Latin Plurals |
October 27th, 2012 |
ling |
Many English words are borrowed from Latin, where they took a
different plural. I'm interested in the most common case where we use
the Latin plural "-um/-a". While most English speakers, now and
historically, have never known Latin, I'm not sure whether these are
generally learned all as a exceptions or as a rule for words ending in
"-um". What nouns are consistently used in the plural with the
Latin-style '-a' as opposed to the English-style '-ums'? From
currently Latin-dominant to currently English-dominant (as of 2000),
with the year being when it switched styles if there is one.
Referenced in: Malicious USB Sticks
I'm leaving off words like "agenda" and "data" which are commonly used as singular. Also words like "hoodlum" and "harmonium" which aren't Latin, and words where the plural doesn't make much sense ("cesium", "Belgium").
[1] This varies by topic. If I'm buying shirts I might be looking for "the mediums" but
in complaining about campaign coverage I would blame "the media".
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