Saxon genitive
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The Saxon genitive is the traditional term used for the "'s" word-ending in the English language. The term is now infrequently used by linguists who argue that "'s" represents a possessive, not a genitive. And, moreover, many contend that "'s" now functions as a clitic rather than a case ending.
Modern English forms the saxon genitive as follows:
| Regular noun not ending in "s" | Regular noun ending in "s" | Irregular noun | |
| Singular | 's | 's | 's |
| Plural | s' | es' | 's |
| Example (Singular) | cat's | class's | child's |
| Example (Plural) | cats' | classes' | children's |
Pronouns do not combine with "'s" to form possesives; there are a range of Possessive pronouns used instead.
In Old English nouns declined according to grammatical gender. The modern Saxon genitive is derived from the strong masculine genitive case of Old English. The plural forms are a relatively modern innovation, and are not derived from Old English.
| Gender | Singular | Plural |
| Strong masculine | -es | -a |
| Weak masculine | -an | -ena |
| Strong feminine | -e | -a |
| Weak feminine | -an | -ena |
| Strong neuter | -es | -a |
| Weak neuter | -an | -ena |
The term "Saxon genitive" is in analogy to the genitive in classical Latin.
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