nepot-is) and neptis. The older Anglo-Saxon words were nefa and nefe.

Queen (or quean) meant simply female or mother. In Anglo-Saxon cwén-fugel means hen-bird.

Lord is a shortened form of hlâford (i.e., hlâfweard 'loaf-warden,' or bread-dispenser'). Lady is from the corresponding feminine hlafdige. Sir or sire is from senior; madam from mea-domina; monk from monachus, one who leads a solitary life'; nun=nonna, 'grandmother.' Friar is from frater (Fr. frère).

Witch is now only feminine, but it might come indifferently from the Anglo-Saxon masculine wicca, or from the feminine wicce.

=

Drake (old Norse andriki; root and Lat. anat; riki, connected with German reich, and Latin reg-em) means 'king of the ducks.' Duck is connected with the verb duck, 'to dive. Goose has lost the letter n (Germ. Gans.) Gander is formed from the feminine, d being only an offgrowth of the n.

45. Second Mode-Inflexion.-Gender is indicated by the termination of the word.

A. Different suffixes are used for the masculine and the feminine.

The termination -er (in Anglo-Saxon -ere) is a true English suffix. The corresponding feminine suffix was -ster (A.S. -estre) as m. baecere, f. baecestre (baker); m. hoppere (dancer), f. hoppestre. Spinster is the only word which preserves the feminine force of the suffix. Many words in -ster now used as masculine (or at least of common gender), or as proper names, once denoted occupations carried on by women, as maltster, tapster (bar-maid'), Baxter (from bake), Webster (from webban 'to weave'), &c. Seamstress and songstress are double feminines. The suffix -er has now ceased to be exclusively masculine.

In Anglo-Saxon -a was a masculine suffix and -e a feminine suffix, as nefa, nefe (nephew, niece).

B. The feminine is formed from the masculine by adding feminine suffixes.

1. The commonest of these, and the only one by which fresh feminines can be formed is -ess, as count, countess; mayor, mayoress. This termination came to us through French, from the late Latin suffix issa. (Compare Gr. 100a and coσα.)

When this suffix is added to the masculine terminations or and er, the vowel o is usually omitted, as in actor, actress; hunter, huntress. The

masculines author, mayor, prior, and tutor, suffer no abbreviation. The o of negro and the y of votary are dropped in forming negress and

votaress.

Abbess (from abbot) is a shortened form of abbadess. Lass is probably shortened from laddess. Duchess follows the French form duchesse.

In mistress the a of master is modified.

2. One word, vixen, the feminine of fox, preserves the old Teutonic feminine suffix, en or in (compare German inn), the root vowel of the masculine being modified. (Compare German Fuchs, Füchsinn.)

The suffixes -trix (as in testatrix), -ine (as in heroine), -a (as in sultana), -ina (as in czarina), do not belong to English grammar, but are foreign importations.

Widower is perhaps a masculine formed from a feminine. Gander is
formed from the feminine goose, which has lost an n (German gans).
Bridegroom is merely a compound noun, groom = goom = guma,
'man' (Anglo-Saxon).

46. Third Mode. Masculine and feminine nouns or pronouns are prefixed or affixed to nouns of common gender.

Sometimes proper names are used to answer this purpose, as in jack-ass, jenny-ass; tom-cat, tib-cat; billy-goat, nanny-goat; jackdaw. In Anglo-Saxon, carl and cwen were used, as carlfugel (cock-fowl), cwen-fugel (hen-fowl).

NUMBER.

47. Number is a variation in form which shows whether we are speaking of one thing or of more than one.

48. There are now* two numbers in English, the Singular and the Plural The Singular Number of a noun is that form of it which is used when we speak of one of the things for which the noun stands, as ship, horse, herd.

* Formerly our language had a dual number, in the personal pronoun used in speaking of two persons.

The Plural Number of a noun is that form of it which is used when we speak of more than one of that for which the noun stands, as ships, horses, herds.

MODES OF FORMING THE PLURAL.

49. The plural is formed from the singular in the following modes:

First Mode. By adding the syllable es shortened to s whenever the pronunciation admits of it. The full syllable es is now added only when the singular ends in a sibilant (s, sh, soft ch, x or z), as gas, gases; lash, lashes; witch, witches; box, boxes; topaz, topazes. Words like horse, horses really come under this rule, the mute e not being regarded.

