Editing Grammatical number (section)

====Dual and plural====

In [[Breton language|Breton]]:<ref name="Corbett2000p36"/>

*{{lang|br|lagad}} - "eye" (singular)
*{{lang|br|'''daou'''lagad}} - "two eyes" (dual)
*{{lang|br|lagad'''où'''}} - "eyes" (plural)
*{{lang|br|'''daou'''lagad'''où'''}} - "pairs of eyes" (composed, dual + plural)

Breton only has the dual for nouns that naturally come in pairs, mostly body parts and items of clothing. The composed dual and plural indicates multiple sets of two each, whereas the regular plural represents multiple items without them conceptualized as coming in pairs.<ref name="Acquaviva2008">{{cite book |last=Acquaviva |first=Paolo |year=2008 |title=Lexical Plurals: A Morphosemantic Approach |series=Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=238, 247, 251–252 |isbn=978-0-19-953421-0 }}</ref> There is at least one attestation in [[Egyptian language|Ancient Egyptian]], from an inscription dating to the reign of [[Merneptah]], of the exact same grammatical construction with the word "hand" (to mean multiple pairs of hands).<ref>{{cite book |last=Matić |first=Uroš |year=2019 |title=Body and Frames of War in New Kingdom Egypt: Violent Treatment of Enemies and Prisoners |series=Philippika - Altertumswissenschaftliche Abhandlungen / Contributions to the Study of Ancient World Cultures 134 |location=Wiesbaden, Germany |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |page=282n450 |isbn=978-3-447-19925-4 }}</ref>

A similar category can be found in some nouns of [[Classical Arabic]], where it has been called the "dual of the plural". However, its meaning is the reverse of the Breton construction. Rather than multiple sets of two each, it indicates two sets of multiple each. Thus there is {{lang|ar-latn|rumḥun}}, spear (singular); {{lang|ar-latn|rumḥani}}, two spears (dual); {{lang|ar-latn|rimāḥun}}, spears (plural); and {{lang|ar-latn|rimāḥāni}}, two groups of spears (dual of the plural).<ref name="Ojeda1992p322">{{cite book |last=Ojeda |first=Almerindo E. |editor-last1=Barker |editor-first1=Chris |editor-link1=Chris Barker (linguist) |editor-last2=Dowty |editor-first2=David |editor-link2=David Dowty |year=1992 |title=SALT II: Proceedings from the Second Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory; Held at the Ohio State University, May 1-3, 1992 |chapter=The Semantics of Number in Arabic |series=Working Papers in Linguistics No. 40 |location=Columbus |publisher=The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics |pages=303–326 [322–323] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED352828/page/n321/mode/2up }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Kunitzsch |first=Paul |date=1978 |title=Der Sternhimmel in den "Dichterischen Vergleichen der Andalus-Araber" |language=de |journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft |volume=128 |issue=2 |pages=238–251 [245] |jstor=43381949 }}</ref> The Arabic dual of the plural more specifically implies a minimum of six items, or two groups of three each.<ref name="Ojeda1992p322"/>