Q: 'die', 'dice'

[John Hewson]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
On Mon, 2 Apr 2001, Larry Trask wrote:

> Traditionally, a spotted cube used in playing certain games is called a
> 'die', with the uniquely irregular plural 'dice'.  This is still, I think,
> the position in American English.  In British English, however, the
> singular 'die' has almost wholly disappeared, and the singular form is now
> 'dice'.

A couple of points to add to the discussion: (1) 'dice' is not unique,
since we also have 'pence' alongside the regular plural 'pennies'; (2) the
regular plural 'dies' also occurs in the metal working trade.

Originally 'dice' meant the pair of dice that are thrown in gambling with
dice, and 'pence' meant a sum of money or a coin, as in the now archaic
British terms tuppence, threppence, and sixpence (spellings to indicate
the traditional pronunciations for two-, three-). It appears to have been
an attempt to establish an internal plural (group plural, dual, etc) that
never took root in the grammar of the language. pens/pence is a minimal
pair that shows that the regular plural marker is phonologically /-z/.

I grew up in the UK and it was always 'a dice' or 'two dice' (never 'two
dices, in fact I would still say 'all those dice' -- curious!).

Before the currency reform of 30 odd years ago the British coin worth
three pence was known as 'a threpny bit' (ie three-penny) where the
singular (adjectival) form of 'threppence' can be seen. These forms must
be old because they have undergone the shortening of the vowel in the
first syllable of disyllabic words that we see in goose vs gosling, dine
vs dinner, south vs southern, and many other pairs.

In this part of Canada it is my experience that it's the British use of 'a
dice' that is the common one.


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John Hewson, FRSC                               tel: (709)737-8131
Henrietta Harvey Professor Emeritus             fax: (709)737-4000
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's NF, CANADA A1B 3X9
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