http://www.englishforums.com/English/LinguisticsDiscussionForum/Forum35.htmLinguistics - Getting into the nitty gritty of the language.enCSMOD (Build: 3161.22795)http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorpusCorporaEthymology/gvbwl/post.htm#521214Sat, 31 May 2008 07:36:41 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:521214Anonymous0http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorpusCorporaEthymology/gvbwl/post.htm#521214http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments35-521214.xml&nbsp;It&#39;s all to do with gender.&nbsp; Cactus and fungus are masculine nouns of which the proper plural ends in -i.&nbsp; Corpus is actually a neuter noun.&nbsp; Hence, the proper plural (nominative case) ends in -a.</p><p>It&#39;s &#39;corpora&#39; rather than &#39;corpa&#39; because the genitive singular case defines the stem of the noun.&nbsp; The genitive singular case of corpus is &#39;corporis&#39;.&nbsp;<div style="clear:both;"></div>http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorpusCorporaEthymology/gchxp/post.htm#513228Tue, 13 May 2008 18:20:44 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:513228Tanit1http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorpusCorporaEthymology/gchxp/post.htm#513228http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments35-513228.xmlHi,<br /><br />The short answer would be: such&nbsp; question are dangerous, try and learn them by heart!&nbsp; <img src="http://www.englishforums.com/emoticons/emotion-5.gif" alt="Wink" title="Wink" /><br />The long answer is: in Latin, they have different inflected forms because they belong to two different &quot;classes&quot;: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_declension">2nd declension and 3rd declension</a>:<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><em>Fungus </em></span>(same inflected forms in &quot;cactus&quot;): <span style="text-decoration:underline;">2nd declension</span><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nominative: (singular) <strong>fungus </strong>=&gt; (plural) <strong>fungi</strong><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Genitive: (singular) fungi<strong> </strong>=&gt; (plural) fungorum<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dative: (singular) fungo =&gt; (plural) fungis<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Accusative: (singular) fungum =&gt; (plural) fungos<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Vocative: (singular) funge =&gt; (plural) fungi<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ablative: (singular) fungo =&gt; (plural) fungis<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><em>Corpus </em></span>: <span style="text-decoration:underline;">3rd declension</span><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nominative: (singular) <strong>corpus </strong>=&gt; (plural) <strong>corpora</strong><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Genitive: (singular) corporis =&gt; (plural) corporum<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dative: (singular) corpori =&gt; (plural) corporibus<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Accusative: (singular) corpus =&gt; (plural) corpora<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Vocative: (singular) corpus =&gt; (plural) corpora<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ablative: (singular) corpore =&gt; (plural) corporibus<br /><br />Now, have a look at the nominative case: <br /><em>fungus &gt;&gt; fungi<br />cactus &gt;&gt; cacti<br />corpus &gt;&gt; corpora</em><br /><br /><br /><div style="clear:both;"></div>http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorpusCorporaEthymology/gchxw/post.htm#513221Tue, 13 May 2008 18:08:48 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:513221Feebs112http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorpusCorporaEthymology/gchxw/post.htm#513221http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments35-513221.xmlIt depends on the nature of the originating language:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Cactus derives from the&nbsp; Greek&nbsp; &quot;o kaktos&quot;,&nbsp; plural&nbsp; = &quot;kaktoi&quot; [masculine noun]<br /></p><p>Fungus derives from the Latin &quot;fungus&quot;, plural = &quot;fungi&quot; [masculine noun]</p><p>Corpus derives from the Latin &quot;corpus&quot;, plural = &quot;corpora&quot; [neuter noun] </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;<div style="clear:both;"></div>http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorpusCorporaEthymology/gchwb/post.htmTue, 13 May 2008 12:29:59 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:513112Anonymous3http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorpusCorporaEthymology/gchwb/post.htmhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/comments35-513112.xmlWhen the plurals of fung<span>us</span> and cact<span>us</span> are fung<span>i</span> and cact<span>i</span> (or cactuses), why <span>the plural of corpus</span> is not corpi but <span>corpora</span> (or corpuses)?&nbsp;</p><p>I know it would sound strange, but by analogy it should be similar to the previous ones. &nbsp;<div style="clear:both;"></div>