Re: YAEPT: uu/ii (< Quick Latin pronunciation question)

Ämne: Re: [CONLANG] YAEPT: uu/ii (< Quick Latin
pronunciation question) Från:
CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu Datum: Tue, 27 May 2008
09:36:29 +0200 Till: Constructed Languages List
       <CONLANG@...>

On 2008-05-26 Ph. D. wrote:
> If you mean "virus," I believe that the plural
> of that word is not attested in any ancient
> Latin writings.
Indeed. In Classical Latin _uirus_ was/is an
uncountable mass noun meaning 'slime, poison'. I
guess that if one wanted to say 'viruses' in
classicistic Latin one would have to use a
circumlocution like _genera uiri_, where _uiri_ is
the genitive singular. Moreover the plural, if
there were any, would have been _uira_, since the
word is neuter in spite of being a second
declension noun in _-us_!

/BP 8^)>
--
Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch atte melroch dotte se
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  "C'est en vain que nos Josués littéraires crient
  à la langue de s'arrêter; les langues ni le soleil
  ne s'arrêtent plus. Le jour où elles se *fixent*,
  c'est qu'elles meurent."           (Victor Hugo)

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