Old Saxon nouns are declined according to number (singular and plural) and case (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and instrumental). Furthermore, each noun has an assigned gender, which determines the inflection of that noun but also of any pronouns or adjectives that modify or refer to that noun. There are three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. While in Proto-Germanic gender could generally be determined from the nominative singular form of the noun, by Old Saxon the loss of most word-final vowels meant that this was no longer the case for many declensions. Neuter nouns have only a single form for the nominative and accusative cases.
Nouns can be divided into several declension classes based on the formation of the case-and-number endings. Globally, there are vowel stems (a-, ō-, i-, ja-, u- and wa-stems) and consonant stems (n-, nd-, r- and z-stems).
As time went on and inflectional suffixes weakened, more and more nouns were pulled into the large, productive a-stem and n-stem classes.
{{osx-decl-noun-a-f}}, {{osx-decl-noun-a-f-v}}, {{osx-decl-noun-a-m}}, {{osx-decl-noun-a-m-v}}, {{osx-decl-noun-a-n}}, {{osx-decl-noun-a-n1}}, {{osx-decl-noun-a-n1-1}}, {{osx-decl-noun-a-n2}}The a-stems are the most common type of noun in Old Saxon, and can be of all three genders. The feminine a-stems were an innovative formation that did not exist in Proto-Germanic, and are mostly identical to (and typically derive from) ō-stems.
{{osx-decl-noun-ja-m}}, {{osx-decl-noun-ja-n}}, {{osx-decl-noun-ja-n2}}The ja-stems are a group of masculine and neuter nouns ending in -i that historically derive from the a-stems preceded by -(i)j-, which was subsequently vocalized after the loss of final -a(z). As Old Saxon consistently preserves Germanic medial -j-, the ja-stems did not differ greatly from the a-stems compared to other Germanic languages (e.g. Old High German).
{{osx-decl-noun-wa-m}}, {{osx-decl-noun-wa-n}}, {{osx-decl-noun-ja-n2}}The wa-stems are a group of masculine and neuter nouns ending in -o or -u. Like the ja-stems, they derive from the a-stems preceded by -w-, which was vocalized after the loss of final -a(z).
{{osx-decl-noun-o-f}}The ō-stems are also common, and are always feminine. They are historically the feminine equivalent of the a-stems.
{{osx-decl-noun-i-f}}, {{osx-decl-noun-i-f2}}, {{osx-decl-noun-i-m}}, {{osx-decl-noun-i-m1}}The i-stems are reasonably common, and are either masculine or feminine. This class also included a number of old consonant stems.
{{osx-decl-noun-u-f}}, {{osx-decl-noun-u-m}}, {{osx-decl-noun-u-n}}The u-stems are fairly common, and are mostly analogous to i-stems. They can appear in all three genders, although neuters, which ended in -u, were very rare.
{{osx-decl-noun-n-f}}, {{osx-decl-noun-n-m}}, {{osx-decl-noun-n-n}}The n-stems are a common group of nouns continuing the Proto-Germanic an- and ōn-stems. They are of all three genders, although neuters were rare. The nominative singular typically ended in -o for masculines and -a for feminines.
{{osx-decl-noun-nd}}The n-stems are a small group of nouns derived from present participles, which were consonant stems in Proto-Germanic. They all end in -nd.
{{osx-decl-noun-r-n}}The r-stems are limited only to a group of five close kinship terms: fadar (“father”), mōdar (“mother”), brōthar (“brother”), swestar (“sister”) and dohtar (“daughter”).
{{osx-decl-noun-z-n}}The z-stems are fairly rare, and are always neuter. They are formed similar to n-stems, but with r (from earlier z) replacing n.