Hi;
I have replied to myself because on re-reading the previous posting
regarding the proper use of English and Latin grammar I found I had made
several mistakes of my own. Neatness counts. Therefore, for my own
satisfaction I have re-submitted my post with the requisite corrections.
On Fri, 2008-03-14 at 13:22 -0400, William Case wrote:
Hi;
The proper use of Latin versus English plurals is a grammar trap I have
had to look up several times in my life to get the correct usage of
Latin origin words. My main reference is "Fowler's Modern English
Usage". He has several entries under "plurals", "Latin plurals", etc.
It seems to boil down to this:
The English language uses words of Latin origin in three ways:
* Words that have been taken/borrowed from Latin, either directly
or through French, but have over time, become fully integrated
or absorbed into the English language as English words.
* Words that have a technical meaning; defined by scientists,
mathematicians and other technical writers or speakers. This is
a holdover from the days when Latin was the 'lingua franca' (or
universal language) of early science. Because of this
international scientific usage these Latin words have fixed
definitions that do not vary with time or location. These
scientific words are still considered Latin words, not absorbed
English words.
* And of course, Latin words in quoted Latin phrases used most
often by Lawyers, Philosophers and Poets. They remain Latin
words because their original Latin meaning within the quotation
is intended.
Examples of pluralization:
English words, even if the origin was Latin but are now used in common
English, are made plural by adding an 's' -- as would be expected. E.g.
"I have several different formulas I use to pick up girls". Or,"The
formulas used here are just basic rules of thumb".
Technical words (math, physics, chemistry etc) are not English. They are
a "lingua franca" of science and don't change in their very specific
meaning so that the meaning will remain the same over time and from
native tongue to native tongue.
"This is a formula: A=Pi r ^2"
"These are formulae: 'A=Pi r ^2', and, 'a^2=b^2+c^2'."
Of course, If you are using Latin phrases or quotations, they should be
pluralized using proper Latin grammar.
It gets confusing because there are many words that can be either Latin
or English depending on the intent. E.g. formula, minimum, maximum,
radius, etc. etc.
> On Thu, 2008-03-13 at 01:31 -0400, SBernheart wrote:
> >
> > Unless this is a mathematical term I'm not aware of (I really don't
> > know much about math), there's a one-letter error on the 'Math'
> > sub-category of the OpenOffice.org 'Home' page. The sub-title of the
> > titled 'Math' page reads, "Create equations and formulae for your
> > documents". Shouldn't it read "Create equations and formulas for your
> > documents", where the word 'formulas' is corrected?
> > Again, I apologize for 'apologizing' for my lack of math knowledge,
> > but you never know when a word is meant to be spelled a certain way
> > because of it's speciality. It's a simple fix, if it is indeed
> > spelled wrong. I'm a stickler for such small things and obviously, I
> > didn't mind writing to tell you so it could be fixed. I wouldn't want
> > the next person reading this page wondering about the word as I did.
> > Hope you don't mind....
> >
> > SBernheart [;}]
In the case mentioned above, OOo should use 'formulae' as the plural
because it is making reference to precise, established and universal
mathematical symbols.
--
Regards Bill
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
