The English Language

[Asclepias]

My young niece asked me a question today that I didnt have an answer for. If the plural of mouse is mice, why isnt the plural of house hice? To add to the confusion why is the plural of grouse just grouse?

 

[Montrovant]

My young niece asked me a question today that I didnt have an answer for. If the plural of mouse is mice, why isnt the plural of house hice? To add to the confusion why is the plural of grouse just grouse?

Language! It doesn't have to make sense.

 

[frigidweirdo]

My young niece asked me a question today that I didnt have an answer for. If the plural of mouse is mice, why isnt the plural of house hice? To add to the confusion why is the plural of grouse just grouse?

English is made up of different languages. Before 500AD English would have had a lot of Celtic and Viking influence. We can see in the UK that in the north there are lots of places ending in -by or -kirk or other such things. -kirk in the north is -church in the south. -by I think is -ton or something like that.

In 1066 the Normans came with their French. Legal language especially grew out of the Norman's language as they set up a whole different system. Latin is also of course important as French has Latin and Catholicism was centered in Rome.

Before the Normans were the Angles and Saxons. So they had brought Germanic words with them.

So, in German -s isn't the plural. If you learn German, simple words are easy. Arm = arm. Fuss = foot.
In Spanish/French/Portuguese, Roman languages, it gets easier as it gets more advanced. Constitution = constitucion in Spanish, for example.

Mouse = Maus in German. The plural is Maeuser so the plural changed somewhere along the line. I don't know what it would have been 1000 years ago.

It's interesting for example with -ce- -ci- -ge- -gi-, in Spanish all four of these are soft. Basically they become 's' and 'j'

Ice is not ike, it's ise.

But then you have the word "get" which will be pre-Norman invasion most likely. It's kept its hard 'g' because it's a very common word.

Same with plurals. Common words that get used all the time keep their old plurals, less common words people forget the plural and use 's' too.

Some words people don't even know what the plural is.

Octopus for example.

Definition of OCTOPUS

plural octopuses or octopi

octopus | Definition of octopus in US English by Oxford Dictionaries

The standard plural in English of octopus is octopuses. However, the word octopus comes from Greek, and the Greek plural form octopodes is still occasionally used. The plural form octopi is mistakenly formed according to rules for Latin plurals, and is therefore incorrect

Yes, so Merriam Webster says octopi is correct, Oxford says Merriam Webster is a dick and it must be Octopodes.

The American Heritage Dictionary entry: octopus

n. pl. oc·to·pus·es or oc·to·pi

The American Heritage dictionary says octopi.

Octopus definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary

Word forms: plural octopuses

Collins stuffs them all and says it's with an -es.

OCTOPUS | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary

Cambridge says plural octopuses or octopi

 

[fncceo]

Words that come from Old German, such as "mouse", “foot,” “goose,” “woman,” and “louse,” which become "mice", “feet,” “geese,” “women,” and “lice.” when pluralized are called "mutated plurals".

This is because the German plural was made with an German character called an umlaut. When these words are used in English, which doesn't use the umlaut, the "I" or "E" plural got pulled to the middle of the world.

Mutated umlaut plurals are actually quite rare in English.

Plurals of words like "house" didn't contain the umlaut in Old German.