Why do the word “goose”, “man”, and “mice” have irregular plurals?
Vowel Mutation in 3 Steps
The first step to the creation of this type of irregular plural in English was the plural suffix “-iz” in Proto-Germanic…
So, the plural of:
- Mūs was Mūsiz
- Tanþs was Tanþi
- Gans was Gansiz
Then, a few things things happened in the West Germanic languages… The “z” fell off at the end, the sound “an” changed into “o” and the “i” ending pulled the previous vowel towards the front of the mouth. This gives us:
- *Mūs/Mȳsi
- *Tōþ/Tøþi
- *Gōs/Gøsi
*Hypothetical/Unattested
Then, the ø sound turned into “e”, and the -I ending fell off all together.
- *Mūs/Mȳs
- *Tōþ/Tēþ
- *Gōs/Gēs
*Actual Old English examples…
Through vowel weirdness known as the Great Vowel Shift, we eventually get the modern irregular plurals:
- Mouse/Mice
- Tooth/Teeth
- Goose/Geese
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