| masculine: | ||
| nom. | þe | (þe riche mon, 3/47) |
| acc. | þane, þene | (þene hul, ‘the hill’, 3/96) |
| gen. | þas | (þas monnes, 2/338) |
| dat. | þan, þon | (to þan hulle, ‘to the hill’, 3/87) |
| feminine: | ||
| nom./acc. | þo, þa, þæ | (þo ule, ‘the owl’, 2/26) |
| gen./dat. | þere, þare | (þare hule, ‘of the owl’, 2/28) |
The nominative and accusative neuter form is þat, still used as the definite article as well as the demonstrative: þat alre worste, ‘the worst of all’, 2/10.
Plural forms are:
| nom./acc. | þa | (þa Bruttes, 3/128) |
| dat. | þan | (to þan hulles, 3/94) |
In later texts there are occasional fossilized remains of an inflected form, as in the phrases after þan, ‘after that’, 5/597, and for þe nones, ‘indeed’, 5/53, 11/38, from the earlier for þan anes.
4.3.7 Demonstratives
As þe became the invariable form of the definite article, þat, originally its neuter form, became restricted to demonstrative use for all genders, though in early texts it is used only with singular inanimate nouns, as in al ðat iren, ‘all that iron’, 1/32–3. At first its plural is naturally that of the definite article, þa/þo, ‘those’, used for all genders: þa men, ‘those men’, 1/17, of þat stering or of þoo sterynges, 6/50.
The plural demonstrative ‘these’, þās or þs in Old English, has a range of forms in Early Middle English, as in þos word, ‘these words’, 2/139, þeose bemeres, ‘these trumpeters’, 4/8–9, þes rikeneres, ‘these auditors’, 4/46–7. In addition, a new plural þise was coined on the basis of the singular þis. Eventually two sets of forms were distinguished in sense, so that þese and þise became the forms for ‘these’, as in þise gentyle kniʒtes, ‘these noble knights’, 9/42, while þase and þose became the forms for ‘those’, as in þose traytoures, 8/77, and so displaced the earlier þa/þo as the plural of þat. In Northern texts only, the word for ‘these’ is thir/ther (15/145), of obscure origin.
The singular þis is generally undeclined, though some inflexional forms remain in Early Middle English: for example dative masculine þissen, 3/111, nominative feminine þos, 2/41.
4.3.8 The Indefinite Article
The indefinite article ‘a’ is an unstressed form of the Old English numeral ān, ‘one’. In early texts its spellings are very variable, as is illustrated within the one line An hule and one niʒtingale, ‘an owl and a nightingale’, 2/4. There are also some inflected forms, such as (in text 3) masculine accusative ænne, dative ane; (in text 2) dative feminine ore. Even in these early texts the form is often reduced to a before a consonant: a word, 2/45.
4.4 Adjectives and Adverbs
4.4.1 Definite and Indefinite Inflexions
Adjectives of one syllable ending in a consonant, e.g. old, add ‐e in the plural, and also in the singular in certain circumstances: when used with the definite article þe, a demonstrative adjective þis or þat, a possessive pronoun such as hir or our, or a name or other term of address. In other circumstances the adjective has no ending. This survival of the Old English definite (or ‘weak’) declension contrasting with the indefinite (or ‘strong’) declension may be observed up to the end of our period in the metre of careful writers of the South, such as Gower and Chaucer. Some examples are:
| singular | plural | ||
| indefinite (without | definite (with þe, | ||
| þe, demonstrative | þis, þat, hire etc.) | ||
| or possessive) | |||
| Text | |||
| 1: | god man (72) | þe ilce pining (76) | gode men (73) |
| 4: | lud dream (3) | his wide þrote (68–9) | sharpe word (30–1) |
| 5: | a gret ost (290) | þe selve way (341) | wide wones (365) |
| 13: | a chambre derk (205) | þis proude vice (11) | suche wiles (190) |
| 18a: | a whit thyng (447) | this white top (15) | wilde mares (211) |
The signs are that the inflexion of adjectives was maintained in written English long after it was effectively dead in the spoken language. Though it had a metrical and rhythmic function, it could not survive the general silencing of final ‐e, and increasingly throughout the fourteenth century scribal disregard for final ‐e played havoc with the poets’ rhythms. So in Sir Orfeo, written down in about 1340, there are forms with unhistorical ‐e, such as it bled wete rhyming with fet (5/79–80), and forms that lack ‐e, such as þis ich quen (5/63), where the metre would be improved with an extra syllable.
Adjectives of more than one syllable are usually inflected in earlier texts, though less regularly in later ones: so manifældlice miracles, ‘numerous miracles’, 1/81, þe muchele angoise, ‘the great anguish’, 4/25, diverse kinges, 13/65, oþre þinges, 13/66.
Adjectives