The Origin and Development of Plural Ending in English

The Origin and Development of Plural Ending in English

The Origin and Development of Plural Ending in English

The Origin and Development of Plural Ending in English

The Origin and Development of Plural Ending in English: Like other Teutonic languages, the English language has two numbers: Singular ad Plural. But there is a good difference in forming plural from singular between Old English and Modern English.

In Old English, most masculine was made plural by adding the ending ‘e’ as in Engle, some by ‘a’ as in suna, a great many by ‘an’ as in guman.

Feminine words formed their plurals by adding the ending  ‘a’, as in griefa some by adding ‘e’ as in bene, some by adding ‘an’ as in tungan and many words without any ending.

From the very beginning of the Old English period the ending- ‘as’(later on ‘es’ or ‘s’) began to gain ground first among the masculine and then in feminine and neuter gender also. But the regular rule of the plural ending in English began during late Middle English.  Most nouns are done plural by adding the ending ‘-s’ such as:                

Singular — plural

Cow —- cows

Boy —- boys

Girl —- girls

Book —- books etc

In Modern English, there are many words that are plural in formation but used as singular as: scissors, news, vegetables etc.

There are a good many definite words the plural of which is complete opposite words, such as:

Singular — Plural

Mouse —- mice

Goose —- geese

Child —- children etc

The nouns generally ended in y, f, sh etc. take ‘es’ instead of ‘s’ in the plural as for example-

Singular — Plural

Lady —- ladies

Wolf —- wolves

Fish —- fishes etc

There are some words the plural of which generally depend on their use. Shakespeare wrote: She has more hair than wit and more faults than hairs. Here Shakespeare uses the hair in a plural sense, though he has not used ‘-s’ in the first word to indicate plurality; but in the second clause, he uses the ending ‘-s’ in the word.

There are many words of double plural ending, grammatically the uses of which is wrong, but logically such use is not incorrect. For example- there are eight sets of chamberses (Thackeray). Here the word ‘chamberses’ has been done double plural. Once a student (of London), wrote: cats have clawses. Here the word ‘claws’ has been done double plural by adding ‘-es’ to the plural form ‘claws’. But it is noteworthy that the rules of making plural from singular in Modern English is more logical than that of Old English. 0 0 0

The Origin and Development of Plural Ending in English

Read More: The Vowel Consonant Shift

N. B. This article entitled ‘The Origin and Development of Plural Ending in English’ originally belongs to the book ‘A Brief History of the English Language‘ by Menonim Menonimus.

The Origin and Development of Plural Ending in English

Books on Linguistics by M. Menonimus:

1. A Brief History of the English Language
2. Essays on Linguistics
3. My Imageries
4. Felicitous Expression: Some Examples
5. Learners’ English Dictionary

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