-nym for Words the Same in Sing. and Pl.?

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 7, 2005, at 6:22 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: -nym for Words the Same in Sing. and Pl.?
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>
> Yes, but  I was taught that words like "deer," "sheep," and "Borg"
> have a singular form but no plural, making them the precise antipodal
> opposite of the plurale tantum.
>
> JL

"Singulare tantum" is the phrase that you're searching for.

-Wilson Gray

>
> "Peter A. McGraw" <pmcgraw at LINFIELD.EDU> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Peter A. McGraw"
>
> Subject: Re: -nym for Words the Same in Sing. and Pl.?
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> --------
>
> --On Thursday, July 07, 2005 5:23 PM -0400 "Baker, John"
> wrote:
>
>> There's no -nym, but what about plurale tantum? According to
>> that surprisingly resourceful and frequently denounced source,
>> Wikipedia, "A plurale tantum (plural pluralia tantum) is a noun that
>> appears only in the plural and does not have a singular. Many
>> languages
>> have pluralia tantum, for example the English word "scissors" is
>> such."
>>
>> How disappointing to realize that "plurale tantum" is not itself
>> a plurale tantum.
>
> It's perhaps equally disappointing that the words cited in the original
> query, "deer" and "aircraft", are also not examples of a plurale
> tantum,
> since they appear in both singular and plural--they just happen to
> have the
> same form for both.
>
> Peter Mc.
>
> *****************************************************************
> Peter A. McGraw Linfield College McMinnville, Oregon
> ******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************
>
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