Why is the plural for moose not meese?

[symbolipoint]

The piece came-up from the "Lame Jokes" section of the forum. Someobody carried a step from one of the posts and I became curious and tried a brief web search.

A web page gives some justification of sorts why we can use goose(s)-geese(p), but not moose(s)-meese(p).
Look for the part of the page headed with "Why isn't "meese" the correct plural?"
https://languagetool.org/insights/post/plural-of-moose/

 

[.Scott]

The piece came-up from the "Lame Jokes" section of the forum. Someobody carried a step from one of the posts and I became curious and tried a brief web search.

A web page gives some justification of sorts why we can use goose(s)-geese(p), but not moose(s)-meese(p).
Look for the part of the page headed with "Why isn't "meese" the correct plural?"
https://languagetool.org/insights/post/plural-of-moose/

Of course it's not "meeses", it's "meeces"!
As in "I hate those meeces to pieces" - to quote Mr. Jinks.

 

[DaveC426913]

A web page gives some justification of sorts why we can use goose(s)-geese(p), but not moose(s)-meese(p).
Look for the part of the page headed with "Why isn't "meese" the correct plural?"
https://languagetool.org/insights/post/plural-of-moose/

Given that this is a shill for their product LanguageTool, I am skeptical about their version of facts.



Anyway,

I think the question is not "Why is it moose and not meese?"; I think the question is "Why is it geese and not gooses?"

Because it's geese that's the exception to the rule (along with mice and a few others).

 

[bryantcl]

Simply put, English is a language that has evolved over the centuries with a lot of input from other languages, specifically old Norse, Latin, and German.

 

[DaveC426913]

Simply put, English is a language that has evolved over the centuries with a lot of input from other languages, specifically old Norse, Latin, and German.

Diplomatically put.

I'd say English is three languages standing on each other's shoulders, wearing a trenchcoat, pretending to be a real language.

 

[bryantcl]

Diplomatically put.

I'd say English is three languages standing on each other's shoulders, wearing a trenchcoat, pretending to be a real language.

If I wasn't a native speaker I would refuse to learn it.

 

[symbolipoint]

Simply put, English is a language that has evolved over the centuries with a lot of input from other languages, specifically old Norse, Latin, and German.

And sometimes from languages of other regions, such as indigenous ones from places in North America.

 

[symbolipoint]

Given that this is a shill for their product LanguageTool, I am skeptical about their version of facts.

The bit of consistent information also occurred in another web site/page. I simply included the link to the first page found which had the explanation.

 

[Bandersnatch]

I think the question is not "Why is it moose and not meese?"; I think the question is "Why is it geese and not gooses?"

Because it's geese that's the exception to the rule (along with mice and a few others).

Old Germanic (s,p) - regular plurals
Goose = /go:s, go:si/
Mouse = /mu:s, mu:siz/
Moose = was ist das?*

Old/Middle English - i-mutation occurs, causing the root vowel of the plural to be pronounced closer to the vowel of the ending;
then loss of the redundant ending (as you now can distinguish the number even if you omit the ending)
Goose = /go:s, ge:s/
Mouse = /mu:s, my:s/
Moose = hwat is thaet?*

Early Modern English - great vowel shift occurs, raising all vowels or diphtongising those that couldn't be raised further
Goose = /gu:s, gi:s/
Mouse = /maus, mais/
Moose = behold this magnificent animal, the Indians call it /mu:s/

I.e., as the link said, moose was introduced to the language after the vowel changes that generated the irregular plurals, so it wasn't subject to change.

*or however you would write these

 

[symbolipoint]

Old Germanic (s,p) - regular plurals
Goose = /go:s, go:si/
Mouse = /mu:s, mu:siz/
Moose = was ist das?*

Moose is from an Algonquin word; not Germanic. That was related to be part of the reason that plural does not go to "Meese".

 

[symbolipoint]

Moose = behold this magnificent animal, the Indians call it /mu:s/

Yah that's what seemed to be expressed in the online articles & pages.