-dem

From English them.

-dem

1. Used to indicate plurality.

   Di gyal-dem a come. ― The girls are coming.

• This suffix is only used when there is a clear need to indicate a plural. Otherwise, the plural is implied and understood without any marking.

• L. Emilie Adams (1991) Understanding Jamaican Patois: An Introduction to Afro-Jamaican Grammar, LMH Publishing, →ISBN, page 13

Misinterpretation of -em. When the old ablative cases of is, eōd, eād, became eō, eā, the true forms eōd-em, eād-em were interpreted as eō-dem, eā-dem. The neuter nominative singular id-em is natural and gives earlier emem (= later eundem). The new marker -dem then served to create totidem, tantumdem, ibīdem, etc. Compare tam-en with its later doublet: tan-dem (← *tam-dem).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /dem/, [d̪ɛ̃ˑ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /dem/, [d̪em]

-dem (not comparable)

1. (unproductive) demonstrative ending

   ibī (“in that place”) > ibidem (“in that very place”)

   ita (“in this way”) > itidem (“likewise”)

   quī (“whereby”) > quidem (“indeed”)

   is (“he, it”) > īdem (“the same”)

   tam (“to such an extent”) > tandem (“finally”)

   tantus (“of much size”) > tantusdem (“just as much”)

   *pri ("before") > prīdem (“long ago; previously”)

• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN