjective's inherited declension and the "weak" its declension as an n-stem. This is not true of Northian, which lacks a weak declension. This would suggest in historical terms that the weak declension developed after the Nordic-Northian split in the Middle Bronze Age, and all the Northian adjectives are thus "strong" in Nordic terms.

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(ị)- ~ -i̯ā-. 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	hanδōi̯	haą̄nδiš	hāt	hātī	hātā	hātī	hātīịāḥ	hātiịāḫ
voc	hāt
acc	hātam		hātaṇġ				hātiịām		hātiịāṇġ
loc	haą̄nδi	hātō	hą̄tšu	= masc.			hą̄či̯ā	hą̄či̯aō	hą̄či̯āhu
gen	hātōḫ	hātōš	hātõm				hą̄či̯ā̊ḫ	hą̄či̯aōš	hą̄či̯aõm
abl		hāsmō	hāšmi̯āu̯					hą̄či̯amo	hą̄či̯āmi̯āu̯
dat	hātei̯		hāšmus				hą̄či̯åi̯		hą̄či̯āmuš
ins	hāta	hāšmi̯ā	hāšmi̯āu̯				hą̄či̯ā̊i	hą̄či̯āmi̯ā	hą̄či̯āmi̯āu̯

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. dedātī, "giving"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	deδāt	deδāta	deδātiš	deδāt	deδātī	deδāta	deδātī	deδātīịa	deδātiịāḫ
voc
acc	deδātam		deδātaṇġ				deδātiịām		deδātiịāṇġ
loc	deδaą̄δi	deδātū	deδāššū	= masc.			deδātī	deδātiịū	deδātīšu
gen	deδą̄s	deδātuš	deδātõm				deδātīš	deδātiịuš	deδātiịõm
abl		deδāšma	deδāšmi̯āu̯					deδātīma	deδātīmi̯āu̯
dat	deδāti		deδāšmus				deδātiịi		deδātīmuš
ins	deδāta	deδāšmi̯ā	deδāšmi̯āu̯				deδātīịa	deδātīmi̯ā	deδātīmi̯āu̯

es-stems

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

Perfect active participle in -u̯os-

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

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

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

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

Comparatives in -yos-

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

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

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

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

r/n-stem

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

	m. fīuuō, "fat" = fat			n. faiuuərə			f. fūvurīḥ
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	fīuuō	fīuuonōi̯	fīuuoniš	faiuuərə	faiiurīḥ	faiuuā̊	fūvurīḥ	fūvuriiāḥ	fūvuriiaāḫ
voc	fīuuon
acc	fīuuonām		fīuuonāṇġ				fūvuriiā̊		fūvuriyāḫ
gen	fūvunōḫ	fūvunōš	fūvunõm				fūvuriiā̊	fūvuriiāous	fūvuriiaõm
loc	fūvoīni	fūvunō	fivəŋhū				fūvuriiāyi	fūvuriiāoū	fūvuriiāzū
dat	fūvunei̯	fūvunmō	fūvunmuš					fūvuriiāma	fūvuriiāmuš
ins	fūvunōi̯						fūvuriiā

mahiš

	m. mahiš, "large"			n. maha, "large"			f. mahii̯āḫ, "large"
	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl	sing	du	pl
nom	mahiš	maɣā	maɣāḫ	maha	mahīḥ	mahīḥ	mahīḥ	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, "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

Numerals

1 – 4

Cardinal numbers one through four are declinable as athematic adjectives of various declensional patterns, agreeing with the nouns (explicit or implicit) they modify in gender, case, and number. Of course, "one" is only inflected in the singular, "two" in the dual, and "three" and "four" in the plural. Numbers five and above are indeclinable.

	"one"			"two"			"three"			"four"
	m.	n.	f.	m.	n.	f.	m.	n.	f.	m.	n.	f.
nom	hā̊	hõm	hámīḥ	žuuō	duyīḥ	žuuayīḥ	θráiiāḫ	θrī́ḥ	θrižrāḫ	koδuuóriš	kótur	koδuuərəšriš
voc	hõm
acc	hā̊		hámīi̯am				θrī́		θrižrā̊	koδuuórā̊		koδuuərəzrā̊
loc	himi		hmi̯āi	duō		θvāu̯u	θrišū		θrižərəžū	koδuuərəžū		koδuuərəzərəzū
dat	hmei̯			dumā́		θvāma	θrimuš		θrižərəmuš	koδuuərəmuš		koδuuərəzərəmuš
loc	hmōḫ		hmi̯āu̯				θriβi̯ō		θrižərəβi̯ō	koδuuərəβi̯ō		koδuuərəzərəβi̯ō
gen				duōš		θvāu̯uš	θri̯õm		θrišrõm	koturõm		koδuuərəžrõm
ins	hmōi̯		hmi̯å	dumā́		θvāma	θrišūr		θrišra	kotura		koδuuərəzar

"One" is a root noun with a stem ending in -m. As with other stems ending in -m, the accusative preform *sem-m̥ would by regular phonetic change become *sēm, i.e. the same as nominative *sēm, because the PEE ending *-m̥ regularly absorbs the previous resonant, hence also nom. zi̯ōš < *dyou-s but acc. zi̯ā̊ < *dyēm < *dyew-m̥; in the number, -əm is often but not always restored. In the oblique cases, the stem is in zero grade and appears as hm- < *sm-. The feminine forms are a regular development from the familiar -īḥ suffixation.

"Two" is only declined in the dual number. There are two stems in use: the monosyllabic dvō- and the dysyllabic duo-. It is not certain why the stem scans as two syllables in the neuter forms.

"Three" is a regular PX i-stem noun and is only declined in the plural. Nom. θráiiāḫ shows regular development of *e > a after yod and attraction of the previous front vowel. <ị> is inserted by Runic writers. As with other PX nouns of animate gender, the accusative plural has a zero-grade suffix followed by a zero-grade ending; *tri-ns > θrī́. The feminine forms employ the feminizing infix -sr-, which is always found in the zero grade, and take regular athematic endings. There is also a specific personal form if three women are specifically spoken of, which is θrai̯štar θrižrōḫ < *trey-sr̥, *tri-sr-os.

"Four" behaves like most athematic nouns and also employs the feminizing infix -sr- for its feminine forms. Note however that the ablauting element was the second syllable of the stem -twor-, which in zero grade appears would be PNN *-tur-. Which of the two resonants vocalize depends on the phonetic environment. Where the suffix stands alone the *-w- is vocalized, as in neuter nominative kotur < *kʷetw̥r. But where an obstruent follows the suffix it is the *-r- that becomes syllabic, as in koδuuərəmuš < *kʷetwr̥mus. There was also a singular form koδuuā̊ < *kʷetwōr = Venetian quattuor.

