Antivirus

[Derek Broughton]

Gilles Gravier wrote:

> Derek Broughton wrote:
>> Graham Watkins wrote:
>>   
>>> viruses (virii?)
>>>     
>> Since you ask, viri; but that's only because it's Latin.  The plural of
>> octopus is octopuses.
>>   
> Actually, since you mention "Latin". Virus, in Latin, has no plural. It
> didn't mean what we use it to mean today. So it's a mass noun, like the
> English words "information", "air", "rice" which have no plural form.
> There's a good article on Wikipedia about this :
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_of_virus#Plural_of_virus_in_Latin
> 
> No plural for "virus" in Latin... so in English, the normal plural of
> "virus" is "viruses", built using English grammar rules like your
> "octopus/octopuses" example. One virus... multiple viruses.

LOL.  That'll teach me for getting pedantic.  I didn't know that virus
doesn't have a plural - I was just trying to point out that the plural of
radius is only radii because there's already an "i" in there (though what
do you mean, "air" doesn't have a plural - "I take on airs" :-) ). The
reason for Octopuses, though, is because it isn't a Latin root.
> 
> Actually, one might argue that the plural of virus is "Microsoft
> Windows", but that's another debate, not really linked to grammar.

:-)
-- 
derek