_Chickens._--A third variety of the double inflection (_en_ + _s_), with the additional peculiarity of the form _chicken_ being used, at present, almost exclusively in the singular number, although, originally, it was, probably, the plural of _chick_. So Wallis considered it:--"At olim etiam per _-en_ vel _-yn_ formabant pluralia: quorum pauca admodum adhuc retinemus. Ut, _an ox_, _a chick_, pluraliter _oxen_, _chicken_ (sunt qui dicunt in singulari _chicken_, et in plurali _chickens_)."--(P. 77). _Chick_, _chick-en_, _chick-en-s_. _Fern._--According to Wallis the _-n_ in _fer-n_ is the _-en_ in _oxen_, in other words, a plural termination:--"A _fere_ (_filix_) pluraliter _fern_ (verum nunc plerumque _fern_ utroque numero dicitur, sed et in plurali _ferns_); nam _fere_ et _feres_ prope obsoleta sunt."--(P. 77.) Subject to this view, the word _fer-n-s_ would exhibit the same phenomenon as the word _chicke-n-s_. It is doubtful, however, whether Wallis's view be correct. A reason for believing the _-n_ to be radical is presented by the Anglo-Saxon form _fearn_, and the Old High German, _varam_. _Women._--Pronounced _wimmen_, as opposed to the singular form _woomman_. Probably an instance of accommodation. _Houses._--Pronounced _houz-ez_. The same peculiarity in the case of _s_ and _z_, as occurs between _f_ and _v_ in words like _life_, _lives_, &c. _Paths, youths._--Pronounced _padhz_, _yoodhz_. The same peculiarity in the case of _th_ and _dh_, as occurs between _s_ and _z_ in the words _house_, _houses_. "Finita in _f_ plerumque alleviantur in plurali numero, substituendo _v_; ut _wife_, _wives_, &c. Eademque alleviatio est etiam in _s_ et _th_, quamvis retento charactere, in _house_, _cloth_, _path_."--P. 79. * * * * * {234} CHAPTER IV. ON THE CASES. s. 289. The extent to which there are, in the English language, cases, depends on the meaning which we attach to the word case. In the sentence _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 _a fathers 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_.