and Abl.Abs.! Doo, doodoodoo, doo doo doo doo doo. Ironically, I was very careful with my choice of "virus vs. virii" when I wrote that message. Steam may have applied forms. Octopi is wrong for the plural of octopus, like viri for the plural of "virus.". Consequently an Index 'Virii' is wrong for two reaons: Being a Latin geek myself I can't help but point out that nouns in the fourth declension (u stem) also end in -us in singular and receive an -us affix in plural as well. 7.
So what Data, for instance, is the plural of datum and alumni is the plural of an alumnus. `moh-rehs') is mos, with the same change of `s' to `r' between To make matters worse, it has been suggested that due to the Latin form of the word, the study of viruses should not be. Finally, Nuntii Latini, a weekly review of world news in Latin, and Ephemeris, the online newspaper in Latin, both have used vira as the plural for virus: Nuntii Latini Example #1, Nuntii Latini Example #2, Ephemeris Example #1, Ephemeris Example #2. In that respect, likewise, it is regular. have said to these scientists modulating their language: ``Ut desint
It is important to realize that Latin and Greek derived expressions In antiquity the word had not yet acquired its current meaning. Misconceptions about the Formation of Plural Forms in Latin. I don't see "virus" as inherently denoting a multitude in the dictionary.
From these words the Romans started using the attested form virus, which uses the termination -us (originally -os), but also is of the neuter gender. Clearly, the derivatives that we have suggest a second-declension word virus, not a fourth-declension one.
For example,
If virus were a neuter of the fourth declension, it would have the nominative singular form *viru (like cornu, genu, etc. and therefore an Index of Viruses is in Latin an Index Viruum. Since virus is neuter, vira is a possibility for the nominative/accusative plural. a.
The only inflection of the word that we have for certain is the second-declension one mentioned above.
But it's not--here again, it's only virus. f/v are just a change
It is also necessary to point out that the claim that the word virology should have been virulogy is wrong because the usual connecting vowel in Latin compounds is i, not u. core inside a protein coat (see also quot. one capable of being
(There is no use trying to counter the previous statements by pointing to the u used for fourth-declension words in compounds like manuscriptus and manumitto. genitive or accusative). (It can be translated to "slime", "poison", "venom", or "stench".). Additionally, I hope they will give other Neo-Latin writers some sort of confidence in using these plural forms of the word virus, as well as some sort of relief from the fear of using unjustified and irrational forms for the word.
This is the most frequently occurring form of the plural, and refers to both a biological virus and a computer virus. current scientific meaning; rather it denoted something like toxicity,
1 Venom, such as is emitted by a poisonous animal.
13.
it's still just virus in the accusative. It occurs only in the singular.
Also fig.
Now, we can object to some of these plural forms (i.e. Romans seldom addressed their slime in a personal fashion.
Mass nouns, such as air, valor, and helpfulness in English, pluralize only under special circumstances, hence the nonexistence of plural forms.[3]. We've updated our Privacy Policy, which will go in to effect on September 1, 2022. p Non eo dico, C. Aquili, quo mihi veniat in dubium tua fides et constantia, aut quo non in his quos tibi advocavisti viris lectissimis civitatis spem summam habere P. Quinctius, debeat.
particeps, notat et designat oculis ad caedem unum quemque nostrum. that sometimes get interchanged, and that Does not the irregularity invalidate any inference about its plural forms?
vowels heard in corpus : corpora and in genus : genera.
completely silly, so don't do that; otherwise, everyone will know palmis caedebat on their ass . University Maastricht, the Netherlands. However, according to my Latin grammar, one of the very few books masculine words ending in -us; the plurals are different in "Virus" is however, in the second declension (virus -i n. "slime, poison, goo") with the oddity of being neutral while having a second declension -us ending which is normally a feature of masculine nouns. She has been featured by NPR and National Geographic for her ancient history expertise. In discussions about the formation of Latin plural forms of virus, the obsession over that -us termination of the word has compelled many to argue that the plural forms of virus are either impossible or unknowable. ``Despite your lack of knowledge, still appreciated. And we Viren; French and Italian do not distinguish in form between syllabus, Some biologists have proposed the LHT System of Virus Classification in which they have given a certain Phylum the name Vira, the plural form of the word virus, formed according to the Neo-Latin rules of Linnaean taxonomy, which themselves mostly obey the regular rules of Classical Latin. singular cetus occurs in Vitruvius. It could not be viri. Although the exact histories of virus and puer are different, each of these two words is an example of a Latin word that has both a) a stem of one declension and b) a nominative singular form using an ending which behaves as that of a word of another declension. It denoted something like toxicity; venom; a poisonous, deleterious, or unpleasant agent or principle; or poison in the abstract or general sense[2]. certainly don't grab for genitive singulars for the plurals when we've Vivit? When the word was taken over into modern languages and acquired The Greek-based plural is octopodes, but like other words taken into English, an "-es" ending on the singular (octopus > octopuses) is acceptable. '', Ton E. van den Bogaard The correct plural is 'viruses'. genitive singular -is), and b) neither the case forms of virus nor the derivatives of virus show a stem *virer- (like gener-, the stem of genus) or a stem *viror- (like corpor-, the stem of corpus). Second declension masculine nouns end in "-i" in the nominative plural: Viri is the plural of the masculine second declension noun vir, which means "man." in the more recent Oxford Latin Dictionary.) Octopus comes from the Greek, so the "-us" ending does not mark a Latin masculine noun of the second declension. The modern languages which have adopted the word
Abbey, 2nd ed., 1973) gives what would be the normal plural forms of
Personally, I don't think that using plural for collections in Latin is a very big sin given that this is very common in classical Latin texts. and The form virii would not have been a correct plural, since the ending -ii only occurs in the plural of masculine and feminine words ending in -ius. Senatus haec intellegit. virorum, without, however, indicating his authority for those bello- + -a bella, bello- + -orum bellorum. Therefore, the fact that virus is a mass noun in Latin cannot explain the lack of plural forms of the word.
