The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #74985 Message #1313072
Posted By: Amos
01-Nov-04 - 10:15 AM
Thread Name: BS: mudcatters are up their own a**holes
Subject: RE: BS: mudcatters are up their own a**holes
Snuffy:
The reference I posted seems to imply that the possessive apostrophe does indicate ellipsis, the omission of the "e" in plurals used as possessives in Middle English. I don't have any Chaucer with me to see if the possessive form is spelled with an es there but it i9s at least a good hypothesis for why the apostrophe is used for possession.