Re: [OT] Virii (sic)

Johan Kullstam
2001-08-02T01:57:48Z

"Nadav Har'El" <nyh@math.technion.ac.il> writes:

> On Wed, Aug 01, 2001, Riley Williams wrote about "Re: [OT] Virii (sic)":
> > > [The singular is virus. The plural in English is viruses. In
> > > Latin there is no plural - it is even debatable whether virus is
> > > a noun in Latin - in any case it is indeclinable.]
>
> What I don't understand is why people use the form virii, with a double I!
>
> Just like the plural of abacus is abaci, the plural of cactus is cacti
> (check the dictionary if you don't believe me), shouldn't the plural of
> virus be viri, with one I at the end (of course, "viruses" is also currently
> accepted as a plural, and even preferred by some people).
>
> I think people get confused by the fact that the plural of radius is radii.
> That extra "I" comes from the i in radius - it shouldn't appear in the plural
> of "virus"! The plural of the different word "virius" should have been virii.
>
> > PS: Plural of bacteria is bacterium, from the same source.
>
> Note that bacteria is already plural - bacterium is the singular.
>
> There's a more computer relevant fact: "data" is a plural noun, whose
> singular is "datum". Similarly, "media" is plural, whose singular is
> "medium". So constructions like "datas" or "medias" are wrong, although
> they are becoming more and more accepted...
>
> Does anybody still use the form formulae as a plural of formula? I do, but
> I think I belong to a dying breed :)
>
> [Oops, I don't think this discussion is very relevant to Linux kernels any
> more...]

and the ever popular boni for plural of bonus ;-)

--
J o h a n K u l l s t a m
[kullstam@ne.mediaone.net]
Don't Fear the Penguin!