Padraic Brown wrote:
> I'd like to quickly add that I've never split an infinitive in my
> life.
hee hee hee!
And am not precisely sure _how_ one would do it.
Look up!
> >In English the plural endings and the inflections were leveled
> >because of contact with other languages, notably Old Norse and Norman
> >French.
> For what it's worth, I can't find an ON word with a plural in -s at
> all: nidhjar, soungvar, thakkir, etc. Of course Gordon is biased
> towards Icelandic - do Old Danish or whatever have lots of plurals in
> -(e)s?
That's what I say in another post. I'm only pointing out here that
contact with Old Norse caused a leveling of plural endings and
inflections.
> >In Old English, there were a number of ways to form plurals. The
> >masculine a=stem was the most common, and that's what gave us our "s"
> >ending in the plural:
> It is interesting to note how close the Norse and English declension
> was:
> > steinn stan stone nominative
> > steins stanes stone's genitive
> > steini stane stone dative
> > stein stan stone accusative
> >
> > steinar stanas stones nominative plural
> > steina stana stones' genitive plural
> > steinum stanum stones dative plura.
> > steina stanas stones accusative plural.
> >
> >Then there was neuter a stem which had no distinction between
> >singular and plural in the nominative and accusative cases:
> >
> > ordh word hors deor fisc
> > ordhs wordes horses deores fisces
> > ordhi worde horse deore fisce
> > ordh word hors deor fisc
> >
> > ordh word hors deor fisc
> > ordha worda horsa deora fisca
> > ordhum wordum horsum deorum fiscum
> > ordh word hors deor fisce
Yes, I've pointed some of these out. Check my post on
Gothic!
> >catch on); annihilate, which did. I have a whole list of these, if
> >anyone is interested. Notably, it was Shakespeare who contributed
>
> I am! I think there was also a 12th or 13th century movement along
> the same lines, making English words for concepts that had French or
> Latin roots: ungothroughsome for impenetrable sort of thing.
>
> >Another "real change": the change from hem to them. Hem sounded too
> >much like "him," so people in the south of England started adopting
> >Northern Scandinavian "them" to distinguish the two words. This
> >wasn't a change that was "foisted" on anyone. It just happened.
> >Language follows usage, and follows the masses. Often the
> >"privileged" masses, like the London dialect. Same with he and heo,
> >he and she. The two sounded too much alike, so the northern
> >Scandinavian form was adopted in the south. And in London. And
> >everyone followed suit.
>
> Hem lives on, though: Give em hell, Sally!
It does live on! And I will! Ynkhorns on the way.
Sal
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SALLY CAVES
scaves@frontiernet.net
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves (bragpage)
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/teonaht.html (T. homepage)
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/contents.html (all else)
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Niffodyr tweluenrem lis teuim an.
"The gods have retractible claws."
from _The Gospel of Bastet_
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