The feminine forms for "four" have the particularly long stem of hoδvərəzərə-, which is for *kʷétwr̥-sr̥- where the ending begins with a consonant. The masculine form for "four" frequently supplants the feminine owing to the sheer length of the etymological stem.

5 and higher

• fenkə "five"

From PEE *pénkʷe.

• xšuuāxš "six"

From *kswéks.

• haftam 7

From *septm̥.

• oxθō 8

The proto-form of this word is disputed. Northian oxθō can be traced back to both *(H)oktow and *(H)oktoH, with or without an initial laryngeal. Morphologically, it is the dual of óxθō "fingers", in ei-stem.

• nauuam 9
• dekam 10

Pronouns

First person

	sing		du		pl
	stressed	enclitic	stressed	enclitic	stressed	enclitic
nom	áhō		vṓ		vōi̯
acc	ammṓi̯	mi	āŋhō	nō	aŋhmṓi̯	nā̊́ḫ
gen	mémi	moi̯	nō		āŋhér-
dat	máji̯o		nanā́		āŋhméi̯

Second person

	sing		du		pl
	stressed	enclitic	stressed	enclitic	stressed	enclitic
nom	tū́		yṓ		yā̊́ḫ
acc	svō	ti	ūšō	vō	ušmé	vā̊́ḫ
gen	téve	toi̯	wō		yuštr-(I/II)
dat	tévi̯ō	toi̯	wanā́		ušmḗ

Demonstrative

	Singular			Dual			Plural
	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nominative	ha	taṯ	hā	tō	toī	tāī	toy	tā	tāy
Accusative	tõm		tāmam				tṓn		tā́s
Locative	tohme		tesi̯āi̯	tṓu̯			toisu		tēsu
Genitive	tohi̯ō		tezās	tṓmōuš			toiom		tēom
Dative	tohmoi̯		tesi̯åi̯	tṓzmā			toiomus		tēmus
Instrumental	toi̯		toi̯

Indefinite article

The Northian indefinite article, which introduces an indefininte noun phrase, is derived from the PEE root *oiwos, meaning "one". Note that the endings are those of demonstratives.

	aēuuōḫ, "a, an"
	M & F	N
nom	aēuuōḫ	aēuuó
voc
acc	aēuuõm
loc	aēuuōi̯
dat
abl	aēuuōṯ
gen	aēuuōi̯š
ins	aēuuō

Verb classes

Athematic present

The shapes of the stem in the Erani-Eracuran parent language decides the resulting forms in Northian:

• VC—these take the short (regular) endings.
• VH—these take the short (regular) endings in the strong forms and long (augmented) endings in the weak forms, with any laryngeal-colouring effects visible on both stem and endings which interface with the stem-final laryngeal.
• VCH—these take the long (augmented) endings, with any laryngeal-colouring effects visible on endings which interface with the stem-final laryngeal.

Aside from the shape of the stem, there are two accentual patterns found in present stems:

• Mobile accent—this pattern is found within all stem-classes and is the most common by far; the accent is on the stem in the singular active and on the ending in all other forms.
• Persistent accent—some root stems take this accent pattern, and the accent is on the stem in all cases; the singular indicative and imperfect active usually has a lengthened vowel, in contrast to the short vowel of all other forms. The injunctive can sometimes have short vowel throughout, but this is completely unpredictable. The 3 pl form, which is sensitive to ablaut, takes the zero grade form.

Present stems

The imperfective system in Galic largely continues the system of reconstructed Proto-Erani-Eracuran. With regard to the historic development of the Northian languages, the imperfective stem is evidently the most productive, followed by the stative and perfective stems in this order. Except for inherited items, all verbs not directly derived from roots could only be imperfective. Imperfective stems could be directly conjugated from the root or with the addition of affixes; as decided by the affix, the athematic or thematic endings may be used. Many athematic stems display ablaut, and in Northian it is customary to give the first person singular active to show the form of the strong stem and the second person plural, for the weak stem.

