Thatβs an after the fact justification
You got some sources with dates in them to show it was βafterβ, and not, you know, before?
The original Greek β-ikosβ was both the feminine singular when refering to βthe artβ (the whole field), and the neuter plural when refering to βthings pertaining to the artβ. Latin took just the feminine singular, and most Latin-based languages today still use a singular, including English terms older than 1500 or so, like chemistry rather than chemics, taxonomy v. taxonomics, or arithmetic as opposed to arithmeticsβ½
Later in the Renaissance, people remembered Greek existed, and decided to try and bring back the neuter plural by taking a perfectly good -ic and slapping an s on it. Thus we get the somewhat newer sciences of physics, mathematics, ballistics, demographics, statistics, and so on.
The shortening of mathematics to βmathβ and βmathsβ was done much later, around 1900, give or take a few decades. Both versions can be found as purely written contractions beforehand, but their use in speech and whether the s was thruncated appears random.
Thus, if you must use a plural, the original useage has singular for the field (βBiomechanics is a difficult subject.β), and plural for things relating to the field (βThe mathematics used are difficult to parse.β); donβt try to justify using several thousand year old grammar (from a region remote enough that we forgot about it for several centuries) with syntax rules not present in the original. English is plenty fucked up as it is, let it build itβs own syntax and heal a bit, eh?
So, no sources. Got it.
The original Greek β-ikosβ was both the feminine singular when refering to βthe artβ (the whole field)
In modern English itβs The Arts - plural as it refers to all types of art (music, painting, etc.).
whether the s was thruncated appears random
Iβm not sure North Americans would appreciate being called βrandomβ. π Just the other day I was surprised when I saw a Canadian who used an American spelling, and when I asked him about it he said he was pretty much forced to because programming uses American spelling.
useage
Usage
several thousand year old grammar (from a region remote enough that we forgot about it for several centuries) with syntax rules not present in the original.
Did you miss the part where it says itβs a borrowed word?
