n, and admits of the plural form and an
article; as, "_The Stuarts, the Caesars_."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 41.
These, however, may still be called _proper nouns_, in parsing; because
they are only inflections, peculiarly applied, of certain names which are
indisputably such. So likewise when such nouns are used to denote
character: as, "_Solomons_, for wise men; _Neros_, for tyrants."--_Ib._
"Here we see it becomes a doubt which of the two _Herculeses_, was the
monster-queller."--_Notes to Pope's Dunciad_, iv, 492. The proper names of
_nations, tribes_, and _societies_, are generally plural; and, except in a
direct address, they are usually construed with the definite article: as,
"_The Greeks, the Athenians, the Jews, the Jesuits_." But such words may
take the singular form with the indefinite article, as often as we have
occasion to speak of an individual of such a people; as, "_A Greek, an
Athenian, a Jew, a Jesuit_." These, too, may be called _proper nouns_;
because they are national, patrial, or tribal names, each referring to some
place or people, and are not appellatives, which refer to actual sorts or
kinds, not considered local.

OBS. 11.--Proper names, when they form the plural, for the most part form
it regularly, by assuming _s_ or _es_ according to the termination: as,
_Carolina_, the _Carolinas_; _James_, the _Jameses_. And those which are
only or chiefly plural, have, or ought to have, such terminations as are
proper to distinguish them as plurals, so that the form for the singular
may be inferred: as, "The _Tungooses_ occupy nearly a third of
Siberia."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 379. Here the singular must certainly be _a
Tungoose_. "The principal tribes are the _Pawnees_, the _Arrapahoes_, and
the _Cumanches_, who roam through the regions of the Platte, the Arkansaw,
and the Norte."--_Ib._, p. 179. Here the singulars may be supposed to be a
_Pawnee_, an _Arrapaho_, and a _Cumanche_. "The Southern or Floridian
family comprised the _Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Seminoles_,
and _Natchez_."--_Ib._, p. 179. Here all are regular plurals, except the
last; and this probably ought to be _Natchezes_, but Jefferson spells it
_Natches_, the singular of which I do not know. Sometimes foreign words or
foreign terminations have been improperly preferred to our own; which last
are more intelligible, and therefore better: as, _Esquimaux_, to
_Esquimaus_; _Knistenaux_, to _Knistenaus_, or _Crees; Sioux_, to _Sious_,