#	Class	1 sg. / 2 pl.	Function	Examples
1a	root	CéC-mi / CØC-té CéCaē-mi / CØCi-té	Used for inherently imperfective roots. This root type often but not always shows root ablaut, varying between *e ~ Ø. The accent is on the root if it is in full-grade, and on the ending if the root is in zero-grade. These verbs are common in Galic but uncommon in Epic.	es- / s- "to be"
1b		CḗC-mi / CéC-ti	The same as the type above, but with ablaut varying between *ē ~ e. The accent persists on the root.	ēs- / es- "to sit, stay"
2a	root	CéC-ōḥ / CéC-iti	Used for inherently imperfective roots. The root consistently shows full grade and is accented.	ver-e- "to transport"
2b		CØC-ṓḥ / CØC-éti	Used for inherently imperfective roots. The root consistently shows zero grade, and the theme vowel is accented.	tuδ-e- "to push"
3	reduplicated	Ci-CéC-mi / Ci-CØC-té Ce-CéC-mi / Ce-CØC-té	Creates imperfective stems from eventive roots. The reduplicated syllable varies between *e ~ i, with no apparent difference in meaning. The root syllable generally undergoes ablaut, with e-grade in strong forms and zero-grade in weak forms. Roots which end in a laryngeal have a characteristic long vowel in the strong form and a schwa in weak, which merges with the ending if it begins with a vowel.	de-δō- / de-δ(i)- "to give" hi-štā- / hi-št(i)- "to stand (something) up"
4	né ~ n	CØ-né-C-mi / CØ-nØ-C-té	Creates imperfective stems from perfective roots. The affix *ne ~ n is inserted between the vowel and final consonant of the root. The root is always in the zero-grade, while the infix undergoes ablaut.	li-ne-k- / la-ṇ-x "to leave (behind)"
5	nā́ / nṓ ~ ni	CØ-nā́-mi / CØ-ni-té CØ-nṓ-mi / CØ-ni-té	This class originates from the same process as class IV, but due to sound changes the surface forms are different. In strong forms, the combination *-ne-h₂- becomes -nā-, while in weak forms the *-n-h₂- generally causes the preceding vowel (in zero grade) to lengthen. If the root ends in *-h₃, the strong form has -nō-, but this is somewhat rarer as roots rarely end in this consonant. The final -i in the weak forms of this root is the "laryngeal i", which only appears before consonants and as i only before dentals, or as a before gutturals. If preceding e, it colours e to match (as a rule of thumb) the same consonant in the strong stem; this is the situation in the 3rd act. pl., where the ending was *-enti.	kri-nā- / kri-n(i)- "to buy" gā-nō- / gā-n(i)- "to know"
6	naō ~ nu	CØ-naō-mi / CØ-nu-té	This class also originates from the same process as class IV. Preceding another vowel, naō- is written as nauu-. In weak forms, the suffix *-n-u̯- can become -nuu- preceding another vowel, e.g. kərənuuəṇδi "they make", or -āuu- following a non-resonant.	kərə-naō- / kərə-nu- "to make"
7	reduplicated	Cí-CØC-ōḥ / Cí-CØC-iti	Like the athematic verbs in class III, these are imperfective verbs formed from eventive roots, but with thematic endings. The root syllable is in zero-grade. The accent is consistently on the reduplication syllable.	pí-p-i- "to drink" hí-zd-i- "to sit (something) down"
8a	ii	CéC-ii-ōḥ / CéC-ii-ati	This very prolific suffix creates imperfective stems from perfective roots. They characteristically had a full-grade and consistently-accented root. As a rule, present stems in class 8a corresponded with an aorist stem in class 1 (root aorist), and so in the Epic language verbs in this class drop the -ii- to form the first subjunctive.	špač-ii- "to observe, spectate"
8b		CØC-ii-ṓḥ / CØC-ii-áti	Similar to the above, but this type had a zero-grade root and consistently accented endings. Further, members of thsi class were often deponent, i.e. lacking an active voice. Where an active voice is found, there is usually no contrast in meaning to the middle.	worj-i̯- "to rotate"
9	sk-	CØC-šk-ṓḥ / CéC-šk-éti	Creates imperfective stems from perfective roots.	gā-šk- "to walk, pace"
10	s-	CéC-s-ōḥ / CéC-s-iti	Only a few examples are known from this class.	lek-s-e "to protect"
11	ḗ-	CØC-ḗ-ōḥ / CØC-ḗ-yiti	Verbs in this class mostly express states of being, derived mainly from adjectives. The suffix ended in a laryngeal, so in Galic verbs in this class have disyllabic endings that are orthographically merged.	ruδ-ḗ "to blush"
12	áii-	CóC-aii-ōḥ / CØC-áii-ati	Stems of this class have root syllables in the o-grade.	soδ-aii- "to sit, calm"
13a	s-	CéC-s-ōḥ / CéC-s-eti Ce-CéC-s-ōḥ / Ce-CéC-s-iti	This formation has two functions. When applied to present and aorist stems, desiderative verbs are created, but when applied to perfect stems, a meaning somewhat similar to future perfect is created.
13b		Cí-CØC-s-ōḥ / Cí-CØC-s-iti	The same as above, except with i-reduplication of the initial syllable, which stands in the zero grade.
14	sii-	CØC-sii-ōḥ / CØC-sii-ati	Creates future stems from present and aorist stems. The shape of this stem depends on that of the root: if the root ended in a vowel, the suffix will change to -hiia-, and the vowel preceding will obligatorily become a.
15	aii-	CVC-aii-ṓḥ / CVC-aii-áti	Creates verbs from o-stem (2nd declension) nouns.
16	āii-	CVC-āii-ṓḥ / CVC-āii-áti	Creates verbs from ā-stem (1st declension) nouns.

Root with mobile accent

gonmi, hāté, "to strike"

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp
1 sg	gón-mi	egónam	gónąm	gón-ō	gñ-iiā̊	—	gān-ūm	igun-ūm	gān-ūm	gén-ą̄m	jñ-īma	—	—
2 sg	góŋ-hi	egṓṇġ	gṓṇġ	-ai	-iiā̊(s)	gān-θī́	-šθoi̯	-šθo	-šθo	-ésθoi̯	-īšθo	gān-švō	gān-θitoṯ
3 sg	gón-δi	egóṇṯ	góṇṯ	-iyi	-iiāṯ	-itū́	-θoi̯	-θo	-θo	-étoi̯	-īto	-θo	-θoṯ
1 du	hŋʷ-uuəíñi	egñ-uuó	gñ-uuó	-ouuiñi	-īuuó	—	gāŋ-vózθa	iguŋ-vóθa	gāŋ-vóθa	-ou̯ozθa	-īvóθa	—	—
2 du	hā-tāḫ	egā-δõm	gā-δõm	-étāḫ	-ītõm	-θāḫ	jñ-ātiθai̯i	igñ-ātiθa	jñ-ātaθa	-ētaθai	-ītaθa	jñ-ātaθa	-θoṯ
3 du	-tḗ	-δā̊	-δā̊	-étiš	-ītā̊	-θés	-ātāi̯i	igñ-ātā	-ātā	-ētāi̯i	-ītā	jñ-ātā	-θoṯ
1 pl	hŋʷ-míñi	egñ-mó	gñ-mó	-omiñi	-īmó	—	gān-mózθa	igun-meθa	gān-meθa	-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	hā-δé	egā-δé	gā-δé	-éti	-īté	gén-θi	-šθve	-šθve	-šθve	-ésθve	-īšθve	-θve	-θoṯ
3 pl	gñ-énδi	egñ-éṇṯ	gñ-éṇṯ	-ō	-iiāṯ	jñ-énθu	jñ-énθroi̯	igñ-ónθro	-ónθro	-ónθroi̯	-īi̯unθro	-unθo	-nθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

ahmi, šté, "to be". This verb of singular importance has a rather opaque stem owing to the vagaries of *s in various phonetic positions. In principle, when *s precedes *m, *u̯, or a back vowel and when it stands in initial position and precedes any vowel, it becomes h; then any front vowel which borders h becomes a. Before a voiced consonant, *s becomes z. Thus the a-vocalism of hánθi "they are" is due to the colouring effects of h and not an Erani-Eracuran laryngeal, and so the subjunctive endings beginning in e are not coloured to a. ahmi has no attested middle voice.

	active						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp
1 sg	áh-mi	é-ez-ąm		áh-ō	h-iiā̊	—	—
2 sg	á-hi	á-ā̊-ḫ		-ayi	-iiā̊	z-δí	z-δitóṯ
3 sg	éš-ti	é-eš-ṯ		-ai	-iiāṯ	š-tū́	š-toṯ
1 du	h-uuəíñi	ēz-uuó	h-uuó	-ouuəíñi	h-īuuó	—	—
2 du	š-tāḫ	ēš-tõm	š-tõm	-átāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-toṯ
3 du	-tḗ	-tā̊	-tā̊	-átiš	-ītā̊	-tā̊	-toṯ
1 pl	h-míñi	ēz-mo	h-mo	-omiñi	-īmó	—	—
2 pl	s-té	ēš-té	š-te	-áti	-īté	éš-ti	-toṯ
3 pl	h-ánδi	ā-h-áṇṯ		-onδi	-ii̯āṯ	h-āδu	h-āδoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās

Root with persistent accent

āhmi, asti, "to dwell". A small but important class of root present verbs have persistent accent. Thus, rather than having an accent that shifts to the endings in the non-singular active and the entire middle, the accent persists on the root syllable; many, but not all, such verbs will have a lengthened vowel in the singular active. The 3 pl form takes the zero grade in all cases because the accent persists on the root.

