There's a spectre haunting Latin grammar online. People are forming plurals for latinate words with absolutely no respect for Latin morphology. Just today, I ran across opii as the plural of opus 'work'. The plural of opus is opera, if you wish to be pedantic, or opuses. Opii is the genitive singular of opium. Extra points if you know what gender opus is. Neuter: why else magnum opus. Next is virus. Virus is another neuter, third declension noun in Latin. Take a look in Google and you'll come across spurious forms such as: viri, virii, vira, virora. They're all wrong. It's a trick! There was no plural for virus 'slime, poison' which was a collective noun. (Collective nouns, though singular in form, are plural in meaning, e.g., vulgus 'the people,' pelagus 'the sea') There's a good run-down on the Perl website. The plural of virus is viruses. This tendency is sometimes called hypercorrection. A similar habit is the often-reviled "between you and I" of the pseudo-literate. And finally, what is the plural of octopus? Either octopodes or octopuses, but never octopi.
Posted by jim at May 12, 2003 05:54 PM | TrackBackYou'll enjoy this comment thread at Renee's:
http://glosses.net/archives/000284.php
Well, "Virus" may have been an non-count noun in Latin, but it sure as hell is a countable noun in Modern English, and as such, it will be pluralized. Now that we can pluralize it, do we pluralize it as a fully borrowed word, "Viruses" or do we pluralize it as "Vira," the plural that the Latinate form's morphology allowed it to take.
Or do you have a problem with pluralizing words like "Rice" or "Air?" I don't think you do at all. VIRA, plain and simple, according to the way that the language works.
Posted by: ninjalooter1701@hotmail.com on April 18, 2004 03:36 PMHey, you are in fact free to do anything you like. You could form the plural of virus as xqwyz if you wanted to. The point is that most people who try to form a latinate plural for virus opt for virii, and that seems perfectly OK for them.
Posted by: jim on April 19, 2004 06:24 AMSo what about "prius"? Please tell me its not prii! I'm having an argument re this as we speak.
BB-- Well, if you mean the neuter form of the comparative adjective meaning prior or former, the plural form would be priora. If you mean the car, then I'd suggest Priuses. Hope that helps.
Posted by: jim on May 24, 2004 07:06 AM