Plural of Wose

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joshudson
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Plural of Wose

Post by joshudson »

What should the plural of wose be? I've used woses once or twice, but it just doesn't sound right.

wose? (like sheep)
woses? (like tree)
weese? (like goose)
wosen? (weird)
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turin
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Post by turin »

Well, Wose is an actual word (search for it on Wikipedia; it gives you a Tolkien-related article, but Tolkien actually stole the name from European folklore), and the plural is Woses. So I would use that.
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Post by Elvish_Pillager »

No no no, the plural of "wose" is "wooses". Hence the common misconception of calling a single one a "woose"... :P
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Post by Dragon Master »

"Wose" singular and "Wose" plural sound fine to me. "Woses" is also fine but just go with what works as long as people understand you.
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Post by Zhukov »

So Tolkien's Woses were the little wild men? And ours are basically the same as Tolkien's Ents. How curious.

Anyone know why our Woses got that name?
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Post by Flametrooper »

Because that's what the Devs wanted. And of course, that is what is the law.
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Post by turin »

Zhukov wrote:So Tolkien's Woses were the little wild men? And ours are basically the same as Tolkien's Ents. How curious.

Anyone know why our Woses got that name?
Well, just everyone who was around when the Woses were added. ;)

The basic reasoning was:
1. These are ent-like creatures basically copied from Tolkien.
2. But, they're NOT the exact same, so we shouldn't call them ents. And that would be copyright infringement anyway.
3. Hm... what about woses? It means "wild-man-of-the-woods". Tree-man, wild-man, same thing - or at least close enough.

;)

(PS: The name of Wose fits, IMHO; but I don't think Woses really have a place in Wesnoth, and they never really did; especially not one that would lead to them being allied with the Rebels. So I've always been opposed to Woses in Wesnoth.)
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Post by kshinji »

Ent isnt copyrighted. It wasnt invented by Tolkien as far as i know. Even if i am wrong, name is already used in many things, like TCGs or RPGs.
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Wosi?

Post by schnauzerhead »

I would have to go with wosi... sounds cooler.
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Re: Wosi?

Post by xtifr »

schnauzerhead wrote:I would have to go with wosi... sounds cooler.
I think you misspelled "sillier". :)

I actually had another adjective in mind, but I decided to be polite.
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Post by UDD »

If you're going for wosi in a similar way to bonus=>boni, then it should actually be "wi", which is not dissimilar to the upcoming "Wii".

That's it, I vote for "wi"
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Re: Plural of Wose

Post by pjr »

joshudson wrote:What should the plural of wose be? I've used woses once or twice, but it just doesn't sound right.
Boring technical answer:

The Anglo-Saxon weak masculine noun "wasa" (plural "wasan"), which is a rare and rather poetical word meaning "man", seems to be the source of Tolkien's word "wose". The change from long "a" to long "o" is regular - compare "stan" -> "stone", "da" -> "doe" and many others; and the "-a" of weak nouns is invariably lost.

So the plural could be formed by analogy with modern descendants of other weak nouns in "-a".

"bera, beran" -> "bear, bears"
but
"oxa, oxan" -> "ox, oxen"

So you could use either "woses" or "wosen" without upsetting linguists, but plurals with altered vowels or no change have a different origin. The singular of "weese" would be "woose", and unaltered plurals like "sheep" mostly originate with strong neuter nouns, not weak masculine ones.

I like "wosen" myself, because "woses" sounds like a lisping pronunciation of "roses". Also, I think Tolkien preferred "woses", and there's no harm in being different.

"Ent", by the way, was also an Anglo-Saxon noun, meaning "giant", so Tolkien didn't invent it.
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Re: Plural of Wose

Post by UDD »

pjr wrote:"woses" sounds like a lisping pronunciation of "roses".
Wouldn't a lisping pronounciation of "roses" sound more like "rotheth" or "wotheth"?
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Hmmm..

Post by schnauzerhead »

So.... Wosen? that sounds good.......
Mm.... gentoo.
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Re: Hmmm..

Post by Thrawn »

schnauzerhead wrote:So.... Wosen? that sounds good.......
I agree, though to some it may sound like an adjective.

I mean, hey, we uase magi for mages, why not wosen for woses
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