Where can I read more about old Saxon grammar, especially of the rules of conjugation and declension of nouns, pronouns and adjectives both in their weak and strong forms as well as comparative and superlative forms? I know wiktionary is quite a good source for (sometimes even better than for old high German because often there are declension or conjugation tables for cognate words for old Saxon while the old high German counterpart lacks them ) but it’s not enough for me.
One Question: is it sure, that the „th“ in old Saxon was spoken like in modern English? I'm asking as a native German speaker, who knows that in modern German any word which inherits an „th“, the „h“ is not spoken, but only the „t“ as t.
Looks like my previous comment was duplicated 😅. I used to wonder why modern day German forms for the definite article In singular nominative masculine (der) and singular genetics femenine (der) are the same but know I know that in earlier stages of German, these 2 forms of the definite article weren’t the same (modern German “der as in singular nominative masculine” was “der” while modern German “der as in singular genetive feminine” was dera/deru (having a final vocal element which varied according to dialect) And in turn these forms come from proto Germanic forms of the particle “Sa” which had Z which later underwent Rothacism in proto west Germanic so that the singular masculina nominative particle (apparently also influenced by inflection of adjectives and I might be mistaken but sounds like the original “az” suffix in proto Germanic akin to proto European suffix “os”, also seen in Greek “os” , had something to do with the masculine nominative singular having an “r” when the proto Germanic counterpart didn’t. Maybe it also had something to do with the pronouns “He” in proto Germanic being “iz” undergoing rothacism in proto west Germanic (iʀ) and then came to be “ēr” in old high German). My point is that initially singular masculine nominative and singular femenine genetive weren’t initially the same but they confluated
Yes, 4th-century Gothic still had 'þizôs' and 'þizai' for the feminine genitive and dative where West Germanic languages had forms like 'thera' and 'thero' a few centuries later, and Modern German has 'der'.
Where can I read more about old Saxon grammar, especially of the rules of conjugation and declension of nouns, pronouns and adjectives both in their weak and strong forms as well as comparative and superlative forms? I know wiktionary is quite a good source for (sometimes even better than for old high German because often there are declension or conjugation tables for cognate words for old Saxon while the old high German counterpart lacks them ) but it’s not enough for me.
There is the 'Altsächsisches Elementarbuch' by Holthausen (1921), but it's in German. You can find it on Archive.
One Question: is it sure, that the „th“ in old Saxon was spoken like in modern English? I'm asking as a native German speaker, who knows that in modern German any word which inherits an „th“, the „h“ is not spoken, but only the „t“ as t.
Yes. This is confirmed by Holthausen. Please watch my videos on Old Saxon Pronunciation.
Looks like my previous comment was duplicated 😅. I used to wonder why modern day German forms for the definite article
In singular nominative masculine (der) and singular genetics femenine (der) are the same but know I know that in earlier stages of German, these 2 forms of the definite article weren’t the same (modern German “der as in singular nominative masculine” was “der” while modern German “der as in singular genetive feminine” was dera/deru (having a final vocal element which varied according to dialect)
And in turn these forms come from proto Germanic forms of the particle “Sa” which had Z which later underwent Rothacism in proto west Germanic so that the singular masculina nominative particle (apparently also influenced by inflection of adjectives and I might be mistaken but sounds like the original “az” suffix in proto Germanic akin to proto European suffix “os”, also seen in Greek “os” , had something to do with the masculine nominative singular having an “r” when the proto Germanic counterpart didn’t. Maybe it also had something to do with the pronouns “He” in proto Germanic being “iz” undergoing rothacism in proto west Germanic (iʀ) and then came to be “ēr” in old high German).
My point is that initially singular masculine nominative and singular femenine genetive weren’t initially the same but they confluated
Yes, 4th-century Gothic still had 'þizôs' and 'þizai' for the feminine genitive and dative where West Germanic languages had forms like 'thera' and 'thero' a few centuries later, and Modern German has 'der'.