sprachwaffe

5 Responses to “Pluralizing “-is”es”

1. DrLP Says:
   April 13th, 2005 at 14:46

   The larger question, of which this is an instantiation (I’ve been dying to use that word for days now–here’s my opportunity), is how English, or any language, integrates borrowed words into its ordinary vocabulary. The more fully integrated, the more “popular” a word is, the more likely that it will (come to) be treated more or less as a native word; conversely the more restricted and more technical a word is, the more likely it will be that it retains its native morphology. Thus the Latin plural of vacuum is vacua and such a plural is listed in the dictionaries beside vacuums, the only one I’ve ever heard or seen used in English. On the other hand, crisis is a pretty common word and yet it retains its Latin (< Greek) plural crises. Compare also quantum and its plural quanta. There also seems to be a phonological constraint operating here too: a word is more likely to preserve its borrowed plural if the word stress is on the syllable immediately before the ending and to replace it with a regular English plural if the stress is further away. So a one-size-fits-all or one-size-fits-all-to-the-same-degree answer won’t work.

   So with metropolis we have a reasonably common word with the word stress on the third-from-the-end syllable, so its not surprising that its plural is metropolises (and likewise acropolis and necropolis). Polis, however, is not so common and is used only in “non-English” contexts, i.e., when talking about the Greeks or about Greek history or social customs. It is also stressed on the second-to-last syllable. So its retention of the Greek plural poleis, in those rare instances where more than one is talked about, is not too surprising (note that it is a real Greek plural, too, not one that has been Latinized).

   So, it’s not a simple answer but one where the actual shape of any particular item is dependent on the exact weight of a number of multiple causes. I’ll let you physicistae write the exact equation.

2. Uber Says:
   April 15th, 2005 at 06:20

   Actually, it’s one of the more-often ignored rules of English that the correct way to form the plural of a foreign word is to anglici[s|z]e it. It should really be aquariums, viruses, quantums (and, bizarrely, datums).

   Naturally, common usage overrides grammar and common sense.

   The move to add a great many latin words occurred in (iirc) the mid-eighteenth century.

   “The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.” - James Nicoll

3. Abby Says:
   September 1st, 2005 at 00:17

   In ancient greek, usually nouns ending in -is are third declension nouns. When plural, -is becomes -ides. Other third declension endings: -ops becomes -opes, -ax becomes -akes, etc. Polis is considered to be an irregular example of the third declension and (as the previous poster said) becomes poleis when plural.

   Just FYI. :)

4. Tillo Says:
   January 26th, 2007 at 06:03

   Hello.
   The correct plural form of a Greek “-is” is Gandurasish “jo”. I’ve found your site trough http://delico.us

5. admin Says:
   May 2nd, 2007 at 13:57

   To whomever keeps spamming this site: move elsewhere. All you’re doing is training Akismet to hate you.

Leave a Reply