286 



THE POPULAK EDUCATOE. 



-ting 



( rciftn, a countess ; clbtn, a heroine ; -Stcnigin, a queen ; j 

 J Sprofefjbritt, a professor's wife ; Siiruin, a lioness. 

 Sieberct, thievery; >eucfyekt, hypocrisy; gifcfyerci, fishery; ] 



SSraueret, brewery. 

 S3ckl;rung, teaching, i.e., the act of teaching ; 



the building, or erecting, edification ; jfronung, the 

 crowning, or coronation ; (Strung, the sitting, or ses- 

 sion. 



ute, goodness ; tiirfe, strength ; -ft'ranffycit, sickness ; 

 -f;ctt j Summtyett, stupidity; SciUgtctt, holiness; Seucfytigfcit, 

 -fcit ( humidity. 



( Sreunbfcfjaft, friendship ; $ric(!erfd;nft, priesthood, that is, 

 -fctyaft ) the body of the priests ; SSeratjcfyaft, readiness; -cibcn= 

 -tl)utn I t$um, heathendom, heathenism ; (5fyriftentl;uni, Chris- 



' tianity ; (Stgentfyunt, property. 



. , ( QRutyfal, the state of being in trouble, distress ; ^ficffcl, 



"I j ) that which has resulted from hacking and cutting, 



. - J that is, cuttings (of straw); ^Bcttirfnip, the state of 



( being in want, necessity ; kicfymjt, simile, parable, 

 -kin ( aSucfjktn, a little book ; JtnaWcin, a little boy ; @tu^)(d;cn, 

 -cfyen ( a little chair ; Gtctycn, a little egg. 



Appellatives derived from the names of places and countries 

 have the termination er, as : Ser Scitbrncr, the Londoner. Names 

 of countries, like (gcicfyfcn, Saxony; ^Prerjien, Prussia, etc., being 

 originally the names of the people, not of the countries, cannot 

 take er. 



Nouns derived from the name of a city or town are often used 

 indeclinably as adjectives ; as : SaS Sctpjtgcr 23icr, the Leipzig 

 beer. Gen. Se3 Scipjiger S3tcr8, of the Leipzig beer. 



(1.) It must be observed, in forming derivatives of the order 

 illustrated above, that when o, c, u, or an, is contained in the 

 radical part, it is modified into A, P, u. or flu, upon receiving a 

 suffix containing the vowel t or e ; as: (Jr, el, ling, in, ig, ing, 

 cfyeu lein, e, ntj, and fcl; as in the case of ^unbin (from J;>unb), 

 28urger (from SSurg), and others of the like kind. 



(2.) Often, moreover, in forming secondary derivatives certain 

 euplwnic letters are inserted between the suffix and the word to 

 which it is added ; as, ig in Seuctyttgfctt, humidity. Other letters 

 employed in this way are en, n, and t. These euphonic parts 

 are easily distinguished from those having an influence on the 

 meaning, by merely resolving the derivative into its elements. 



(3.) Here, too, may be noted the particle ge, which, being 

 prefixed to certain primary words, form a class of nouns de- 

 noting either frequency of action, or a collection of things. 

 These words, also, most commonly suffix the letter c ; as : 

 (Scrcrc, constant talk ; el;eul, continuous howling ; e&irge, a 

 range of mountains, etc. 



12. DECLENSION OF COMMON NOUNS. 



(1.) In German there are two declensions, distinguished as the 

 Old and the New. The characteristic of each is the termination 

 of the genitive singular. In the former, the genitive is formed 

 from the nominative by adding e a or S; when the genitive is 

 otherwise formed, the noun is of the New Declension. 



(2.) To the Old Declension belong almost all masculine and 

 neuter nouns ; that is, by far the greater part of all the nouns 

 in the language. 



(3.) In both declensions, the nominative, genitive, and accu- 

 sative plural are alike in form ; while the dative terminates 

 always in the letter n. Unless, therefore, the word declined 

 already ends in that letter, it is, in the dative, uniformly 

 assumed. 