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp
1 sg	ā́h-mi	ā̊s-am	áh-am	ā́h-ō	áh-i̯ą̄m	—	áh-ūm	ā́h-ūm	áh-ūm	ā́h-ą̄m	és-īma	—	—
2 sg	ḗ-si	ā̊s	es	ḗs-ei̯i	-i̯āu̯	ez-θī́	és-šθoi̯	ḗs-šθo	és-šθo	ḗs-ésθoi̯	-īšθo	és-švō	és-θitoṯ
3 sg	ḗs-ti	ā̊s-ṯ	es-ṯ	-ei̯	-i̯āṯ	es-tū́	-θoi̯	-θo	-θo	-étoi̯	-īto	-θo	-θoṯ
1 du	áh-víñi	āh-vo	áh-vó	ā́h-ou̯iñi	és-īvo	—	áh-vozθa	ā́h-voθa	áh-voθa	áh-ou̯ozθa	-īvoθa	—	—
2 du	és-tāḫ	ēs-tõm	és-tõm	ḗs-etāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātiθa	-ātaθa	ḗs-ētaθai	-ītaθa	-ātaθa	-θoṯ
3 du	-tés	-tą̄m	-tą̄m	-etiš	-ītąm	-tiš	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātā	-ētāi̯i	-ītā	-ātā	-θoṯ
1 pl	áh-míñi	āh-mo	áh-mo	ā́h-omiñi	-īmō	—	-mózθa	-meθa	-meθa	ā́h-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	és-ti	ēs-ti	és-te	ḗs-eti	-īte	ḗs-ti	és-šθve	ḗs-šθve	és-šθve	ḗs-ésθve	-īšθve	-θve	-θoṯ
3 pl	áh-āṯ	ēs-eṯ	háṯ	ā́h-onθi	-ii̯āṯ	és-enθu	áh-unθroi̯	ā́h-unθro	áh-unθro	-ónθroi̯	-īi̯unθro	-unθo	-unθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Root with long endings

ánaēmi, ānité, "to breath". Owing to the effects of an interconsonantal laryngeal, some roots were synchronically analyzed as taking a set of endings augmented with a vowel between the stem and ending proper, though historically the augmentation is part of the stem and not of the ending. These endings are analogous with the ṣet roots in the Tennite language, while those taking the short (normal) endings are analoogus to aṇit roots. Since there is an Erani-Eracuran laryngeal on the stem-ending border, any ending which begins with *e (bolded) is liable to be coloured by this laryngeal; in the example below the laryngeal is *h₁ and so does not colour the ending. This colouring effect may be seen as the analogue to the ending augmentation where the laryngeal is not preserved between consonants.

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp
1 sg	án-aēmi	aán-ą̄m	án-ą̄m	án-ō	ān-i̯ą̄m	—	ān-ūm	au̯un-ūm	ān-ūm	án-ą̄m	ān-īma	—	—
2 sg	án-iši	-iš	-iš	-ei̯i	-i̯āu̯	āniθī́	-išθoi̯	-išθo	-išθo	-ésθoi̯	-īšθo	ān-išvō	ān-iθitoṯ
3 sg	-iti	-it	-it	-ei̯	-i̯āṯ	-itū́	-itoi̯	-ito	-ito	-étoi̯	-īto	-ito	-itoṯ
1 du	ān-ivíñi	au̯un-ivo	ān-ivó	-ou̯iñi	-īu̯o	—	-ivózθa	-ivóθa	-ivóθa	-ou̯ozθa	-īvóθa	—	—
2 du	-itāḫ	-itõm	-itõm	-étāḫ	-ītõm	-itāḫ	-ētiθai̯i	-ētiθa	-ētaθa	-ētaθai	-ii̯itaθa	-ētaθa	-itoṯ
3 du	-ités	-itą̄m	-itą̄m	-étiš	-ītąm	-ités	-ētāi̯i	-ētā	-ētā	-ētāi̯i	-ii̯itā	-ētā	-itoṯ
1 pl	-amíñi	-amo	-amo	-omiñi	-īmō	—	-amózθa	-ameθa	-ameθa	-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	-ité	-ite	-ite	-éti	-īte	án-iti	-išθve	-išθve	-nušθve	-ésθve	-īšθve	-iθve	-itoṯ
3 pl	ān-énθi	-éṯ	ān-éṯ	-ónθi	-ii̯āṯ	ān-énθu	-énθroi̯	-ónθro	-ónθro	-ónθroi̯	-ii̯unθro	-ii̯unθo	-inθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Of a similar construction are those verbs whose historic stems terminated in *-h₂ and *-h₃, giving rise to a and o respectively, in all the bolded positions.

Root with long ending and persistent accent

While there is no obvious reason why such a combination cannot exist, there are no known roots which take both long endings and a persistent accent.

Vowel-final stems

faēmi, fité, "to protect, apologize, propitiate (middle)". In partial distinction to the situation above, stems which had a laryngeal in final position result in a lengthened vowel in the singular active. For paēmi this vowel is ā, but as in other cases the vowel becomes ē or ō. In the active optative, the initial consonant is a phonetic combination of *py-. This word is cognate to Nordic fehu "flock", via the sense a flock is animals protected by the shepherd.

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp
1 sg	f-aḗmi	émβā̊	f-ā̊	fa-ō	β-iiā̊	—	f-ā́m	ep-ā́m	p-ā́m	p-ą̄m	p-īma	—	—
2 sg	-ā́hi	émβā̊	-ā̊	-ayi	-iiā̊	β-θī́	-išθoi̯	-išθo	-išθo	-ásθoi̯	-īšθo	p-išvō	p-iθitoṯ
3 sg	-ā́ti	émβā-t	-āt	-ai	-iiāṯ	-itū́	-itoi̯	-ito	-ito	-átoi̯	-īto	-ito	-itoṯ
1 du	-ūvíñi	ep-ūvó	-ūvó	-ouuiñi	f-ūvo	—	-ivózθa	-ivóθa	-ivóθa	-ou̯ozθa	-īvóθa	—	—
2 du	-itāḫ	-itõm	-itõm	-átāḫ	-ītõm	-itāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātiθa	-ātaθa	-ātaθai	-ii̯itaθa	-ātaθa	-itoṯ
3 du	-itḗ	-itā̊	-itā̊	-átiš	-ītā̊	-itḗ	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātā	-ātāi̯i	-ii̯itā	-ātā	-itoṯ
1 pl	-amíñi	-amo	-amo	-omiñi	-īmō	—	-amózθa	-ameθa	-ameθa	-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	-ité	-ité	-ité	-áti	-īté	fā́-ti	-išθvé	-išθvé	-išθvé	-ásθve	-īšθve	-iθve	-itoṯ
3 pl	-ánδi	-áṯ	-ánṯ	-ónδi	-iyaṯ	f-inθū́	-ánθroi̯	-ónθro	-ónθro	-ónθroi̯	-ii̯unθro	-ii̯unθo	-inθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

naṓ ~ nu

xšnaōmi, xšnuθvé, "to sharpen". Present stems which vary with a nu suffix (néu̯ in strong forms) are treated as a special class as the endings are liable to become muddled with the stem-final consonant. Fundamentally, these verbs are still of the VC type and all have mobile accent. Syllabification rules in Northian requires the u in the weak form of the suffix to become a consonant in the presence of a following vowel, which in turn causes the n before it to mutate to ŋ. This ŋ may itself be syllabified in response to the want of a preceding vowel, as Northian prohibits four consecutive consonants in anlaut.

