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What? Octopuses not octopi? Have I been lied to my whole life? "Octopi – Often used, but technically incorrect since octopus comes from Greek, not Latin." L
by SirFatty 1y ago
What? Octopuses not octopi? Have I been lied to my whole life?
"Octopi – Often used, but technically incorrect since octopus comes from Greek, not Latin."
Learn something new every day...
- unclad5968 1y agoOctopodes is the historically accurate pluralization of Octopus, but modern English has adopted octopuses.
- SirFatty 1y agoIndeed.. "Octopodes – This is the correct plural in Ancient Greek, but it's very rare and sounds quite formal or academic."
- Rendello 1y agoWikipedia has a section in this, which I found interesting: > The standard pluralised form of octopus in English is octopuses; the Ancient Greek plural ὀκτώποδες, octopodes, has also been used historically. The alternative plural octopi is usually considered etymologically incorrect because it wrongly assumes that octopus is a Latin second-declension -us noun or adjective when, in either Greek or Latin, it is a third-declension noun. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus#Etymology_and_pluralisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus#Etymology_and_pluralis...
- andreashaerter 1y ago„Yes, it's octopodes. I insist on the correct plural. Which is probably why my social life has some issues.“ :D