§ 205. The words sounded _houz-ez_, _padh-z_, _yoodh-z_, taken along with the extract from Wallis, lead us to an important class of words.--§ 199 b. § 206. Certain words ending in f, like _loaf_, _wife_, &c. The regular plural of these would be _loafs_, _wifes_, pronounced _loafce_, _wifce_, &c. But this is not the case. The sound added to the final f is the sound of z, not that of s. And the plurals are sounded _loavz_, _wivz_ (_wivez_, _weivz_). Furthermore, the sound of the final f is changed to that of v; in other words, the _first_ of the two letters is accommodated to the second, in violation to the rule of § 199 b. Can this be explained? Perhaps it can. In the Swedish language the letter f has the sound of v; so that _staf_ is sounded _stav_. Again, in the allied languages the words in question end in the _flat_ (not the _sharp_) mute,--_weib_, _laub_, _calb_, _halb_, _stab_, &c. = _wife_, _leaf_, _calf_, _half_, _staff_. This makes it probable that, originally, the f in _wife_, _loaf_, &c. was sounded as v; so that the singular forms were _wive_, _loav_. If so, the _plural is_ perfectly normal; it being the _singular_ form on which the irregularity lies. * * * * * CHAPTER IV. ON THE CASES. § 207. The extent to which there are, in the English language, cases, depends on the meaning which we attach to the word case. In the term _a house of a father_, the idea expressed by the words _of a father_, is an idea of relation between them and the word _house_. This idea is an idea of property or possession. The relation between the words _father_ and _house_ may be called the _possessive_ relation. This relation, or connexion, between the two words, is expressed by the preposition _of_. In the term _a father's house_, the idea is, there or thereabouts, the same; the relation or connexion between the two words being the same. The expression, however, differs. In _a father's house_ the relation, or connexion, is expressed, not by a preposition, but by a change of form, _father_ becoming _father's_. _He gave the house to a father_.--Here the words _father_ and _house_ stand in another sort of relationship, the relationship being expressed by the preposition _to_. The idea _to a father_ differs from the idea _of a father_, in being expressed in one way only; viz., by the preposition. There is no second mode of expressing it by a change of form, as was done with _father's_. _The father taught the child_.--Here there is neither preposition nor change of form. The connexion between the words _father_ and _child_ is expressed by the arrangement only. § 208. Now if the relation alone between two words constitute a case, the words _a child_, _to a father_, _of a father_, and _father's_, are all equally cases; of which one may be called the accusative, another the dative, a third the genitive, and so on.