If the plural of goose is geese, why isn the plural of moose meese?
A. Goose and moose form their plurals in different ways because the words developed much differently, from different origins. Goose is from Old English, which is the original form of English, related to German and other languages of northern Europe, and almost wholly incomprehensible to English speakers today. However, a great many Old English words are recognizable, even if the grammar and the way verbs and nouns are changed (inflected) are as complicated as Latin to modern speakers; goose is a good example. Goose in Old English is gos, and the plural was ges, pronounced like “gase,” rhyming with “chase.” Moose, on the other hand, is from Algonquian, a Native American language. The Algonquian people of course didn’t use English letters, and we ended up with moose no doubt because that is what the word sounded like. The plural moose, speaking now about the English word, is a predictable parallel to other zero-plural words ( that is, plural forms that are unchanged from the base form) l
