Re: [tied] -ves plurals in English

On Fri, 26 Oct 2001 21:35:41 EDT, jpisc98357@... wrote:

>Dear Friends,
>
> Can anyone explain why and when Engles developed an unusual way of
>creating plurals?
>
>self selves (our, them, your)
>calf calves
>half halves
>wolf wolves
>sheaf sheaves

In OE [v] was merely a positional allophone of /f/, for instance
between vowels or between /l/ and vowel. The allophone acquired
phonemic status somewhere in ME, which is also when the Norman scribes
started to write is as such (<u> or <v>).

> And while the question is being considered, how about
>
>goose geese
>mouse mice
>louse lice

That one's rather older: Germanic i-umlaut before the consonant stem
plural ending *-iz (< PIE *-es).