What is the plural form of the French word "croix"? WWII hero Audie
Murphy was awarded more than one Croix de Guerre. How would one
properly write "two ______ de Guerre"? Is "croix" both singular and
plural? Certainly one would not write or say "court martials," but
rather "courts martial." Using the same logic, it is the first word
"croix" that needs to be pluralized, and yet how? Of course, one could
avoid the issue altogether by writing "two Croix de Guerre medals,"
but that would be copping out!

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Clarification of Question by nautico-ga on 25 Apr 2003 06:19 PDT

I realize that the syntactic structure of "croix de guerre" (cross of
war) is not entirely analagous to that of "court martial" insofar as
the rule of plurals is concerned. I cited them as similar only because
in both cases the careless speaker or writer tends to pluralize the
wrong word: croix de guerres or court martials. Further complicating
my question is the fact that many French plurals end with an "x,"
though in the case of "croix" the word as normally used is clearly
singular.

Hello nautico

Yes, "croix" is both singular and plural, which makes things easy, as
I completely agree with you that croix, not guerre, is the word which
needs to be pluralized.

Although I was confident of this from my knowledge of French, I also
wanted to show you the word pluralized that way in examples of the
written language.

A search for examples of two or three described as "deux (2) croix de
guerre" or "trois (3) croix de guerre" produced these results:
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22deux+OR+trois+croix+de+guerre%22&sa=N&tab=iw

Amongst the pages found by this search there are various pictures and
descriptions of coats of arms etc. with two or "deux croix de guerre",
for example this one on the Illzach website:
http://www.ville-illzach.fr/index3.php?tpl=1_1_3

This correct way of writing about more than one croix de guerre is the
usual English form, although I do note the occasional exception! See
these search results:
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22two+croix+de+guerre%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Also check this guide to French pluralization:

"The French also use the letters s, x, and z to make plurals. What
happens if you have a French noun that ends in one of these letters?
Absolutely nothing!"

From "Grammar in a Flash"
http://www.idiotsguides.com/Chapters/0028631463_PIG_French/file.htm

I hope this helps. Please don't hesitate to ask for clarification if
anything needs further explanation and I will be happy to assist.


Regards - Leli


additional search:
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=french+plurals+OR+pluralization+croix+&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

A quick and authoritative response! Many thanks!

Many thanks for the tip, stars and kind comment. I'm glad I could help.

Leli

Interestingly, though, even if the English plural is spelled like the
singular, it might be pronounced differently - as happens with other
French loan-words, such as corps, chassis, faux-pas, rendez-vous, and
précis. Hence "two croix de guerre" may be pronounced "tu krwaz de
ger" rather than "tu krwa de ger".

MAY be pronounced "krwaz" or IS so pronounced?

I say MAY since none of the online dictionaries list a plural form, so
this is all educated guesswork. Someone with access to the OED or
similar should be able to settle this, though.

I have the New Shorter OED, though didn't even think of looking
"croix" up in it. Now that I have, I see that although "croix" isn't
listed alone, "Croix de Guerre is," and it does say the plural form is
the same. Only one pronunciation is shown, however: "krwa de ger."

Pity.. I suppose one should never count on consistency in English!
Still, the closest example I can think of is 'grand prix' (sometimes
spelled 'grands prix'), where both plural pronunciations -pree and
preez- are permissible.