Ironically, I was very careful with my choice of "virus vs. virii" when I wrote that message. I looked up the Wikipedia article for Plural of Virus ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_of_virus ), and noted the sentence "In reference to a computer virus, the plural is often believed to be virii...".
As an amateur Latin geek myself, I agree that "viruses" is proper from a grammar standpoint, but I sided with Wikipedia because I was using computer terminology.
but if you read on.. "or, less commonly, viri, but both forms are neologistic folk etymology[1] and no major dictionary recognizes them as alternative forms."
Comments
Ironically, I was very careful with my choice of "virus vs. virii" when I wrote that message. I looked up the Wikipedia article for Plural of Virus ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_of_virus ), and noted the sentence "In reference to a computer virus, the plural is often believed to be virii...".
As an amateur Latin geek myself, I agree that "viruses" is proper from a grammar standpoint, but I sided with Wikipedia because I was using computer terminology.
but if you read on.. "or, less commonly, viri, but both forms are neologistic folk etymology[1] and no major dictionary recognizes them as alternative forms."