> Lars Mathiesen wrote:
>> 2008/5/28, Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>:
> [snip]
>
>>> Aren't there also a few 2nd declension neuters
>>> with nominative in -us and plural in -a?
>
> None that I recall.
>
>>> I can ATM
>>> only remember _locus_ which has **both** a neuter
>>> plural _loca_ and a masculine plural _loci_, with
>>> slightly different meanings.
>>
>> Yes, but -- locus is a standard 2nd decl. masculine noun (acc. locum, voc.
>> loce) that just happens to have an alternative plural loca that construes
>> as
>> neuter -- loca haec and so on. L&S: "plur. loci, single places; loca,
>> places
>> connected with each other, a region".
>
> Macnabit - I just wrote a reply to BPJ saying much the same! I'll delete
> it to avoid repetition :)
>
>
> yep - that's quite right.
>> Virus and other 2nd decl. neuters in -us (vulgus, others?) follow the
>> neuter
>> nom=acc=voc rule, which makes them the only 2nd. decl. nouns with -us in
>> the
>> accusative.
>
> No - _uolgus_ (vulgus) 'mob, people' etc., and _pelagus_ 'sea' also
> behave exactly the same way; they all have -us in the acc. singular, but
> have regular 2nd declension endings for the genitive, dative & ablative.
>
>> And by the way, vira /"vi:RA/ is the normal plural for (species of) virus
>> in
>> Danish medical usage. _Pace_ Ray it's not pretentious, just conservative,
>
> Sorry - I'd forgotten Danish _vira_. I was thinking of the English
> pseudo-Latin plurals 'viri' and 'virii', especially the latter.
>
>
>> as the plural is now virusser in other contexts.
>
>
> --
> Ray
> ==================================
>
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
> ==================================
> Frustra fit per plura quod potest
> fieri per pauciora.
> [William of Ockham]
>