Hello, this is my first post. If there is any rule against posting in old threads, let me know!
Darwinishungry;34148 said:
What exactly is the plural form of octopus? I've heard octopusES and octoPI from many different places.
I can give you some information about the Classical Greek and Latin(ized) forms of the word.
It is true that
oktopodes (masculine and feminine) and
oktopoda (neuter) are the normal (nominative) plurals of the Greek word
oktopous, but the funny thing about the word
pous ("foot") is that while its true stem is
pod- (third declension), it had a shorter stem
po- (second declension). This would also apply to its compound words.
The Romans themselves latinized Greek words and treated them as Latin words by giving them Latin endings, so the argument about how
octopi is incorrect because it is a latinized Greek word treated as a Latin word was dreamt up by someone unfamiliar with Latin grammar. So, the "mistaken notion" here is the idea that
octopi is problematic because it has a Latin ending.
The word
polypus ("many foot"), from
pous, was latinized and had the shorter stem
polypo-. You would think that its plural would be
polypodes, but it has the plural
polypi.
Octopodes is the plural according to the true stem of the word
octopus, but
octopi is the latinized plural according to the shortened stem.
Octopi isn't really any more incorrect grammatically than
polypi. It's just going by an unusual, but nevertheless existing, shorter form of the word.
On a related note, the Superorder name
Octopodiformes uses the true stem (
octopod-), but the Family name
Octopoteuthidae uses the shorter one (
octopo-).
Article said:
Plural
A note on the plural form: Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses", and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
And yet it does not seem to have a problem with the plural form
polypi.
Article said:
Octopi derives from the mistaken notion that octopus is Latin. It is not. It is (Latinized) Greek, from oktopous (ὀκτώπους), gender masculine, whose plural is oktopodes (ὀκτώποδες).
Yeah, again, this argument was dreamt up by someone unfamiliar with Latin grammar.
The Romans themselves gave latinized Greek words Latin endings, and here is the HTML version of a respected Latin grammar book (Allen and Greenough New Latin Grammar) showing various ways to do so:
Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar, section 81
Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar, section 82
Does
heroibus, for instance, derive from the "mistaken notion" that
heros is Latin? It is not.
How about
tigrium, and so on?
And what about
polypi?
This "mistaken notion" argument is specious at best.