I couldn't help but notice all the new birds that have been mentioned lately.
Could anyone out there tell me where I can go to spot "Tudors, English
crowns, English renaissance (sorry--couldn't find the plural form), and
West Germanics?" Is there anyone out there still interested in birds?
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On Fri, 14 Oct 1994, Jim Lyles wrote:

>
> Hello,Lisa Smith--
>
> This Friday morning I found some of your musings directed to me:
>
> > To Jim Lyles: When you say modern usage, are you referring to usage
> > within the last millennium? To my mind, modern English usage refers to
> > the language AS, or "after Shakespeare." Anything else is, of course, BS.
> > (I just *couldn't* resist that -- Ooof... ouch! Okay, okay, I'll leave
> > punning to the masters, like Mike "Whimbrel" Smith. Uh oh, Dennis,
> > there's that nasty habit of making verbs out of nouns, one that I detest
> > myself!) It's not surprising that olde English plurals were formed in so
> > many different ways, given that the language borrowed (appropriated may be
> > more apt) so heavily from other languages. The -er plural, for example,
> > is Germanic. By the way, I called myself a purist in jest; others have
> > accused me of such, but I think it's a matter of degree.
> >
> > ****************************************
> > Lisa M. Smith <subplot at u.washington.edu>
> > inhabitant of the Emerald City
> > (insert pithy social commentary here)
> >
>
> By "MODERN USAGE," I chiefly meant the period after the Tudors took the
> English crown--in other words, the period beginning with the English
> Renaissance. My rusty memory tells me that the usual divisions are
> OLD ENGLISH (AD 449-1100), MIDDLE ENGLISH (1100-1500), and MODERN ENGLISH
> (1500-now). Shakespearean English is early modern English.
>
> Yes, English has borrowed heavily from other languages. But English has
> mostly borrowed words, not grammar, and has habitually imported words
> into English grammar.
>
> Indeed, the -er plural is Germanic because English and modern German are
> both descendants of a common ancestor--West Germanic. The -er plural,
> the -en plural, the -as plural, the zero inflected plural, and other such
> plurals are native English.
>
> Thank you very much for your musings. They made me rummage for some
> half-forgotten items in the dusty back rooms of my memory.
>
> --Jim Lyles
> jrlyles at fs01dwatcm.wr.usgs.gov
>
>
>