4 ms·

The article explains that "children" is a fancified form of "childer" which matches the German "Kinder". The dative has nothing to do with this.

• amaccuish 8y ago
  I was referring to where the -n came from. After research it seems it came from the old case system, which originally came from german, not sure if it's the dative plural, was just a theory. Here's more about that: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-en#Etymology_2 https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-en#Etymology_2
  • azernik 8y ago
    Read the article; the -en in this particular case arose after the loss of the case system, in a hypercorrection during a period when -en and -s were the two main plural endings.
    • amaccuish 8y ago
      I did, I was speaking about -en vs -n. Why -en for children and not just -n. Have I missed something?
      • azernik 8y ago
        Plain -n isn't used anywhere in English that I know of for a plural; the consonant cluster childrn would be improbable.
  • _emacsomancer_ 8y ago
    It doesn't come from German; both English and German inherit it from Proto-Germanic.