how to write the plural of latin and greek words in english publications

[Jan Bosselaers]

Thomas Schlemmermeyer wrote:
>
>   Folks, I have a small problem:
>
>   In the english language the plural is formed, most commonly, by appending
>   a "s", in greek and latin the equivalent transformations are different.
>
>   So, "taxon" gets "taxons" in english, but "taxa" in greek.
>       "imago" gets "imagos" in english, but "imagines" in latin.
>       "tibia" gets "tibias" in english, but "tibiae"in latin.
>
>           And so on!
>
>   Intuitively, I would always use the latin or greek version, but, in fact,
>   I know that they often use the english versions in publications.
>
>   What are the general recommendations on this topic?
>
Dear taxacomers,

In my view, for all questions regarding latin and greek, there is only
one address: Howard Don Cameron, Professor of latin and greek at
Michigan University and keen amateur arachnologist. I propounded the
question to him and this was his reply:
"Jan, good to hear from you again, even when you present me with
controversial problems. The taxonomic and morphological terms originated
(for the most part) in the dear old days when everybody wrote in Latin
from Aldrovandus to the 20th century (Simon's keys), and the tradition
has
been to use the proper Latin and (latinized) Greek plurals. It is only
very recently that this convention has been shaken. It seems to me that
the use of the proper Latin and Greek plurals is always unquestionably
correct, but the use of neologistic English plurals is always doubtful
and
questionable. International terminology will usually be traditional and
grammatically correct; the innovation of English plurals will always be
parochial and peculiar to English publications (and then only some of
them). The Latin and Greek plurals contribute to stability and
universality. Besides, as you observe "taxons" is unsupportably ugly.
If you think my opinion is useful, do pass it on.
H.D. Cameron"

Best regards,

Jan
--------------------------------------------------------------
Jan Bosselaers
"Dochterland", R. novarumlaan 2
B-2340 Beerse, Belgium                       tel 32-14-615896
home: dochterland at village.uunet.be           fax 32-14-610306
work: jbossela at janbe.jnj.com
web: http://gallery.uunet.be/Dochterland/
"Temeritas est damnare quod nescias" Seneca