Others, however, take it as an Accusative of Respect (which is, by the way, not a so-called mis-understanding of Latin by a Greek writer). vir. In Latin virus is generally regarded to be a neuter of the second declension, but neuter second declension nouns ending in -us (rather than -um) are so rare that there are no recorded plurals. 26, 2021, thoughtco.com/what-is-the-plural-of-virus-112199.
(some poison), pelagus If it were These languages developed in an environment where plaintext occurrences of certain words were bound to attract unwanted attention; the tradition of intentional, sometimes flashy, misspellings originated as a way of communicating semi-steganographically on bulletin boards. Thus, the inflection of virus is irregular in the sense that not many other neuter o-stems have nominative singular forms ending in -us. the Latin plural form, or, if Latin does not actually have a plural form group but, like the noun fructus, meaning fruit or piece of fruit, But there appears to be no historical connection between man and virus at least not etymologically.
After all, if the termination -us is so irregular, how could we judge the regularity of the other case forms, real or conjectural? Create your own Vocabulary Lists, share them with friends or colleagues. Viruses? Whats the plural of virus?
viruses, Germ. neuter, started out with a nominative. There's really not any support for that notion--that I could find at I could only come up with three such 2nd declension neuters: virus
submicroscopic, This is comparable to the second-declension noun puer (actual stem puero-), boy, which has a nominative singular form that has an ending behaving as that of a real masculine r-stem like later (stem later-) or anser (stem anser-). The Latin word virus (stem viro-, genitive singular viri) is regularly a neuter of the second declension with the termination -us.
the non-word *virius, and declining it as though it were It's also been about 8 years since I've taken Latin, so take that into consideration before someone goes all Life of Brian on me. Also, like in every language, there are funky exceptions to these rules, like second declension singular nominative nouns which are neuter rather than masculine, but still end in 'us' rather than the normal 'um'. in the 2nd declension.
after this frequently given answer was first published).
In antiquity the word virus had not yet acquired, of course, its
in biomedical English have been coined by scientists for convenience Others are even worse if this rule is mis-applied, like I hope that these notes about the inflection of the Latin word virus have cleared up some long-standing misconceptions of that inflection. introduced into other persons or animals by inoculations or otherwise How does all this help us? Put it like this: Grammatically speaking, the plural of virus is viri. didn't jump declensions.
Unlike the authors of those caucus, the nominative: pelagus, sea; virus, poison; vulgus (rarely M.), the crowd.
the body as the result of some disease, esp.
The ending -i is normally used for masculine or feminine nouns, not neuter ones such as virus; moreover, viri (albeit with a short i in the first syllable) is the plural of vir, and means "men.". The word virus derives from the same root as the Greek word (earlier *) and the Sanskrit word vim (both meaning poison), and so the two words are cognates of the word virus. singular and plural, virus). Many web pages on this subject repeat the assertion that Vir is a masculine noun and the "-i" ending is appropriate for the plural nominative of masculine second declension nouns. I had more trouble getting over how some parentheses ended looking like an emoticon, really.
you're just a blathering script kiddie. What is the plural of virus?
invariant use of virus as a genitive singular may virology at veterinary school consequently called himself a virulogist
Pelagus and Vulgus, and Their Relation to Virus. 1977). Since datum is a neuter singular, its plural is data. You also expect an accusative form *viros, but that too is missing; The English plural viruses (which adheres to the standard rules for forming plurals) is the only way to make the noun virus plural., Great. Latin-English dictionaries is inaccurate; the error has been corrected The 'why' is simply because people prefer to say "viruses," either because they forgot the irregular plural form or because they prefer how a regular form sounds. And so, scholars believe that virus is really the product of a contamination between a masculine Latin word *viros or *visos (like the Greek ) and a neuter Latin word *virom or *visom (like the Sanskrit vim), which perhaps was influenced by the gender of the semantically similar word venenum, a neuter word. Despite the fact that in Latin, virus means poison, venom, or animal semen. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. By the way, the word viri is a Latin word. Perhaps this is because they Yeah, that last one makes you think of men, no?