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp
1 sg	xš-naṓ-mi	a-xš-nā̊		xš-náuu-ō	xš-nu-iiā̊		hš-nūm	ekš-nūm	hš-nūm	hš-neu̯ą̄m	hš-āŋvīma	—	—
2 sg	xš-náu-šti	-naṓ-š		-náuu-oyi	-nu-iiā̊	xš-naṓ	-nušθoi̯	-nušθo	-nušθo	-neu̯esθoi̯	-āŋvīšθo	hš-nušvō	hš-nuθitoṯ
3 sg	xš-naṓ-ti	-naṓ-ṯ		-náuu-oi	-nu-iiāṯ	-nu-tū	-nutoi̯	-nuto	-nuto	-neu̯etoi̯	-āŋvīto	-nuto	-nutoṯ
1 du	xš-nu-voíñi	a-xš-nu-vo		-náuu-ouuiñi	-nuu-īuuo		-nuu̯ózθa	-nuu̯óθa	-nuu̯eθa	-neu̯ou̯ozθa	-āŋvīu̯óθa	—	—
2 du	xš-nu-tāḫ	-nu-tõm		-náuu-itāḫ	-nuu-ītõm	-nu-tāḫ	-āŋvātiθai̯i	-āŋvātaθa	-āŋvātaθa	-neu̯ātaθai	-āŋvītaθa	-āŋvātaθa	-nutoṯ
3 du	xš-nu-tḗ	-nu-tā̊		-náuu-itiš	-nuu-ītąm	-nu-tḗ	-āŋvātāi̯i	-āŋvātā	-āŋvātā	-neu̯ātāi̯i	-āŋvītā	-āŋvātā	-nutoṯ
1 pl	xš-nu-míñi	-nu-mo		-náuu-omiñi	-nuu-īmō		-numózθa	-numeθa	-numeθa	-neu̯omozθa	-āŋvīmeθa	—	—
2 pl	xš-nu-té	-nu-té		-náuu-iti	-nuu-īte	-nu-te	-nušθve	-nušθve	-nušθve	-neu̯esθve	-āŋvīšθve	-nuθve	-nutoṯ
3 pl	xš-uu-onδi	a-xš-nuu-óṇṯ		-náuu-oṇδi	-nuu-īṯ	-nuu-ātū	-āŋvónθroi̯	-āŋvónθro	-āŋvónθro	-neu̯onθroi̯	-āŋvīnθro	-āŋvunθo	-nunθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Aorist

Aorist stems

The aorist or perfective (not to be confused with "perfect") stems belong to a relic class in Epic Northian, but they are productive in the Galic language. When used in the indicative and imperative, there are four formations as follows. But when used outside of them, and particularly in the injunctive and optative moods, aorists in s- are often "conjugated from the root", that is behave like root aorists. Roots which have this behaviour are called "split aorists" and are associated with a contrasting ablaut pattern, with only the third plural exhibiting a weak grade.

#	Class	1 sg. / 2 pl.	Function	Examples
1	root	CéC-am / CØC-té	Contains roots that are inherently perfective. Most perfective verbs in the parent language appear to have been of this type, and Galic Northian has inherited about 100 lexical items inflected this way. The root syllable typically shows ablaut between *e ~ Ø. Many suffixed imperfective stems are derived from a root perfective stem.	dō- / d(i)- "to give" xraō- / xru- "to hear"
2	root	CØC-õm / CØC-té	Contains roots that are inherently perfective. This type appears to have been rare.	luδ- "to listen"
3	reduplicated	Cé-CØC-õm / Cé-CØC-iti	This pattern is known from only one root, though it is widely-attested in other Erani-Eracuran languages.	waō-š- "to say"
4	s-	CḗC-s-(m) / CéC-š-ti	The s- suffix creates perfective stems from roots which were inherently imperfective; notably, the ablauting root syllable contrasts the long vowel in the strong forms and the short in the weak.	daix-s- "to show"

Root aorists

esedām, esdté

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp
1 sg	ā́h-mi	esed-am	áh-am	ā́h-ō	áh-i̯ą̄m	—	áh-ūm	ā́h-ūm	áh-ūm	ā́h-ą̄m	és-īma	—	—
2 sg	ḗ-si	ā̊s	es	ḗs-ei̯i	-i̯āu̯	ez-θī́	és-šθoi̯	ḗs-šθo	és-šθo	ḗs-ésθoi̯	-īšθo	és-švō	és-θitoṯ
3 sg	ḗs-ti	ā̊s-ṯ	es-ṯ	-ei̯	-i̯āṯ	es-tū́	-θoi̯	-θo	-θo	-étoi̯	-īto	-θo	-θoṯ
1 du	áh-víñi	est-vo	áh-vó	ā́h-ou̯iñi	és-īvo	—	áh-vozθa	ā́h-voθa	áh-voθa	áh-ou̯ozθa	-īvoθa	—	—
2 du	és-tāḫ	ēs-tõm	és-tõm	ḗs-etāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātiθa	-ātaθa	ḗs-ētaθai	-ītaθa	-ātaθa	-θoṯ
3 du	-tés	-tą̄m	-tą̄m	-etiš	-ītąm	-tiš	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātā	-ētāi̯i	-ītā	-ātā	-θoṯ
1 pl	áh-míñi	est-mo	áh-mo	ā́h-omiñi	-īmō	—	-mózθa	-meθa	-meθa	ā́h-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	és-ti	ēs-ti	és-te	ḗs-eti	-īte	ḗs-ti	és-šθve	ḗs-šθve	és-šθve	ḗs-ésθve	-īšθve	-θve	-θoṯ
3 pl	áh-āṯ	ēs-eṯ	háṯ	ā́h-onθi	-ii̯āṯ	és-enθu	áh-unθroi̯	ā́h-unθro	áh-unθro	-ónθroi̯	-īi̯unθro	-unθo	-unθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Split aorists

