receive to the rattling world of animal grammar . Fromcollective nounsto name anew specie , the loco world of wildlife nomenclature sure loves to keep us on our toe . Whether the name has a Latin or Hellenic root or something else only , we pause down what is the satisfactory plural form for one of the most heatedly fence , everyone ’s favorite cephalopod mollusk : the octopus . Is it octopi , octopus , or even octopodes ?
Part of the discombobulation around the word devilfish is that it comes from the Latinized form of the Greek word októpus , which mean “ eight pes ” . Scientists in the 1700s borrow the tidings and Latinized it , as was the drift for naming and categorizing mintage then . The debate as to whether the plural form should nod to its Grecian or Latin roots was reproof as far back as 1873 , when the Bradford Observer published a segment call Octopus Philology , allot toMerriam - Webster .
“ But as the Octopus grew and multiply , it became necessary to speak of him in the plural form ; and here a whole host of difficulty arose . Some dare spirits with little Latin and less Greek , rushed upon octopi ; as for octopus , a man would as soon think of swallow one of the animal thus described as pronounce such a word at a respectable Camellia sinensis table . In this condition of affairs , we are beaming to know that a few unhesitating people have begun to peach about octopod , which is , of course , the nearest English approach to the proper plural form . ”
This throw a 4th selection into the mix but unfortunately for the Bradford Observer " octopods " never quite caught on . The other three , however , are the center of the argument .
Octopi
Octopi is the oldest known version of the Scripture . If we stick to the idea that Latin row should have Latin termination then you could see where people get the idea of " octopi " from . In a similar way of life , the Latin word bacteria becomes the plural bacterium . But , as the word octopus is a Latinized form of a Greek give-and-take , and never existed in its own course in the Latin language , it ’s not strictly right . However , while it may not have an etymological basis , it is sometime enough and common enough to be widely accept .
Octopodes
If we were to pluralise the original Greek root the consistent resolution would be octopodes . While this is technically the most grammatically correct it is also the most donnish and the least often used .
“ Octopodes stems from the notion that because octopus is originally Greek , it should have a Grecian ending , ” say Merriam - Webster .
Octopuses
And so to English . Since we ’ve take the tidings devilfish as a noun into fairly vulgar utilization in the English spoken communication , when we give it an English close we get the watchword " octopuses " . This is the one most commonly accept and used , and the plural form version you ’ll find used byNOAA , theOcean Conservancy , and inIFLScience articles .
So, what is the plural of octopus?
So which one should you practice ? Well , it calculate on how donnish you ’re experience on the daytime but if in doubt stick to " octopuses " . It ’s worth remembering though , that most taxonomic names are manufacture versions of " Latin " or " Greek " word .
In 1753 , Carl Linnaeus , the " don of taxonomy " , opt Latin for binomial nomenclature because it is a dead speech and did n’t prefer any living people or nation . If there was n’t a Latin word for something , scientist turn to Greek , and over sentence have Romanize , Anglicized , and generally bastardized ancient password . This means there is quite a lot of leeway in how strictly scientific names adhere to etymological origins .
While we ’re on octopuses , this also lend oneself to the pronunciation of species whose names occur from languages not speak in centuries . If we beat to the stern Greek or Latin origin of cephalopodan , we should all be pronouncing it " kephalopod " not " sephalopod " as there was no subdued " degree Celsius " in either language .
