Re:Why “children,” not “childs”? (2016)
by filmor on Sunday May 27, 2018 @04:43PM
(#17169002)
The article explains that "children" is a fancified form of "childer" which matches the German "Kinder". The dative has nothing to do with this.
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I was referring to where the -n came from. After research it seems it came from the old case system, which originally came from german, not sure if it's the dative plural, was just a theory. Here's more about that:
Read the article; the -en in this particular case arose after the loss of the case system, in a hypercorrection during a period when -en and -s were the two main plural endings.
I did, I was speaking about -en vs -n. Why -en for children and not just -n. Have I missed something?
Plain -n isn't used anywhere in English that I know of for a plural; the consonant cluster childrn would be improbable.
Re:Why “children,” not “childs”? (2016)
by _emacsomancer_ on Sunday May 27, 2018 @09:36PM
(#17170140)
It doesn't come from German; both English and German inherit it from Proto-Germanic.