The plural of "octopus"

[xiphias]

An anonymous commenter in my LJ claimed that, when the word "octopus" was taken into Latin from Greek, it was made into a regular third declension word.

That would make its plural "octopera".

Now, I don't know if that'd true or not -- I'm sticking with the Greek-based "octopodes" and the English-based "octopuses". I thought that "octopus" remained irregular in Latin and kept its Greek form, but I don't know that for sure. I'm pretty certain that "octopi" is a mistake, though.

But my point is that, if "octopera" is the actual plural, then somebody HAS to write "Octopera: A Rock Opera". It's a moral imperative.

Comments

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

As it's now an English word, too, "octopuses" is considered acceptable by most sources I've seen.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

...which you said. D'oh! Sorry.