Plural of "equinox"
Rodolphe Audette
I'm posting this question on behalf of a friend who does not have access
to Usenet:
The question is, "What is the proper plural of 'equinox' in English?"
Some source for the answer would be appreciated.
Thank you very much in advance.
Rodolphe Audette
JUST AN H
>Some source for the answer would be appreciated.
>
>
"Equinoxen?"
Opinicus
>>The question is, "What is the proper plural of 'equinox' in English?"
>>Some source for the answer would be appreciated.
>"Equinoxen?"
Bob
Istanbul
---
To reply by email, dot the dash in doruk-net.
Rodolphe Audette
>
> JUST AN H wrote in message <19990118225604...@ng142.aol.com>...
> >>The question is, "What is the proper plural of 'equinox' in English?"
> >>Some source for the answer would be appreciated.
> >"Equinoxen?"
> Don't believe it. It's just a yoke.
I know it's a j(y)oke. But does anyone know the real plural?
It might very well be "equinoxes". But I would like to be sure.
Pk2222
Webster's 10th says that the original etymology of equinox is Middle Latin
"equinoxium", an alternative of the Latin "aequinoctium." If you take the case
of the singular datum and plural data, then equinox (tium) might be logically
rendered "equinoxa."
I apologize for the guess. I haven't yet been able to source the original
plural.
pk
Hominibus
noctis is genitive singular and nominative plural.
Hence equinoctis. Just anglicise it to equinoxes.
etaoin shrdlu
Equinoxes
es
Ellen Mizzell
Tennyson apparently thought it was. The OED quotes:
"Live long, nor feel...Our painful equinoxes."
Here's another quote, this time from a note in Bartlett's:
"The United States -- bounded on the north by the Aurora Borealis,
on the south by the precession of the equinoxes, on the east by
the primeval chaos, and on the west by the Day of Judgment."
(John Fiske, /Bounding the United States/)
--
Ellen Mizzell
jan...@mailexcite.com
>
> Opinicus wrote:
> >
> > JUST AN H wrote in message <19990118225604...@ng142.aol.com>...
> > >>The question is, "What is the proper plural of 'equinox' in English?"
> > >>Some source for the answer would be appreciated.
> > >"Equinoxen?"
> > Don't believe it. It's just a yoke.
>
> I know it's a j(y)oke. But does anyone know the real plural?
>
> It might very well be "equinoxes". But I would like to be sure.
"Equinoxes" is fine. Some might use "equinoctes."
M.J.Powell
et...@sit.ulaval.ca> writes
>Opinicus wrote:
>>
>> JUST AN H wrote in message <19990118225604...@ng142.aol.com>...
>> >>The question is, "What is the proper plural of 'equinox' in English?"
>> >>Some source for the answer would be appreciated.
>> >"Equinoxen?"
>> Don't believe it. It's just a yoke.
>
>I know it's a j(y)oke. But does anyone know the real plural?
>
>It might very well be "equinoxes". But I would like to be sure.
I think it's' equini'
Mike
(or is that horses?)
jan...@mailexcite.com
>
> OK, let's try this:
>
> Webster's 10th says that the original etymology of equinox is Middle Latin
> "equinoxium", an alternative of the Latin "aequinoctium." If you take the case
> of the singular datum and plural data, then equinox (tium) might be logically
> rendered "equinoxa."
>
> I apologize for the guess. I haven't yet been able to source the original
> plural.
>
IIRC, "noctium" is the genitive plural of "nox." So I guess a
literal translation would be "the equal of the nights." Why
it's genitive and why it's plural, I'm not sure, but it seems to
me that the only acceptable plural has to be "equinoxes." OTOH,
I don't know jack about middle latin, so maybe "equinoctium"
really was used as a singular neuter noun, in which case the
middle latin plural would probably have been "equinoctia."
jane (who now understands why no one uses the word in plural
anyway)
Opinicus
>It might very well be "equinoxes". But I would like to be sure.
