ORu Nouns

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Nouns in Old Russian were divided into three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), three numbers (Singular, Plural and Dual), and seven cases (Nominative, Accusative, Genitive, Dative, Instrumental, Locative and Vocative). Click here for an overview of nominal endings for all declension patterns.

The grammatical gender system is fairly similar to the modern language. Masculine nouns usually end in -ъ or -ъ, feminine nouns in -a or -æ, neuter nouns end in -o, -e, -æ -å. However, the following differences should be noted:

- some masculine nouns end in -a, particularly those denoting male professions etc. юноша, владыка (hegemon), староста, дрäводäлæ.

- a small number of masculine nouns end in -и: соудии (judge), краи, обычай

- a small number of masculine nouns end in -ы which now end in -ень: камы (камень, stone); ремы (ремень, belt)

- as in the modern language, many feminine nouns end in -ь: кость, мышь, ночь, соль.

Nominal declension patterns in Old Russian were somewhat more complex than the modern language. Linguists recognize five main declension types, and these declension types can be further divided into hard and soft declensions. Unlike the modern language, the declension type is not necessarily congruent with the gender of the noun. Notes on declension types are below with links to the full declension paradigms.

(I) -a, -ja stem nouns.

These nouns are usually feminine nouns ending in -а or -æ but also include some masculine nouns with these endings. These include жена, рäка, рыба, дроужина, землæ, пъшеица, строуæ, староста, владыка, во-вода, слоуга.

This group also includes nouns ending in in -ни (рабыни, гоподыни, кънåгыни, поустыни, богыни) аnd -ии. These nouns later came to end in -æ and in the modern language end in -я.

Click here for the full declension paradigm.

(II) -o, -jo stem nouns.

This pattern includes masculine nouns ending in -ъ, -ь and -и, such as городъ, плодъ, человäкъ, моужь, конь, краи, обычаи, лäто, село, лице, копи- (копье, spear). and neuter nouns ending in -о and -e.

Click herefor the full declension paradigm.

(III) -short ŭ (-ъ) stem nouns

This pattern includes a small number of masculine nouns with a -ъ stem: сынъ, домъ, волъ, медь, вьрхъ, полъ. These nouns are easily confused with (II) declension.

Click here for the full declension paradigm.

(IV) -short i (-ь) stem nouns

This pattern includes the following:

- All feminine nouns ending in -ь (кость, дань, соль, мышь, Роусь, ночь, поуть etc.)

- Some masculine nouns ending -ь (гость, медвäдь, голоубь, печать, звäр etc. These are easily confused with those (II) declension that end in -ь. However, there is no jotation inn the stem of (IV) nouns, so whether a noun ending in -ь is (II) or (IV) can sometimes be determined by looking at the Modern Russian equivalent.

Click here for the full declension paradigm.

(V) -consonant stem nouns

A small number of words from all three genders belong to (V) declension pattern. These include the following:

Click here for the full declension paradigm.