Saxon genitive

English

Etymology

So named because the possessive was one of the only productive relics of the Anglo-Saxon declensional system.

Noun

Saxon genitive (plural Saxon genitives)

1. (linguistics) A genitive construction in English formed with the possessive clitic -'s.
   • 1871, A. J. Mertens, A Complete English Grammar, page 71:

     It is against euphony to make two genitives of the same form follow each other, particularly when they are Saxon genitives.

   • 1997, Ewa Dąbrowska, Cognitive Semantics and the Polish Dative, page 149:

     First, not all Saxon genitives can be paraphrased with have: many subjective and objective nominalizations (the boy's escape, the boy's release), genitives of origin (the boy's letter), genitives of measure (ten days' absence), and many genitives with non-human reference points (today's paper, next year's profits, duty's call, the poll's results) do not have analogous uses with have (*The boy has an escape, *The boy has a release...).