_Of Gender._--In Anglo-Saxon there are three genders, the masculine, the feminine, and the neuter. With _adjectives_ each gender has its peculiar declension; with _substantives_ there are also appropriate terminations, but only to a certain degree; _e.g._, of words ending in _-a_ (_nama_, a name; _cuma_, a guest), it may be stated that they are always masculine; of words in _-u_ (_sunu_, a son; _gifu_, a gift), that they are never neuter; in other words, that they are either mas. or fem. The definite article varies with the gender of its substantive; _thaet eage_, the eye; _se steorra_, the star; _seo tunge_, the tongue. {114} _Of Number._--The plural form in _-en_ (as in _oxen_), rare in English, was common in Anglo-Saxon. It was the regular termination of a whole declension; _e.g._, _e['a]gan_, eyes; _steorran_, stars; _tungan_, tongues. Besides this, the Anglo-Saxons had forms in _-u_ and _-a_, as _ricu_, kingdoms; _gifa_, gifts. The termination _-s_, current in the present English was confined to a single gender and to a single declension, as _endas_, ends; _dagas_, days; _smidhas_, smiths. _Of Case._--Of these the Saxons had, for their substantives, at least three; viz. the nominative, dative, genitive. With the pronouns and adjectives there was a true accusative form; and with a few especial words an ablative or instrumental one. _Smidh_, a smith; _smidhe_, to a smith; _smidhes_, of a smith. Plural, _smidhas_, smiths; _smidhum_, to smiths; _smidha_, of smiths: _he_, he; _hine_, him; _him_, to him; _his_, his; _se_, the; _tha_, the; _thy_, with the; _tham_, to the; _thaes_, of the. Of the dative in _-um_, the word _whilom_ (_at times_, _at whiles_) is a still extant and an almost isolated specimen. _Of Declension._--In _Anglo-Saxon_ it is necessary to determine the termination of a substantive. There is the weak, or simple declension for words ending in a vowel (as _eage_, _steorra_, _tunga_), and the strong, or complex declension for words ending in a consonant (_smidh_, _spraec_, _le['a]f_). The letters _i_ and _u_ are dealt with as semivowels, semivowels being dealt with as consonants; so that words like _sunu_ and _gifu_ belong to the same declension as _smidh_ and _spr['ae]c_. That the form of adjectives varies with their definitude or indefinitude, has been seen from s. 93: definite adjectives following the inflection of the simple; indefinite ones that of the complex declension. The detail of the Anglo-Saxon declension may be collected from ss. 83-89. The Anglo-Saxon inflection of the participles present is remarkable. With the exception of the form for the genitive plural definite (which, instead of _-ena_, is _-ra_,) they follow the declension of the adjectives. From the masculine substantives formed from them, and denoting the agent, they may be distinguished by a difference of inflection. {115} _Participle._ _Substantive._ Wegferende=_Wayfaring_. Wegferend=_Wayfarer_.