The standard spelling -nce disguises this analysis, which morphologically would be -nt+s. It may have originate as a plural or a genitive, but by the early 17th century it became an abstract noun suffix.
The standard spelling -nce disguises this analysis, which morphologically would be -nt+s. It may have originate as a plural or a genitive, but by the early 17th century it became an abstract noun suffix.