Double Plurals.
§ 128. Double plurals are of common occurrence, and are formed in the following ways:
i. A second pl. ending is added to the first: celain ‘corpse’, pl. celanedd, double pl. celaneddau Ps. cx 6; deigr ‘tear’, pl. dagrau, double pl. dagreuoeẟ Ỻ.A. 71, r.b.b. 146, 149; so blodeu ‘flowers’, double pl. blodeuoeẟ r.b.b. 40, sg. blodeuyn; dieu ‘days’, double pl. dieuoeẟ do. 9, 25, sg. dyẟ; llysseu ‘plants’, double pl. llysseuoeẟ Ỻ.A. 70; dynion, double pl. dynẏoneu r.p. 1303; neges ‘errand’, pl. negesau, double pl. negeseuau m.l. ii 97; peth ‘thing’, pl. pethau, double pl. petheuau do. 112, 119 ‘various things’; esgid ‘shoe’, esgidiau ‘shoes’, esgideuau ‘pairs of shoes’; mach ‘surety’, pl. meichi̯au, double pl. meichiafon.
ii. A pl. ending is added to a pl. formed by affection: thus cloch ‘bell’, pl. clych s.g. 380, double pl. clychau; sant ‘saint’, pl. seint b.b. 85, Ỻ.A. 69, double pl. seinnẏeu h.m. ii 227, Mn. W. seintiau; angel ‘angel’, pl. engyl m.a. i 282, double pl. engylẏon Ỻ.A. 155, w.m. 118, b.b. 70 etc., Mn. W. angỿli̯on (e- > a- § 83 iii Note 2).
In old formations ‑i̯on affected the preceding vowel, thus the ei of meibi̯on is the affection of a by i̯, as shown by the intermediate form mepion § 70 ii (1). But meibion seemed to be the pl. meib with ‑i̯on added; and on this analogy ‑i̯on was added to engyl. The y in angylion is not an old affection of the e by i̯, for that would be ei, cf. anr͑eigẏon, etc., § 70 ii (2). angelion is a new formation probably due to Wm.S., and, though used in the Bible by Dr. M. and Dr. P., has failed to supplant angylion as the spoken form. Silvan Evans’s statement that angelion very frequently occurs in Ml. mss. is a gross error, supported only by a quotation from a 17th cent. copy, h.m. ii 337, of a tract appearing in Ỻ.A., where the reading is eg̃ylẏonn 129.
In most cases however ‑i̯on is added to the sg., and does not affect ae, e, o: kaethẏon r.p. 1272, ysgolion ‘schools’.
iii. The diminutive pl. endings ‑ach (‑i̯ach) and ‑os are added to pl. nouns, as cryddionach Gr.O. 208, dynionach do. 93, J.D.R. [xx]; dreiniach ‘thorns’; plantos, gwragedhos, dilhados (dh ≡ ẟ, lh ≡ ll) J.D.R. [xv] ‘children, women, clothes’; cỿnos ‘little dogs’; more rarely to sg. nouns: branos r.m. 154, L.G.C. 148, ‘little crows’, caregos ‘pebbles’, dernynnach ‘bits’.
Sometimes a final media is now hardened before the ending: pryfetach, merchetos. This is prob. due to late diminutive doubling (d‑d > tt, etc.).
