I edited in some stuffs (above), and heck, I don't think we have heard from Chris Gilson yet
member of the Tolklang Editorial Team:
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"
Sindarin employs various plural suffixes, one of which is _-ath_, as in _sammath_'chambers', _ennorath_ 'middle-lands', _giliath_ 'host of stars', etc. In the notes in _The Road Goes Ever On_
Tolkien explains that "the suffix _-ath_ (originally a collective noun-suffix) was used as a group plural, embracing all things of the same name, or those associated in some special arrangement." In Letter #347 he says: "It was a collective or group suffix, and the nouns so formed originally singulars. But they were later treated as pls., especially when applied to people(s), e.g. _Periannath_ the Hobbit-folk, as distinguished from _periain_
hobbits, an indefinite number of '
halflings'."
Another Sindarin plural suffix is _-rim_. In Letter # 168 Tolkien says: "The 'correct' plural of _onod_ was _enyd_, or general plural _onodrim_; though _ened_ might be a form used in
Gondor." Other examples of _-rim_ include _nogothrim_ 'dwarf-folk' (also _Naugrim_), _Golodhrim_ 'the
Noldor', and _orodrim_ (in _Thangorodrim_ '
Mountains of Tyranny').
In Letter #144 in an explanation of the form _Rohir-rim_ Tolkien says: "The Eldarin
languages distinguish in forms and use between a 'partitive' or 'particular' plural, and the general or total plural. Thus _yrch_ '
orcs, some orcs, des orques' occurs in vol. I, pp. 359, 402; the Orcs, as a
race, or the whole of a group previously mentioned would have been _orchoth_. In Grey-elven the general plurals were very frequently made by adding to a name (or a place-name) some word meaning 'tribe, host, horde, people'. So _Haradrim_ the
Southrons: Q _rimbe_, S _rim_, host; _Onod-rim_ the
Ents."
:edit:
By and large suffixed forms are used as 'group' or 'total' plurals, while the vowel-affected forms are used for the 'particular' plural. But the latter is sometimes marked by a suffix as well. One example is _e^l_ 'star', pl. _elin_ (group pl. _elenath_). The same suffix _-in_ is seen in the plural _Conin_ 'princes' (Letter # 230). This also resembles the ending in plural adjectives such as _galen_ 'green' pl. _gelin_, and may owe its origin in part to this, or arise by a similar development. Presumably suffixed plurals co-exist in the place of vowel-affection plurals because the phonetic causes of the latter did not affect all nouns." C. Gilson
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Some darn good quoting here if nothing else