[Avodah] Plurals

[David Roth]

It seems that in Rabbinic Hebrew, both nouns in a construct (smikhut)
chain are pluralized:

talmid hakham vs talmidei hakhamim
av melakhah    vs avot melakhot
av hatum'ah     vs avot hatum'ot
(no singular)         avot nezikin
(no singular)         dinei nefashot/mamonot
(no singular)         yemot hageshamim
beit keneset     vs battei kenesiyot
beit midrash     vs battei midrashot
(no singular)         leilei shabbatot (leilei shabbat also occurs)
erev shabbat    vs arvei shabbatot (arvei shabbat also occurs once)
(no singular)         leilei pesahim
erev pesah       vs arvei pesahim (erev pesahim occurs in manuscripts
of Pesahim 10:1)
ba`al habayit    vs ba`alei habattim
get ishah          vs gittei nashim

...and many more.  The rules for construct (smikhut) are simply not
the same in Rabbinic and Biblical Hebrew.  My examples may be
confirmed by searching the Bar Ilan Project program for Mishnah,
Tosefta, and Midreshei Halakhah.  One should, of course, check
manuscripts, so I will not make any claims about frequency or
correctness, but it seems clear that these forms exist.

Kol Tuv,
David Roth