(4.) All feminine nouns are invariable in the singular ; in the 

 plural, they are, for the most part, inflected according to the 

 New Declension. 



(5.) In compounds, the last word only is subjected to the 

 variations of declension. 



13. THE OLD DECLENSION. 



TERMINATIONS. 



Singular. Plural. 



Nom. -. -e. 



Gen. -c3 or 9. -e. 



Dat. -e (or like Nominative). -en. 



Ace. -. -e. 



In the genitive singular the e is frequently omitted before S, 

 when the elision does not cause an unpleasant sound ; as : Se8 

 flcnigS, of the king ; fce 50Jonat, of the month ; fce3 3af;r, of the 

 year. Also, the of the dative is often dropped ; as, tent 



Jtontg, to the king ; a,nd is never used when a preposition stands 

 before the substantive without an article, pronoun, or adjective 

 preceding ; as .- -2Uit SScifctfl, with approbation ; mit Sturm, by 

 storm ; mit Skip, on purpose ; son ilfcer, of silver. 



EXAMPLES. 



Singular. Plural. 



Nom. Ser 3?erg, the mountain. Sie SScrge, the mountains. 

 Gen. SeS S3erge8, of the moun- Ser SScrgc, of the mountains. 



tain. 

 Dat. Sent SSevge, to the moun- Sen Sergen, to the mountains. 



tain. 

 Ace. Sen SSerg, the mountain. Sie S3erge, the mountains. 



(1.) Some nouns of this declension take the letter r after e in 

 all cases of the plural, and assume the Umlaut, if the radical 

 vowel be capable of it. (Sect. II. 12. 2k, etc.) 



EXAMPLES. 



Singular. Plural. 



Nom. Sci Serf, the village. Sie Scrfer, the villages. 



Gen. Sc ScrfcS, of the village. Ser Scrfer, of the villages. 

 Dat. Scm Sorfe, to the village. Sen Scrfcvn, to the villages. 

 Ace. Sa Scvf, the village. Sie Sorfer, the villages. 



Nom. Sa8 Sict, the song. 

 Gen. Sc8 8tefce3, of the song. 

 Dat. Sem Stefce, to the song. 

 Ace. Sa$ Sict, the song. 



Sie Cteber, the songs. 

 Ser ?tcter, of the songs. 

 Sen Cietevn, to the songs. 

 Sie Sieter, the songs. 



The nouns of this form (e + r) in the plural, among which are 

 all substantives ending in t{;um (as, ber 9Jcid>tfyum, riches), 

 for the most part neuters ; as : 



(2.) Most nouns of this declension, whose radical vowel ia 

 a, o, tt, or au, assume, in the plural, the Umfaut. Thus, <anb. 

 <So6,n, 23ud), Sjaug, make their plurals as follows : 



EXAMPLES. 



Feminine. - Masculine. 



Nom. Sie ->anbc, the hands. Sie @ol)ne, the sons. 



Gen. Ser -anbe, of the hands. Ser iilji-e, of the sons. 

 Dat. Sen -SSttbcn, to the hands. Sen <SoI;ncn, to the sons 

 Ace. Sie dnte, the hands. Sie @5&.ne, the sons. 



Neuter. Neuter. 



Nom. Sie S3ucfyer, the books. Sie dufcr, the houses. 

 Gen. Ser SSucfyer, of the books. Ser -Sdufer, of the houses. 

 Dat. Sen S3uc^crn,tothe books. Sen -ftdufern, to the houses. 

 Ace. Sie Sucfjcr, the books. Sie aufer, the houses. 



The words in which the llmlout thus occurs are, chiefly 1, 

 primitive nouns of the masculine gender ; 2, femininos which 

 have their plural in e, as also Gutter and Sod;tcr ; 3, neuter pri- 

 mitives having their plural in (e + r) er ; 4, and lastly, nouna 

 adding the diminutive terminations djen and lein. 



(3.) Nouna ending in et, en, er, d)cn, and lein, reject the vowel 4 



