At 12:16 AM 6/26/2002 -0500, John you wrote:
"Indices" is the proper plural of "index."
Proper in Latin. In English it is now more commonly "indexes." This is
nothing new. I noted once in reading Thoreau, who was a very good
classicist, the plural "apexes" instead of the "proper" "apices."
FWIW:
"Musea" is the proper plural of "museum,"
"gymnasia" is the proper plural of "gymnasium," and
"cacti" is the proper plural of "cactus."
The last one, when pluralized using the very improper "cactuses" grates on
my ears as fingernails on a chalk board! My mother was adamant about
properly pluralizing Latin words.
Well that explains it. Your mother raised a an outstanding son, but in my
neighborhood she would have been considered a little fussy on the subject
of English plurals of Latin words.<g>
BTW "gymnasium" is a Greek word (as is "museum"). Its "proper" plural
ending is proper for Latin not Greek. Is there not a theme here?
"Indices" and "appendices" have largely gone the way of footnotes at the
bottom of the page in academia. That's progress for you. Perhaps if I
liked Latin as much as Greek (or English) it would bother me more.
Joel W.
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