While perusing a biography of Theodore Roosevelt, I found

envoy

used as a mass noun, in other words, several different messengers lumped together.  Perhaps it was a typo and the publisher should have printed

envoys

?

My four dictionaries do not list a mass definition, nor do they indicate any special pluralization rules.

envoy used as a mass noun, in other words, several different messengers lumped together.  

That’s interesting - I would have thought that it could be a mass noun.  I would have defined it as a person or group bringing a message or representing someone, singular even if it was a group of people as long as they were all there for the same purpose.  

If a country send an ambassador with a large entourage to another country, I would have called the whole group an "envoy".

However, I’ve looked it up, and it seems it’s supposed to be a single person.  Oh well.

monrad

[quote author=monrad link=board=grammar;num=1071005507;start=0#1 date=12/09/03 at 20:26:10]I would have called the whole group an "envoy".

I would call it a "convoy"  :)

But seriously, I have a feeling that there is a word for this but I cannot bring it to mind. Delegation would do, but I am sure there is something better.

[quote author=DerekB link=board=grammar;num=1071005507;start=0#2 date=12/10/03 at 08:37:25]
I have a feeling that there is a word for this

Mission?

Strangely enough, the word that was lurking in the back of my mind earlier cropped up yeserday evening in the book I am currently reading.

embassy
n. pl. embassies

1. A building containing the offices of an ambassador and staff.
2. The position, function, or assignment of an ambassador.
3. A mission to a foreign government headed by an ambassador.
4. A staff of diplomatic representatives headed by an ambassador.

Their envoy included U.S. officials seeking to interview Palestinians for the Fulbright scholarship program

Arabic Media Internet Network

Then in the next paragraph:

Official U.S. envoys travel the same route through Gaza on a regular basis. They drive in a recognizable envoy including Palestinian police protection and their black or silver Chevrolet Suburban.

Is this the sort of use that you are talking about, rosewoman?

en·voy n.

  1. A representative of a government who is sent on a special diplomatic mission.
  2. A minister plenipotentiary assigned to a foreign embassy, ranking next below the ambassador.
  3. A messenger; an agent.

This seems to mean one person here!

Sitran

On an only slightly related note, check out

The Envoy