My dictionaries don't cite a specific plural, which means that the usual
rules of pluralization apply. I'd go for "equinoxes".
Which is too bad, really. "Equinoxen" is a wonderful word. I'm going to try
and find a way to use it.
Robert Lieblich
>
> Rodolphe Audette wrote in message <36A4B7...@sit.ulaval.ca>...
> >It might very well be "equinoxes". But I would like to be sure.
>
> My dictionaries don't cite a specific plural, which means that the usual
> rules of pluralization apply. I'd go for "equinoxes".
>
> Which is too bad, really. "Equinoxen" is a wonderful word. I'm going to try
> and find a way to use it.
Sounds to me like a synonym for "geldings."
Bob Lieblich
JUST AN H
>rules of pluralization apply. I'd go for "equinoxes".
>
>Which is too bad, really. "Equinoxen" is a wonderful word. I'm going to try
>and find a way to use it.
Could it be that I coined a new word? Wow! What an honor!
J.
Opinicus
>> Which is too bad, really. "Equinoxen" is a wonderful word. I'm going to
try
>> and find a way to use it.
bovines.
Daniel James
> Webster's 10th says that the original etymology of equinox is Middle Latin
> "equinoxium", an alternative of the Latin "aequinoctium." If you take the case
> of the singular datum and plural data, then equinox (tium) might be logically
> rendered "equinoxa."
>
Webster agrees with my old school Latin dictionary on "aequinoctium", of which
the plural would be "aequinoctia". The middle Latin "equinoxium" would become
"equinoxia" if it follows the normal Latin tules - which such late Latin often
does not.
Of course, if "equinox" isn't a Latin form at all then we ought not try to
pluralize it in a Latin way, and should say "equinoxes".
Cheers,
Daniel.
Daniel James
> IIRC, "noctium" is the genitive plural of "nox." So I guess a
> literal translation would be "the equal of the nights." Why
> it's genitive and why it's plural, I'm not sure, but it seems to
> me that the only acceptable plural has to be "equinoxes."
>
If "equinoctium" were a genitive plural, then it would already be
plural and we couldn't make it any more so (well, I suppose we could
try).
However, my dictionary says that the /classical/ Latin word was
"aequinoctium" in the nominative singular (and was neuter, as you'd
expect with an "-um" ending), so pk's "equinoctia" would be the correct
middle Latin plural.
I have to agree that "equinoxes" is best in English.
Cheers,
Daniel.
Daniel James
wrote:
> "Equinoxen?"
>
Don't be silly! Oxen are bovine not equine <grin>.
Cheers,
Daniel.
Pk2222
>However, my dictionary says that the /classical/ Latin word was
>"aequinoctium" in the nominative singular (and was neuter, as you'd
>expect with an "-um" ending), so pk's "equinoctia" would be the correct
>middle Latin plural.
Got one! Champagne for all!
>I have to agree that "equinoxes" is best in English.
>
>
Doubtless.
pk
jan...@mailexcite.com
>
>
> However, my dictionary says that the /classical/ Latin word was
> "aequinoctium"
Could this have been classical latin? When did people speaking
latin start speaking about equinoxes?
Daniel James
I don't /know/, but I'd hazard a guess that the civilization that gave
us the Julian calendar knew a thing or two about measuring the lengths
of days and nights.
The (much earlier) funeral temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel in Egypt
has a chamber into which the sun shines only twice in each year:
Rameses's birthday and the date of his coronation (a day later, since
the moving of the temple out of reach of the water of Lake Nasser,
after the building of the Aswan high dam). I think a civilization that
could work /that/ out probably knew about equinoxes, too (though they
wouldn't have talked about them in Latin).
Cheers,
Daniel.
jan...@mailexcite.com
Okay, I've got it. It's classical. See Cicero's nunc quidem
aequinoctium nos moratur quod valde perturbatum erat.
So it must have been aequinoctia in the plural, although I can't
find any record of the plural being used. Under the
circumstances, I think I'll stick with "equinoxes."