Derivation of News

P.C.S.S. has read with great interest the various observations on the derivation of the word "News" which have appeared in the "NOTES AND QUERIES," and especially those of the learned and ingenious Mr. Hickson. He ventures, however, with all respect, to differ from the opinion expressed by that gentleman in Vol. i., p. 81., to the effect that— "In English, there is no process known by which a noun plural can be formed from an adjective, without the previous formation of the singular in the same sense." P.C.S.S. would take the liberty of reminding Mr. H. of the following passage in the *Tempest…