Meredith Holley’s Reviews > Dispute Resolution: Examples & Explanations > Status Update

Heh, for the noun "dwarf" I would say the plural is "dwarves," but for the singular verb I think it's "dwarfs." Was this a case about dwarves? You make law sound so interesting.

You'd think, right? But it turns out that it's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And law IS interesting! It's not a case about dwarfs, but in these books they use examples to illustrate a point, and this one was about Snow White getting into a dispute with the Dwarfs over her salary.

I'm pretty sure Tolkien made up "dwarves" as the plural for his mythical bearded folk. In the real world, it's dwarfs.

Oop, Wikipedia proves me wrong but on the right track:

"An alternative plural dwarves has been recorded from the early 18th century and was in occasional use throughout the 19th century, especially in the context of Norse mythology. The form came to wider attention with its use by English philologist J. R. R. Tolkien in his fantasy novel The Hobbit which features a number of dwarves with names taken from the Eddaic Dvergatal. Tolkien noted that he would have preferred to use the hypothetical regular plural dwarrow but in the end restricted himself to using it in a toponym, Dwarrowdelf. The plural forms dwarfs and dwarves both remain in current use. The form dwarfs is generally used for people affected by dwarfism and in reference to Dwarf Stars in astronomy; the form dwarves is used more generally and for the mythical people described by Tolkien and others."

Ooo. Thanks, Aerin! Very informative! And what a relief about "dwarves" because spell check is trying to tell me it's wrong.

Spellcheck is often a dirty liar. Right now it is telling me "spellcheck" is not a word - it must be having some kind of existential crisis, doubting its own reality. Either that, or it's spelled with two words. Whatever.

I had the same problem, so I switched to two words. Whatever. Catch up spellcheck!