Collective noun

The collective noun ( from the Latin collective body; plural: collectives ), also called collective term is a linguistic expression, which summarizes an indefinite number of similar things or facts in a class.

• Semantically (in terms of sign and meaning ) is the collective term is a term for a class of things, facts or classes
• Linguistically (in terms of the linguistic expression ), it is a subset of the word class noun

In some cases, as a collective, a word used in which no connection to a corresponding singular form is seen in German, for example, leaves for an accumulation of leaves, fruit as a collective term for fruits or a herd for a dressing of animals.

In addition, there are various word formation pattern for the formation of collectives on the basis of a singular or a verb. The Germans are common patterns based on end or prefixes such company (employee, citizenship ), Ge (mountains, poultry, fighting ), plant ( bushes, rules ), tool ( hand tools, toys, armor, sailing stuff ). Some foreign words is on developments of the language of origin resorted ( software, management, tools, clientele ). Also, with the singular form of equality exist, such as in the English fish as a food label in contrast to fishes (individual fishes, fish species), in German, the term word in the sense of " statement, speech." The (often derogatory ) name of a people by a singular form ( the Frenchman ', Ivan, Tommy ) can be considered as collective noun.

Sometimes distinguished from the collective noun formations the Kontinuativa who describe innumerable things, especially material name ( material name ) such as water, wood, or where even a notion of innumerable underlying ( wood, rocks, terrain ).

The number word of the collective is the collective number.

Conceptual history

The grammatical theorists of the era and later Stoic distinction Boethius generic concepts of proper names, by which they demarcated collective terms. These are terms for a number of things with a common property. As such, they are the generic term closer than the proper name. This distinction has been retained and enhanced by the distinction between generic and specific collective terms to the 17th century. The former call units, which are determined only by specifying additional predicates ( " the crowd, group, etc. all ..."). The second call uniform summaries of a group of individuals ( "the people", "The Forest " ) for which there is no singular form. The further distinction between collective and distributive terms by John Stuart Mill refers to the fact that can be described with the former, not every element of amounts (eg, " the City Council ").