From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 29147
Date: 2004-01-06
----- Original Message -----
From: "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 12:11 PM
Subject: [tied] Transhumance [Re: etyma for Cr�ciun]
> Northern Middle English uses s-plurals, as far as I know?
Everybody used -es plurals (< OE masculine -as) in Middle English. All other
plurals were irregular archaic survivals like Mod.E <children> or <feet>.
The Kentish plural <eyren> was NOT a regular plural, even in Kent.
> And what
> would the reaction of the average Southern man or woman in the street
> at the time be to s-plurals, according to Paxton, if you recall the
> story?
Caxton, actually
> Last I mentioned "I have took" on cybalist, an American denied it
> even existed.
I'm not responsible for other people's ignorance or lack of observation.
Many native speakers of English would say that <slayed> (for <slew>) doesn't
exist, but you'll find written plainly in in Glen Gordon's "IE origins myth"
at his website. He could claim that the form is quite acceptable nowadays
because of its relatively high frequency (a Google search yields thousands
of hits, though <slew> and <slain> are still more frequent).
Piotr