dēkšam, esdté

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp
1 sg	ā́h-mi	esed-am	áh-am	ā́h-ō	áh-i̯ą̄m	—	áh-ūm	ā́h-ūm	áh-ūm	ā́h-ą̄m	és-īma	—	—
2 sg	ḗ-si	ā̊s	es	ḗs-ei̯i	-i̯āu̯	ez-θī́	és-šθoi̯	ḗs-šθo	és-šθo	ḗs-ésθoi̯	-īšθo	és-švō	és-θitoṯ
3 sg	ḗs-ti	ā̊s-ṯ	es-ṯ	-ei̯	-i̯āṯ	es-tū́	-θoi̯	-θo	-θo	-étoi̯	-īto	-θo	-θoṯ
1 du	áh-víñi	est-vo	áh-vó	ā́h-ou̯iñi	és-īvo	—	áh-vozθa	ā́h-voθa	áh-voθa	áh-ou̯ozθa	-īvoθa	—	—
2 du	és-tāḫ	ēs-tõm	és-tõm	ḗs-etāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātiθa	-ātaθa	ḗs-ētaθai	-ītaθa	-ātaθa	-θoṯ
3 du	-tés	-tą̄m	-tą̄m	-etiš	-ītąm	-tiš	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātā	-ētāi̯i	-ītā	-ātā	-θoṯ
1 pl	áh-míñi	est-mo	áh-mo	ā́h-omiñi	-īmō	—	-mózθa	-meθa	-meθa	ā́h-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	és-ti	ēs-ti	és-te	ḗs-eti	-īte	ḗs-ti	és-šθve	ḗs-šθve	és-šθve	ḗs-ésθve	-īšθve	-θve	-θoṯ
3 pl	áh-āṯ	ēs-eṯ	háṯ	ā́h-onθi	-ii̯āṯ	és-enθu	áh-unθroi̯	ā́h-unθro	áh-unθro	-ónθroi̯	-īi̯unθro	-unθo	-unθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Thematic endings

dēkšam, esdté

	active						middle						fut imp
	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf	inj	subj	opt	imp
1 sg	ā́h-mi	esed-am	áh-am	ā́h-ō	áh-i̯ą̄m	—	áh-ūm	ā́h-ūm	áh-ūm	ā́h-ą̄m	és-īma	—	—
2 sg	ḗ-si	ā̊s	es	ḗs-ei̯i	-i̯āu̯	ez-θī́	és-šθoi̯	ḗs-šθo	és-šθo	ḗs-ésθoi̯	-īšθo	és-švō	és-θitoṯ
3 sg	ḗs-ti	ā̊s-ṯ	es-ṯ	-ei̯	-i̯āṯ	es-tū́	-θoi̯	-θo	-θo	-étoi̯	-īto	-θo	-θoṯ
1 du	áh-víñi	est-vo	áh-vó	ā́h-ou̯iñi	és-īvo	—	áh-vozθa	ā́h-voθa	áh-voθa	áh-ou̯ozθa	-īvoθa	—	—
2 du	és-tāḫ	ēs-tõm	és-tõm	ḗs-etāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātiθa	-ātaθa	ḗs-ētaθai	-ītaθa	-ātaθa	-θoṯ
3 du	-tés	-tą̄m	-tą̄m	-etiš	-ītąm	-tiš	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātā	-ētāi̯i	-ītā	-ātā	-θoṯ
1 pl	áh-míñi	est-mo	áh-mo	ā́h-omiñi	-īmō	—	-mózθa	-meθa	-meθa	ā́h-omozθa	-īmeθa	—	—
2 pl	és-ti	ēs-ti	és-te	ḗs-eti	-īte	ḗs-ti	és-šθve	ḗs-šθve	és-šθve	ḗs-ésθve	-īšθve	-θve	-θoṯ
3 pl	áh-āṯ	ēs-eṯ	háṯ	ā́h-onθi	-ii̯āṯ	és-enθu	áh-unθroi̯	ā́h-unθro	áh-unθro	-ónθroi̯	-īi̯unθro	-unθo	-unθoṯ
inf hšnutiš, hšnéu̯tuš, ptcpl hšnéu̯å, hšnnonθō; hšnéu̯āṯ; hšnunθī, hšnnonθi̯ās							inf hšnuθi̯ō, hšnuθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl hšnūmnō, hšnūmnōi̯o; hšnūmnõ; hšnūmnā, hšnūmnās

Perfect

Perfect stems

The features of the perfect stem in the proto-language were reduplication and the o-vocalism in the perfect indicative. This is true of Northian as well. In the Epic language, the o-vocalism has spread into the subjunctive, but in Galic the subjunctive has the inherited e-vocalism.

#	Class	1 sg. / 2 pl.	Function	Examples
1	root	CóC-a / CØC-é	This type is known from only one verb, namely u̯oi̯d- "to know". The weak stem is u̯id-. Accent is on the root syllable for strong forms, and endings for weak forms.	u̯oi̯d- / u̯id- "to know"
2	reduplicated	Ce-CóC-a / Ce-CØC-é	Creates stative stems from perfective and imperfective roots. An extra syllable is prefixed, consisting of the consonant immediately preceding the next vowel and the vowel *e. Due to phonetic change, this vowel can appear as o following a labialized consonant or become more obscure if a lost consonant such as a laryngeal is reduplicated, cf. ā̊ha "I am desiccated" < PEE *h₂e-h₂oh₂s-h₂e. The strong forms have characteristic accented o-grade in the root syllable and zero-grade there in the weak forms with accented endings.	ve-voi̯d- / ve-vid- "to believe" ko-kor- / ko-kr- "to be working" ā̊s- / ā̊s- "to be desiccated"
3	long-vowel	Ce-CṓC-a / Ce-CóC-i	This type may have developed in Northian on the pattern of the sigmatic aorist as it has no like cognates in other branches of the language. It contrasts a long vowel in the strong forms and a short vowel in the weak, and the vowel is often, but not always, the o that is characteristic of the perfect.

Reduplicated

titóna, titné "to be growing, to increase". Perfect stems in Northian are regularly formed by reduplication of the first consonant with the vowel *e, attached to the root in o-grade in the active singular and in zero grade in the active dual and plural and the entire middle. The endings are a special set of perfect endings.

Aside from the perfect indicative or "perfect tense" in paedagogical works, various other forms are made from the perfect stem. With the exception of the perfect imperative, which is attested about as much as the indicative, other formations are considerably rarer for the reason that they may be Northian innovations rather than inherited features of the prehistoric parent language. The pluperfect (or descriptively the perfect preterite) and perfect injunctive are formed from the indicative stem, with the same ablaut behaviour, with secondary endings. The subjunctive is formed from the reduplicated stem with root in invariant e-grade, and the optative from the same stem with root in invariant zero grade.

