Re: Adopting a plural

Ray Brown scripsit:

> I wasn't aware that it was equivocal. Of course with the Gen., Dat., &
> Able. the neuter & masculine forms are identical. It can be equivocal if
> and only if:
> - either: a clear example is found found of an accusative *uirum.
> - or: a clear example is found of a masculine adjective agreeing with the
> nominative case.
Indeed.  Of course uirum is so frequent as the gen. pl. of uir that
it swamps any hope of using ordinary search to find examples.

> I am not saying that no such examples exist, only that I am not aware of
> them. I thought all the extant examples confirmed it was a 2nd decl.
> neuter like _uulgus_ and _pelagus_.
I have a dim recollection that says we can't be sure, but no more than
that; in short, the evidence that the evidence is equivocal is doubtful!

> Ouch! I assume "hoodla" is intentionally humorous or facetious -
> that one's amusing.
Googling confirms that it's used only in jokes and in irrelevant hits.

> But 'agendae' - ach y fi! A plural of a plural! How long
> before we meet "datae"?
Well, Google shows about 2000 instances of "agendae", a few of which
are in fact "agendaE", i.e. "Agenda E".  This is still swamped by the
1.3 million instances of "agendas", thankfully.

Of the 3000 hits for "datae", I skimmed the first few screenfuls: there are
many of the "data E" type, many irrelevancies, and many legitimate Latin
uses as the fem. pl. of the ppt.  _datus_ 'given, dated'.  But I
did find things like "a large number of datae".

--
John Cowan  www.ccil.org/~cowan  www.reutershealth.com  jcowan@reutershealth.com
"'My young friend, if you do not now, immediately and instantly, pull
as hard as ever you can, it is my opinion that your acquaintance in the
large-pattern leather ulster' (and by this he meant the Crocodile) 'will
jerk you into yonder limpid stream before you can say Jack Robinson.'"
        --the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake