Page:Graimear na Gaedhilge.djvu/51

Rh war (pl. );, a harbour; , a fort (pl.  and ); , a hundred ; , a net; , a trunk of a tree (pl.  );  (pl. ), a wall.

Other nominative plurals—, a board, a table, makes or ;, a well, makes  or ,  or ; , a crowd, makes.

Many nouns of this declension have two or more forms in the nominative plural. The regular plural is the better one, though the others are also used. The following are a few examples of such nouns:—, a man (pl., ; , a son (pl. , );, a book , ; , an army (pl. , );, a horse (pl. , ).

The termination has a collective, not a plural force; just like ry in the English words cavalry, infantry, etc. This termination was formerly neuter, but now it is masculine or feminine; the genitive masculine being, the genitive feminine. Hence, a band of warriors, , a company of youths, , a number of steeds (cavalry), are not really plurals of , , and , but collective nouns formed from them. Likewise, (spoken form, ) is a collective noun meaning a flock of birds, or birds in general, and it is not really the plural of. However, and  are now used as plurals.

Appendix I. gives a list of nouns belonging to this declension. 