No subject

[Thomas Schlemmermeyer]

I dimly do recall that in Latin there are several classes of word ending in -us.
Apparently the class "virus" belongs to those that have its plural ending
in -i, if your findings are correct.
But maybe Sean wanted to allude to another class of Latin nouns ending in -us,
where the plural is formed in a different manner.
I am not so quite sure about it, but maybe "cornus" (horn) could be such a
noun. Ah, such a long time ago, those Latin lessons....

On (         Wed, 1 Dec 1999 10:24:10 -0600
),         "Andrew K. Rindsberg" <arindsberg at GSA.STATE.AL.US> wrote:


>Sean R. Edwards asks about the plural of "virus". According to Cassell's
>Latin Dictionary, "virus" means "slime, slimy liquid, poison" and the
>plural is "viri". But the English plural, following Webster's, is
>"viruses".
>
>There is similar confusion over bacterium/bacteria, phenomenon/phenomena,
>where people tend to use the plural form as a singular, as in, "This is an
>interesting phenomena," which can be made plural as "These are interesting
>phenomenas." Makes my skin crawl.
>
>Andrew K. Rindsberg
>
>Geological Survey of Alabama
>Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
>


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Thomas Schlemmermeyer
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