Re: Adopting a plural

Quoting Joe <joe@...>:

> Andreas Johansson wrote:
>
> >Quoting Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>:
> >
> >
> >
> >>>other such words would be "agendae" and "hoodla".
> >>>
> >>>
> >>Ouch! I assume "hoodla" is intentionally humorous or facetious - that one'
> >>s amusing. But 'agendae' - ach y fi! A plural of a plural! How long before
> >>we meet "datae"?
> >>
> >>
> >
> >On theory of the origin of Swedish _dator_ "computer" is that it's a
> >singularized Swedish-style plural of _data_, used as a short form of
> >_datamaskin_ ("data machine"). Other sources claim it's from Latin _dator_
> >"giver" (of processed data, presumably).
> >
> >
>
> Well, since Norwegian for Computer is 'Datamaskin', the former would
> make sense to me.
In case it wasn't clear, _datamaskin_ used to be a normal word for the things.
Sounds decidedly archaic, these days, tho. I've actually heard _data_ for
"computer", too.

                                                    Andreas

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