atw: Pedantically molluscoid

> As someone who has studied neither Latin nor Greek, apologies for stirring
the hornets nest, but...
>
> Both the Meriam-Webster and the Oxford say that the plural of octopus can
be octopuses or octopi (and no other options). Why is the latter 'dead
wrong'?

I don't have a Meriam-Webster. The American Heritage 4th edition (2000)
cited on dictionary.com indeed gives 'octopuses or octopi'. You don't say
which Oxford you're citing. I have a 1975 Shorter and the second edition of
the OED, neither of which give 'octopi'. The Macquarie first and fourth
editions give 'octopuses or octopi', but the fourth (a bigger book) points
out that there is no etymological justification for octopi. It gives it
because it is, apparently, in use. There are lots of words that are in use
but have no etymological justification. 'Admiral' springs to mind.

So, to answer your question, Why is the latter 'dead wrong'? Well, Alex Noon
seems to have explained it
>... the Greek noun is pous, plural is podes...

And sure enough, the OED gives 'octopodes or octopuses'.
However, the etymology is traced through 'modern Latin' octopus, so maybe
'octopi' isn't dead wrong, just fairly wrong. There's a common misconception
that Latin nouns in -us form plurals in -i, but there are three broad
classes of -us nouns; consider genus/genera (still in regular use by
English-speaking biologists). Onus worked this way, but I don't think we see
'onera' in English. The other class is like status/status (with a long u in
the plural). This particular plural hasn't made it into English.

I have no feeling for what the plural of octopus might have been in modern
Latin, and I have no reference to help me. I have Latham's Revised Medieval
Latin Word-List but octopus doesn't appear. Maybe someone else knows, but I
use 'octopuses', not 'octopi'.


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