The letters es are also added (but without being sounded as a separate syllable) after several* words ending in o, as hero, heroes; potato, potatoes; in the word alkalies; after y when it is preceded by a consonant, the y being changed to i, as lady, ladies; and after words of Anglo-Saxon origin ending in lf or f preceded by any long vowel sound except oo. In these cases the flat sound which s always has in es affects the preceding consonant, and f is changed to v, as elf, elves; shelf, shelves; leaf, leaves; thief, thieves; loaf, loaves. Wife and knife get ƒ changed to v in a similar way-wives, knives. Nouns ending in oof, ff, and rf, and nouns in f of Norman-French origin, have only sharp s added to form the plural, and retain the sharp sound of the f, as roof, roofs; cliff, cliffs; dwarf, dwarfs; chief, chiefs. So also reef, fife, and strife. Beef, beeves; and staff, staves, are exceptions in modern English.

50. All nouns except those above mentioned, and the few nouns which form their plurals in the second and third modes hereafter specified, have their plurals formed by the addition of s only, as book, books; father, fathers; the s having its sharp sound after a sharp mute (as in books, cats, traps), and its flat sound (2) after a flat mute, a liquid, or a vowel (as in tubs, eggs, rods, pails, rams, nuns, bears, fleas).

*The usage in the case of words ending in o is arbitrary, and by no means uniform, es being commonly added. But s only is added to words ending in io and oo, and to the following words :-domino, virtuoso, tyro, quarto, octavo, duodecimo, mosquito, canto, grotto, solo, rondo.

When y at the end of a word is preceded by a vowel, s only is added to form the plural, and the y is not changed, as valley, valleys; boy, boys. Qu counts as a consonant.

51. The plural suffix s has arisen from dropping the vowel of the proper syllabic termination es, which is a modification of the Anglo-Saxon plural suffix as. The latter, however, was used only in masculine nouns. In Anglo-Saxon there were also other modes of forming the plural, but the influence of Norman-French, in which s or x was the common plural suffix, led to their gradual disuse.

52. Second Mode.-By adding en, as ox, oxen; brother, brethren; child, children. This mode was once more common.

The word kine (the plural of cow), also belongs to this class.
Children is a double plural, childer being an old form of the
plural.

53. Third Mode. By changing the vowel sound of the word, as tooth, teeth; mouse, mice; foot, feet; goose, geese; man, men (see § 28).

54. Fourth Mode.-By leaving the singular unchanged, as sheep; deer; grouse; swine; fish; fowl, &c. (in a collective sense), cannon; salmon; perch, &c.

55. After numerals we often use the singular to do duty for the plural, as 'Two brace of birds'; Ten sail of the line'; 'Six gross of buttons'; 'A three-penny book,' &c. Horse (= horse-soldiers) and Foot (foot-soldiers) have become a sort of collective nouns.

56. Names of Materials (as sugar, wine, &c.) and Abstract Nouns may have plurals to denote varieties or different instances of what is named, as 'sugars,' 'wines,' 'negligences.'

57. Plurals of Foreign Words.-Latin, Greek, French, Italian, and Hebrew words generally retain their own proper plurals. Thus (1) in Latin words

Nouns in us (masculine) form the plural in i, as focus, foci,

1

(2.) In Greek words

Nouns in on form the plural in a, as phenomenon, phenomena,

ses, as crisis, crises.
mata, as miasma, miasmata.

(3). Cherub and seraph (Heb.) make cherubim and seraphim; bandit makes banditti; beau (Fr.), beaux; madame, mesdames; mister (i.e. master), messieurs; virtuoso (Ital.), virtuosi.

58. If a foreign word has passed into common use, the plural may be formed in the English fashion, as cherubs, bandits, dogmas. Sometimes both plurals are in use, and occasionally with a difference of meaning.

59. Double Plurals.-Some nouns have double plurals, which differ in meaning, as :—

I. Words in -ics from Greek adjectives, as mathematics.
2. Certain words, as means, gallows, amends, wages, pains, are
usually preceded by a singular demonstrative (this, that) and by
much or little (not many, or few), but are followed by a verb in
the plural, as 'Pains were taken,' 'Wages have risen.'
News is nowt always singular. Small-pox (sing. pock) is
properly a plural.

61. Plurals in appearance.--

Riches (Fr. richesse, and so in Chaucer), alms (A.S. ælmesse, from Xenpoovvn), eaves (A.S. efese) are not plurals, but have been mistaken for such.

62. Nouns used only in the Plural.-Nouns representing

*The singular pea has perhaps been made out of the word pease taken in a collective sense, and mistaken for a plural.

"These ill news" (Shakspeare, Much Ado, II. 1, 180).