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

Octopera

[(Anonymous)]

I did! It's not exactly a rock opera. I made up the name using oct for eight and opera for - well - opera. It's a sequence of eight mini-operas and micro-musicals. See my website www.DavidHaines.co.uk for more details.

Re: Octopera

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I just looked at your web page -- the stuff you write sounds so cool!

Now I'm sorry I missed you when you were in Massachusetts.