With the numerals, however, pish is used in enumerating animals:—Thus:—Umma tuppish, umma reppish, “two horses, three horses.”
But there appear to be quite a number of nouns, now regarded as singular, which inflection proves to be really plural by derivation. Thus:—
| singular | plural |
|---|---|
| Am, “a finger-nail.” | Amu, “finger-nails.” |
| Ashikipet, “a finger.” | Ashikipettu, “fingers.” |
| At, “a tether.” | Atu, “reins.” |
| Chep, “a fish.” | Chep-nu, “fishes.” |
| Hura, “a hill.” | Huranu, “hills.’ |
| Itak, “a word.” | Itaku, “words.” |
| Kut, “a crag.” | Kuttu, “crags.” |
| Pe, “water.” | Pepe, “waters.” |
| Pet, “a river.” | Petcha, “rivers.” |
| Nishi, “a cloud.” | Nishu, “clouds.” |
Also such as :—
| Ikushpe, “a post.” | Ukushpe, “posts.” |
| Iriwak, “a relation.” | Uiriwak, “relations.” |
| Kema, “a foot.” | Ukema, “feet.” |
| Nimaki, “a tooth.” | Unimaki, “teeth.” |
The word pe “an article,” “a thing,” may well be compared with pish the plural particle used in counting animals; and koro, “to possess” with kotcha, “possessors.” The cha in this latter word sometimes appears as chi and sometimes as at, ot, or simple t. The nu given often chep and hura in the above examples is seen to advantage in the word nuye which means “abundance.”
Pfizmaier, in his Erörterungen und Aufklärungen über Aino, quotes Dobrotvorsky as intimating that the Ainu language retains fragments of a plural formation in a few substantives, and quotes kema, “a foot” and kemaki “feet”; also ima, “a tooth,” and imaki “teeth” as examples. But on turning to Dobrotvorsky. I find he gives, нога, ношка, and even ногн, i.e. “foot”; “a little foot” and “feet” for kema while kemaki does
