the phrase "a pride of lions", pride is a collective noun.

Most collective nouns in everyday speech, such as "group", are mundane and are not specific

to a kind of object. For example, the terms "group of people", "group of dogs", and "group

of ideas" are all correct uses. Others, especially words belonging to the large subset of collective

nouns known as terms of venery, are specific to one kind of constituent object. For example,

"pride" as a term of venery refers to lions, but not to dogs or cows.

Collective nouns should not be confused with mass nouns, or with the collective grammatical

number.

Derivational collectives Derivation accounts for many collective words.

Because derivation is a slower and less productive word formation process than the more overtly

syntactical morphological methods, there are fewer collectives formed this way. As with

all derived words, derivational collectives often differ semantically from the original

words, acquiring new connotations and even new denotations.

The English endings -age and -ade often signify a collective. Sometimes the relationship is

easily recognizable: baggage, drainage, blockade. However, even though the etymology is plain

to see, the derived words take on quite a special meaning.

German uses the prefix Ge- to create collectives. The root word often undergoes umlaut and suffixation

as well as receiving the Ge- prefix. Nearly all nouns created in this way are of neuter

gender. Examples include: das Gebirge, "group of mountains, mountain

range", from der Berg, "mountain" das Gepäck, "luggage, baggage" from der Pack,

"pack, bundle, pile" das Geflügel, "poultry, fowl" from late MHG

gevlügel(e), under the influence of der Flügel, "wing", from MHG gevügel, from OHG gifugili

= collective formation, from fogal, "bird" das Gefieder, "plumage" from die Feder, "feather"

In Swedish one example is the different words for mosquitos in the collective form and in

the individual form: mygga, plural: myggor

mygg Metonymic merging of grammatical number

Two good examples of collective nouns are "team" and "government", which are both words

referring to groups of people. Both "team" and "government" are count nouns.. However,

confusion often stems from the fact that plural verb forms are often used in British English

with the singular forms of these count nouns. Conversely, in the English language as a whole,

singular verb forms can often be used with nouns ending in "-s" that were once considered

plural. This apparent "number mismatch" is actually a quite natural and logical feature

of human language, and its mechanism is a subtle metonymic shift in the thoughts underlying

the words. In British English, it is generally accepted

that collective nouns can take either singular or plural verb forms depending on the context

and the metonymic shift that it implies. For example, "the team is in the dressing room"

refers to the team as an ensemble, while "the team are fighting among themselves" refers

to the team as individuals. This is also British English practice with names of countries and

cities in sports contexts; for example, "Germany have won the competition.", "Madrid have lost

three consecutive matches.", etc. In American English, collective nouns almost invariably

take singular verb forms. In cases where a metonymic shift would be otherwise revealed

nearby, the whole sentence may be recast to avoid the metonymy. See Comparison of American

and British English - Formal and notional agreement.

A good example of such a metonymic shift in the singular-to-plural direction is the following

sentence: "The team have finished the project." In that sentence, the underlying thought is

of the individual members of the team working together to finish the project. Their accomplishment

is collective, and the emphasis is not on their individual identities, yet they are

at the same time still discrete individuals; the word choice "team have" manages to convey

both their collective and discrete identities simultaneously. A good example of such a metonymic

shift in the plural-to-singular direction is the following sentence: "Mathematics is

my favorite academic subject." The word "mathematics" may have originally been plural in concept,

referring to mathematic endeavors, but metonymic shift—that is, the shift in concept from

"the endeavors" to "the whole set of endeavors"—produced the usage of "mathematics" as a singular entity

taking singular verb forms. Nominally singular pronouns can be collective

nouns taking plural verbs, according to the same rules that apply to other collective

nouns. For example, it is correct British English or American English usage to say:

"None are so fallible as those who are sure they're right." In this case, the plural verb

is used because the context for "none" suggests more than one thing or person.

Terms of venery

The tradition of using "terms of venery" or "nouns of assembly"—collective nouns that

are specific to certain kinds of animals—stems from an English hunting tradition of the Late

Middle Ages. The fashion of a consciously developed hunting language came to England

from France. It is marked by an extensive proliferation of specialist vocabulary, applying

different names to the same feature in different animals. These elements can be shown to have

already been part of French and English hunting terminology by the beginning of the 14th century.

In the course of the 14th century, it became a courtly fashion to extend the vocabulary,

and by the 15th century, this tendency had reached exaggerated proportions. The Venerie

of Twiti distinguished three types of droppings of animals, and three different terms for

herds of animals. Gaston Phoebus had five terms for droppings of animals, which were

extended to seven in the Master of the Game. The focus on collective terms for groups of

animals emerges in the later 15th century. Thus, a list of collective nouns in Egerton

MS 1995, dated to c. 1452 under the heading of termis of venery &c. extends to 70 items,

and the list in the Book of Saint Albans runs to 165 items, many of which, even though introduced

by the compaynys of beestys and fowlys, do not relate to venery but to human groups and

professions and are clearly humorous. The Book of Saint Albans became very popular

during the 16th century and was reprinted frequently. Gervase Markham edited and commented

on the list in his The Gentleman's Academic in 1595. The book's popularity had the effect

of perpetuating many of these terms as part of the Standard English lexicon, even though

they have long ceased to have any practical application. Even in their original context

of medieval venery, the terms were of the nature of kennings, intended as a mark of

erudition of the gentlemen able to use them correctly rather than for practical communication.

The popularity of these terms in the early modern and modern period has resulted in the

addition of numerous light-hearted, humorous or "facetious" collective nouns.

See also Linguistics concepts

Grammatical number Mass noun

Measure words Plural

Plurale tantum Synesis

Lists List of collective nouns for all subjects

List of animal names, including names for groups

English language Wiktionary appendix of collective nouns

Interdisciplinary Social unit

References

Further reading Hodgkin, John. Proper Terms: An attempt at

a rational explanation of the meanings of the Collection of Phrases in "The Book of

St Albans", 1486, entitled "The Compaynys of beestys and fowlys" and similar lists.,

Transactions of the Philological Society 1907-1910 Part III, pp 1 – 187, Kegan, Paul, Trench

& Trübner & Co, Ltd, London, 1909. Shulman, Alon. A Mess of Iguanas... A Whoop

of Gorillas: An Amazement of Animal Facts. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-84614-255-0.

Lipton, James. An Exaltation of Larks, or The "Veneral" Game. Penguin.; in 1993 it was

republished in Penguin with The Ultimate Edition as part of the title with the ISBN 0-14-017096-0

Hardcover Paperback PatrickGeorge. A filth of starlings. PatrickGeorge.

ISBN 978-0-9562558-1-5. PatrickGeorge. A drove of bullocks. PatrickGeorge.

ISBN 978-0-9562558-0-8.