Not all perfect stems are capable of displaying all these formations. Especially, perfect verbs with stative meaning usually do not form pluperfects or any middle forms, but they do form subjunctives and optatives. When a pluperfect meaning is required, they have a periphrastic formation of the perfect active participle with the imperfect forms of the verb es "to be". Yet it is difficult to formulate absolute rules about this matter, since the Galic corpus is of limited size, and there may have existed unattested formations in the language of its composition.

	active					middle
	ind	plpf / inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	plpf / inj	subj	opt	imp
1 sg	titón-a	e-titón-ąm	titén-ō	titn-iiā̊		p-ā́m	ep-ā́m	p-ā́m	p-ą̄m
2 sg	-θa	e-titṓṇ-ġ	titéin-i	-iiā̊	titā-δī́	-išθoi̯	-išθo	-ásθoi̯	-īšθo
3 sg	-i	e-titóṇ-ṯ	titén-ai	-iiāṯ	-tū́	-itoi̯	-ito	-átoi̯	-īto	-ito
1 du	titn-uuo	e-titn-uuo	-auuiñi	-ūvo		-ivózθa	-ivóθa	-ou̯ozθa	-īvóθa
2 du	titā-tā	e-titā-tõm	-itāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātaθa	-ātaθai	-ii̯itaθa	-ātaθa
3 du	-tṓ	-tā̊	-itiš	-ītā̊	-tḗ	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātāi̯i	-ii̯itā	-ātā
1 pl	tita-mé	e-tita-mo	-omiñi	-īmo		-amózθa	-ameθa	-omozθa	-īmeθa
2 pl	titn-é	e-titā-θé	-iti	-īté	tétā-ti	-išθvé	-išθvé	-ásθve	-īšθve	-iθve
3 pl	-ṓ	e-titn-áṇṯ	-ō	-iiāṯ	titn-atū	-ánθroi̯	-ónθro	-ónθroi̯	-ii̯unθro	-ii̯unθo
inf titnuuéni, pf act ptcpl titnuuā̊, titnuštṓ; titnuuṓḫ; titnuuohī, titnuźiiā̊						inf hšnuθi̯ō, pf mid ptcpl titaminō (I/II)

Root

woida, widé "to know" is the only member of the perfect conjugation that, as a condition with good history, does not have reduplication. There are other perfect stems which do not have reduplication in Northian but do in other branch of the language; these are usually regarded as Northian innovations on the pattern of woida. It has the peculiarity of forming a full-grade root in the 3 pl, which also puts the ending in zero grade -ūš. It is as yet not known whether this feature is inherited, as it has been argued to be introduced from the root aorist injunctive, which in this form also shows full grade in the root.

	active					middle
	ind	plpf / inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	plpf / inj	subj	opt	imp
1 sg	woid-a	auuoid-am	teten-ō	tetn-i̯ą̄m		p-ā́m	ep-ā́m	p-ą̄m	p-īma
2 sg	wōiš-ta	auuōi-š	-esi	-i̯āu̯	tetun-θī́	-išθoi̯	-išθo	-ásθoi̯	-īšθo	p-išvō
3 sg	woid-i	auuōi-št	-eti	-i̯āṯ	-tū́	-itoi̯	-ito	-átoi̯	-īto	-ito
1 du	wīž-uuó	auuiž-uua	-ou̯iñi	-īvo		-ivózθa	-ivóθa	-ou̯ozθa	-īvóθa
2 du	wīš-tā	auuiš-tõm	-etāḫ	-ītõm	-tāḫ	-ātiθai̯i	-ātaθa	-ātaθai	-ii̯itaθa	-ātaθa
3 du	-tṓ	-tā̊	-itą̄m	-ītąm	-tés	-ātāi̯i	-ātā	-ātāi̯i	-ii̯itā	-ātā
1 pl	wīž-mé	auuiž-mó	-omiñi	-īmō		-amózθa	-ameθa	-omozθa	-īmeθa
2 pl	vid-é	auuiš-té	-áti	-īté	-ti	-išθvé	-išθvé	-ásθve	-īšθve	-iθve
3 pl	woid-ūš	auuiž-iiáṯ	-ónθi	-ii̯āṯ	tétn-unθu	-ánθroi̯	-ónθro	-ónθroi̯	-ii̯unθro	-ii̯unθo
pf act inf wižuuéni, pf act ptcpl wáiduš, widuštōḫ; wáidū; wáiduštī, widuśiiā̊						pf mid inf hšnuθi̯ō, pf mid ptcpl menanōḫ (I/II)

The other perfect verbs that fail to show reduplication are:

• u̯ṓi̯a, vii̯á "to fear"
• mṓna, mné "to recall"

It has been noted that most verbs which fail to reduplicate are verbs of internal states or emotions.

Thematic conjugation

Present

βaiδō "I trust". Cognate to Shalumite "to bide". Points of interest are:

1. In the Galic material, the effects of the stem-final laryngeal are reflected quite regularly, such that the 2 and 3 sg., 2 and 3 du., and 2 pl. endings, which commence with the colouring-susceptible vowel *e, may be coloured to *a and *o, and the latter in unaccented positions becomes a. This is seen in the comparatively common verb apúpitō "fly away", whose 2 du. form is apúpitatāḫ and not *apúpititāḫ. In later materials, the laryngeal-less endings (which would be identical to those for stems ending in *h₁-) became standard.
2. In the active subjunctive, the subjunctive modal suffix prehistorically merges with the thematic endings and result in long vowels; in unaccented positions these evolved differently than short vowels, to wit *ē > ā, while *ō remains unchanged.
3. In the active optative, the diphthong scans short in the 1 du. and 3 pl., the cause of which is still uncertain.
4. Due to phonetic change, the middle forms of the 2 and 3 sg. are not distinct, as both 2 sg. *eth₂ei and 3 sg. *etoi > -itai.
5. In the middle subjunctive, the 2 and 3 du. endings lack the final -i of the primary endings and are thus identical to secondary endings; this phenomenon is widespread enough to be ruled out as a scribal error and is usually thought to reflect original variation in the conjugation system as the subjunctive is already specified by a modal morpheme and cannot be mistaken by a different set of endings. The optative, however, is always found with secondary endings.

