The original Greek “-ikos” was both the feminine singular when refering to “the art” (the whole field), and the neuter plural when refering to “things pertaining to the art”. Latin took just the feminine singular, and most Latin-based languages today still use a singular, including English terms older than 1500 or so, like chemistry rather than chemics, taxonomy v. taxonomics, or arithmetic as opposed to arithmetics‽
Later in the Renaissance, people remembered Greek existed, and decided to try and bring back the neuter plural by taking a perfectly good -ic and slapping an s on it. Thus we get the somewhat newer sciences of physics, mathematics, ballistics, demographics, statistics, and so on.
The shortening of mathematics to “math” and “maths” was done much later, around 1900, give or take a few decades. Both versions can be found as purely written contractions beforehand, but their use in speech and whether the s was thruncated appears random.
Thus, if you must use a plural, the original useage has singular for the field (“Biomechanics is a difficult subject.”), and plural for things relating to the field (“The mathematics used are difficult to parse.”); don’t try to justify using several thousand year old grammar (from a region remote enough that we forgot about it for several centuries) with syntax rules not present in the original. English is plenty fucked up as it is, let it build it’s own syntax and heal a bit, eh?
The original Greek “-ikos” was both the feminine singular when refering to “the art” (the whole field)
In modern English it’s The Arts - plural as it refers to all types of art (music, painting, etc.).
whether the s was thruncated appears random
I’m not sure North Americans would appreciate being called “random”. 😂 Just the other day I was surprised when I saw a Canadian who used an American spelling, and when I asked him about it he said he was pretty much forced to because programming uses American spelling.
useage
Usage
several thousand year old grammar (from a region remote enough that we forgot about it for several centuries) with syntax rules not present in the original.
Did you miss the part where it says it’s a borrowed word?
That’s an after the fact justification.
You got some sources with dates in them to show it was “after”, and not, you know, before?
The original Greek “-ikos” was both the feminine singular when refering to “the art” (the whole field), and the neuter plural when refering to “things pertaining to the art”. Latin took just the feminine singular, and most Latin-based languages today still use a singular, including English terms older than 1500 or so, like chemistry rather than chemics, taxonomy v. taxonomics, or arithmetic as opposed to arithmetics‽
Later in the Renaissance, people remembered Greek existed, and decided to try and bring back the neuter plural by taking a perfectly good -ic and slapping an s on it. Thus we get the somewhat newer sciences of physics, mathematics, ballistics, demographics, statistics, and so on.
The shortening of mathematics to “math” and “maths” was done much later, around 1900, give or take a few decades. Both versions can be found as purely written contractions beforehand, but their use in speech and whether the s was thruncated appears random.
Thus, if you must use a plural, the original useage has singular for the field (“Biomechanics is a difficult subject.”), and plural for things relating to the field (“The mathematics used are difficult to parse.”); don’t try to justify using several thousand year old grammar (from a region remote enough that we forgot about it for several centuries) with syntax rules not present in the original. English is plenty fucked up as it is, let it build it’s own syntax and heal a bit, eh?
So, no sources. Got it.
In modern English it’s The Arts - plural as it refers to all types of art (music, painting, etc.).
I’m not sure North Americans would appreciate being called “random”. 😂 Just the other day I was surprised when I saw a Canadian who used an American spelling, and when I asked him about it he said he was pretty much forced to because programming uses American spelling.
Usage
Did you miss the part where it says it’s a borrowed word?