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duale tantum

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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From Latin duāle tantum (dual as such; dual only), from duāle +‎ tantum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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duale tantum (plural dualia tantum)

  1. (grammar) A noun (or specific sense of a noun) that can only occur in the dual, and which lacks forms for singular, plural, and any other number.
    • 1909, Edward Sapir, Wishram Texts, page 4, footnote 1:
      The second -c- refers to icgaʹkwal “eel” (duale tantum), a form used alongside of igaʹkwal (masc.).
    • 1989, Frans Plank, “On Humboldt on the Dual” in Linguistic Categorization, eds. R. Corrigan, F.R. Eckman, and M.P. Noonan, § 2.5, 309:
      The only natural-pair noun consistently preferring the dual over the plural, ὄσσε, virtually a duale tantum, refers to the eyes not as mere sense-organs but as ‘windows of the soul’.
    • 2000, Greville G. Corbett, Number, chapter v, § 5.8.2, 175:
      Generally singularia tantum are the most common; we find instances with just the plural or with dual and plural but lacking the singular; dualia tantum are quite rare.

Translations

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See also

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