	act					mid
	ind	impf / inj	subj	opt	imp	ind	impf / inj	subj	opt	imp
1 sg	βaiδ-ō	e-baiδ-õm	βaiδ-ō	βaiδ-ā̊		βaiδ-aā̊i	e-baiδ-aā̊	βaiδ-ōai	βaiδ-aiia
2 sg	-iyi	-iš	-āyi	-aīš	βaiδi	-itai	-ita	-ātai	-aita
3 sg	-ai	-iṯ	-āi	-aīṯ	βaiδitū	-itai	-ita	-ātai	-aita
1 du	-auuiñi	-auua	-ə̄uuiñi	-aiuua		-auuazδa	-auuida	-ə̄uuazδa	-aiuuida
2 du	-itāḫ	-itõm	-ātāḫ	-aītõm	βaiδitāḫ	-itāδāi	-itāδā	-ātāδā	-aitāδā
3 du	-itiš	-itā̊	-ātiš	-aītā̊	βaiδitiš	-itāyi	-itā	-ātā	-aitā
1 pl	-amiñi	-ama	-ōmiñi	-aīma		-amazδa	-amida	-ōmazδa	-aimida
2 pl	-iti	-iti	-āti	-aīti	βaiδiti	-idūvi	-idūvi	-ādūvi	-aidūvi
3 pl	-ō	-anṯ	-ōnδi	-aiiāṯ	βaiδanδū	-aṇtrai	-aṇtra	-ōṇtrai	-aiiāθra
fut imp βaiδitaṯ, βaiδanδaṯ act inf βaiδitiš, βaiδituš, act ptcpl βaiδā̊s, βaiδanδōḫ; βaiδaṯ; βaiδanδī, βaiδanδiiā̊, mid inf βaiδōi, mid ptcpl βaiδominōḫ (I/II)

Aorist

		Indicative	Injunctive	Subjunctive	Optative	Imperative	Future imp.
1 sg.		ekorum	korum	korō	kāri̯ām	—	—
2 sg.		ekōr	kōr	korei	kāri̯ās	kor	kortoṯ
3 sg.		ekord	kord	korei̯	kāri̯āt	kārto	kārtoṯ
1 du.		ekurōs	kārōs	korou̯ō	korīu̯ō	—	—
2 du.		ekurtõ	kārtõ	koretas	korītõ	kārtas	kārtoṯ
3 du.		ekurtąm	kārtą̄m	koretíš	krītąm	kārtíš	kārtoṯ
1 pl.		ekurmō	kārmō	koromõ	korīmō	—	—
2 pl.		ekurte	kārte	korete	korīte	kārte	kārtoṯ
3 pl.		ekurenṯ	kārenṯ	koronθi	koriānṯ	kārenθo	kārunθoṯ
inf kāršiš, kāršuš, ptcpl korå, kronθō; korāṯ, kronθō; korunθī, krāŋθi̯ās

	Indicative	Imperfect	Injunctive	Subjunctive	Optative	Imperative	Future imp.
1 sg.		ekurma	kārma	korōm	krīma	—	—
2 sg.		ekursθo	kārsθo	koresθoi̯	krīšθo	kārhvō	kārtoṯ
3 sg.		ekurto	kārto	koretoi̯	krīto	kārto	kārtoṯ
1 du.		ekurreθa	kārreθa	korou̯osθa	krīu̯eθa	—	—
2 du.		ekurātaθa	kārātaθa	korātaθai	krītaθa	kārātaθa	kārtoṯ
3 du.		ekurātā	kārātā	korātāi̯i	krītā	kārātā	kārtoṯ
1 pl.		ekurmeθa	kārmeθa	koromosθa	krīmeθa	—	—
2 pl.		ekuršθve	kāršθve	koresθve	krīšθve	kārθve	kārtoṯ
3 pl.		ekurenθro	kārenθro	koronθroi̯	krīnθro	kārunθo	kārunθoṯ
inf kārθi̯ō, kārθi̯ōi̯o, mid ptcpl kārūmnō, kārūmnōi̯o; kārūmnõ, kārūmnōi̯o; kārūmnā, kārūmnās

Perfect

	Indicative	Pluperfect	Injunctive	Subjunctive	Optative	Imperative	Future imp.
1 sg.	kokora	ekokorum	kokorum	kokorō	kokuri̯ām	—	—
2 sg.	kokošta	ekokōr	kokōr	kokorehi	kokuri̯ās	kokurθi	kokuštoṯ
3 sg.	kokoré	ekokošṯ	kokošṯ	kokoreti	kokuri̯āt	kokušto	kokuštoṯ
1 du.	kokurrō	ekokurre	kokurre	kokorou̯ō	kokrīu̯ō	—	—
2 du.	kokuré	ekokuštõ	kokuštõ	kokoretas	kokrītõ	kokuštas	kokuštoṯ
3 du.	kokrē	ekokuštą̄m	kokuštą̄m	kokoretiš	kokrītąm	kokuštes	kokuštoṯ
1 pl.	kokurmé	ekokušme	kokušme	kokoromō	kokrīmō	—	—
2 pl.	kokré	ekokušte	kokušte	kokorete	kokrīte	kokušte	kokuštoṯ
3 pl.	kokrār	ekokurent	kokurent	kokoronθi	kokrīenṯ	kokorunθo	kokorunθoṯ
inf kokuršiš, kokoršuš, ptcpl kokrå, kokrušiš; kokrōṯ, kokrušiš; kokrušī, kokruši̯ās

	Indicative	Pluperfect	Injunctive	Subjunctive	Optative	Imperative	Future imp.
1 sg.	kokurma	ekokurma	kokurma	kokorō	kokrīma	—	—
2 sg.	kokursθo	ekokursθo	kokursθo	kokoresθoi̯	kokrīšθo	kokurhvō	kokuštoṯ
3 sg.	kokušto	ekokušto	kokušto	kokoretoi̯	kokrīto	kokušto	kokuštoṯ
1 du.	kokurreθa	ekokurreθa	kokurreθa	kokorou̯osθa	kokrīu̯eθa	—	—
2 du.	kokurātaθa	ekokurātaθa	kokurātaθa	kokorātaθai	kokrītaθa	kokrātaθa	kokuštoṯ
3 du.	kokurātā	ekokurātā	kokurātā	kokorātāi̯i	kokrītā	kokrātā	kokuštoṯ
1 pl.	kokurmeθa	ekokurmeθa	kokurmeθa	kokoromosθa	kokrīmeθa	—	—
2 pl.	kokuršθve	ekokuršθve	kokuršθve	kokoresθve	kokrīšθve	kokurθve	kokuštoṯ
3 pl.	kokrenθro	ekokrenθro	kokrenθro	kokoronθroi̯	kokrīnθro	kokrunθo	kokrunθoṯ
inf kokurθi̯ō, kokurθi̯ōi̯o, ptcpl kokrūmnō, kokrūmnōi̯o; kokrūmnõ, kokrūmnōi̯o; kokrūmnā, kokrūmnās

See also

• Northian language