Re: Greek plurals (was: OT Plectrums)

Quoting R A Brown <ray@...>:

> Mark J. Reed wrote:
> > On Sun, 9 Sep 2007 20:05:49 +0100, R A Brown
> >  <ray@...> wrote:
> >
> >>Oh yes, before some writes in, I do know that _Latin_ plural of
> >>'plectrum' is 'plectra.' Indeed, 'plectra' /ple:ktra/ was also the
> >>ancient (non-Doric) Greek plural; but their singular was 'plectron'  :)
> >
> >
> > So then I guess "Elektra" is the plural of "electron"?
>
> Nope - but _criterion ~ criteria_ does work.
>
> Although "electron" is taken from Greek, it does not keep anything
> resembling its Greek meaning, which was _amber_ or, indeed, 'electron'
> in the sense of "an alloy of gold and silver" (a more ancient use than
> the naming of a sub-atomic particle).
I'd always assumed "electron" as the name of the particle was a back-formation
from "electric" etc, and the American Heritage Dictionary indeed gives this
etymology.

They further tell that the ending "-on" is extrapolated from "ion", which in
turn apparently is a greek present participle "(smth) that goes", from _ienai_
"to go".

                                                      Andreas

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