Lussurioso.—What? three-and-twenty years in law?
Vendice.—I have known those who have been five-and-fifty, and all about pullen and pigs.—Revenger's Tragedy, iv. 1.
If this were a plural form, it would be a very anomalous one. The -en, however, is no more a sign of the plural than is the -es in rich-es (richesse). The proper form is in -ain or -eyn.
A false theefe,
That came like a false fox, my pullain to kill and mischeefe.
Gammer Gurton's Needle, v. 2.
Chickens.—A third variety of the double inflection (en + s), with the additional peculiarity of the form chicken being used, at present, almost exclusively in the singular number, although, originally, it was, probably, the plural of chick. So Wallis considered it:—"At olim etiam per -en vel -yn formabant pluralia: quorum pauca admodum adhuc retinemus. Ut, an ox, a chick, pluraliter oxen, chicken (sunt qui dicunt in singulari chicken, et in plurali chickens)."—(P. 77). Chick, chick-en, chick-en-s.
Fern.—According to Wallis the -n in fer-n is the -en in oxen, in other words, a plural termination:—"A fere (filix) pluraliter fern (verum nunc plerumque fern utroque numero dicitur, sed et in plurali ferns); nam fere et feres prope obsoleta sunt."—(P. 77.) Subject to this view, the word fer-n-s would exhibit the same phenomenon as the word chicke-n-s. It is doubtful, however, whether Wallis's view be correct. A reason for believing the -n to be radical is presented by the Anglo-Saxon form fearn, and the Old High German, varam.
Women.—Pronounced wimmen, as opposed to the singular form woomman. Probably an instance of accommodation.
Houses.—Pronounced houz-ez. The same peculiarity in the case of s and z, as occurs between f and v in words like life, lives, &c.