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

[readsalot.livejournal.com]

I'm told that yes, "octopus" is a third declension word, but that does not make its plural "octopera". The proper plural is, in fact, "octopodes". The person claiming "octopera" is probably confused because "opus", another third declension word, has as its plural "opera", but that's because the real root of "opus" is "oper". Also, since "octopus" is masculine it can't possibly have a nominative plural ending in "a".