Also Read
In the nominative plural, the OE declensions present the same motley spectacle as the genitive singular. Most masculines have the ending - as but some have -e some -a and many -an; some nouns have no ending at all and most of these change the vowel or vowels of the kernel. While a few have the plural exactly alike the singular. Feminine words formed their plurals in -a, -e or -an or without any ending. Neuters had either on ending or else -u, -on. From the oldest period, the ending -as (es, -s) has been continually gaining ground, first among those masculines that belonged to other declensional classes, later on also in the other genders. The -an ending also showed very great powers of expansion, but finally -(e)s carried the day. Probably because it was the most distinctive ending. The only remaining plurals in -en are oxen, children, kine, and brethren.
 |
| Nominative Plural Nouns |
Instead of the ending -ses, we often find a single -s e.g, Pears soap, the Lord' house, etc. Sometimes, an 's' belonging to the stem of a word is taken to be a plural ending e.g, alms, riches. Again, there are some words that lose the 's' originally, because it is mistakenly apprehended as the sign of the plural (Peas)-M.E: pese, pi, pesen. In some words, the 's' of the plural has become fixed, as it it belonged to the Singular means, pains, amends, etc. It is not, however, till a new plural has been formed such a form that the transformation from plural to singular has been completed, nus OE broc' formed its plural brec, but broc became obsolete, and brec, breech was free to become a singular and to form a new plural breeches.
This is an instance of back-formation and double plural. Most of the words that make their plurals like the singular are old neuters, the s - ending belonging originally to masculines only and having only gradually extended to other two genders - sune, deer, sheep. In some cases, there is a difference between the singular in speaking ot the mass and an individual plural in -s: Shee hath more haire than wit and more faults than hairs (Shakespeare). This difference was transferred to some old masculines like fish, fawl.