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Yoong Liat
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418388
Fri, 14 Sep 07 05:52 AM
'genii' is the plural of 'genie', a spirit with magical powers, especially one that lives in a bottle or lamp.
Joined on
Mon, Sep 4 2006
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Anonymous,
1 yr 246 days ago
I guess it's like the plural of moose. I, myself, say moosi just because it sounds cooler and more intellectual. Genii is a good word.
Anonymous,
1 yr 172 days ago
genius
/jeeni ss/ • noun (pl. geniuses) 1 exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability. 2 an exceptionally intelligent or able person. 3 (pl. genii /jeeni-i/) (in some mythologies) a spirit associated with a person, place, or institution. 4 the prevalent character or spirit of a nation, period, etc. — ORIGIN Latin, also in the sense ‘spirit present at one’s birth’, from gignere ‘beget’.
Anonymous,
1 yr 157 days ago
You see, that would be logical except for one thing. Locus is a Latin second declension noun, and thus is pluralised to loci. Octopus is a Romanised form of the Greek oktopous, not just a second declension noun. The plural of octopus is, technically, octopodes. Just as it isn't rhinoceri for rhinoceros, but rhinocerotes, and platypodes for platypus. I went through a phase of obsession over etymologies and obscure words and plurals, and there is more of a wealth of odd plurals out there. So try to steer clear of the pseudo-Latin and, if you're unsure or don't want be condescending, just rely on sticking a good ol' -s or -es at the end. And our limey friend was probably the most correct on using geniuses for people and genii for mythological purposes..
Anonymous,
1 yr 154 days ago
to 418241 (13 Sep 07), it's actually octopuses. The word octopus is derived from greek, not latin, so in the correct greek, the plural would be 'octopodes', But we're speaking english, so that turns into 'octopuses'.
Anonymous,
1 yr 143 days ago
But Octopus only becomes Octopi because of the mistaken belief that it's a Latin word when actually it's Greek in origin and so probably actually Octopuses.
Anonymous,
1 yr 127 days ago
Geniuses is correct when speaking about intellegent humans. Genii is plural for demons, spirits or diety with any evil or good intellect. ***
Anonymous,
1 yr 58 days ago
Yes, it is genii, the 'Torygraph' does teach you something I suppose.
Anonymous,
1 yr 29 days ago
THE PLURAL IS genii. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MYTHOLOGY BUT WITH THE LAST TWO LETTERS OF THE WORD. THE PLURAL OF MOST WORDS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ENDING WITH THE LETTERS us ARE CHANGED TO i SINCE MOST ENGLISH WORDS ARE DERIVED FROM LATIN. RADIUS - RADII OCTOPUS - OCTOPI although some say it is OCTOPODES because the orgin of the word is GREEK and not LATIN. HIPPOPOTOMUS - HIPPOPOTOMI NUCLEUS - NUCLEI SYLLABUS - SYLLABI CACTUS - CACTI GLADIOLUS - GLADIOLI
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