Plural of Prius

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dmckinstry @ Feb 27 2007, 01:40 AM) [snapback]397067[/snapback]</div>

Not so fast. Radiuses is also a recognized plural of radius. As is focuses for focus, octopuses for octopus, cactuses for cactus, etc.

Go ahead, look them up.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marlin @ Feb 27 2007, 12:17 PM) [snapback]397348[/snapback]</div>

Well Prii sounds better than priuses,

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marlin @ Feb 27 2007, 02:17 PM) [snapback]397348[/snapback]</div>

I also say cacti. I rarely talk about an octopus in plural, although if the subject came up, I'd probably say octopodes.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Per @ Feb 26 2007, 09:42 PM) [snapback]397009[/snapback]</div>

Well, Prius is Latin for "To go Before", correct?
Now does anybody know if the latin word "prius" is Masculine/Feminine or Neutral. It would make a difference.

As far as I can tell it is 4th declination nomitive which would make it Prius singular and plural
or it could be 2nd declination nomitive which might make it Prius singular and Prii plural.

I can't remember that much from latin. Maybe if somebody can make some sense of THIS

 

Hey...you guys have too much time on your hands!!

 

Latin? I knew someone on PC would get to the "root" of it! :wacko:

 

As I keep posting here, if you really want a Latin plural of "prius", it's "priora".

Here's a link to the last thread where I explained it.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KMO @ Sep 7 2006, 11:17 AM) [snapback]315630[/snapback]</div>

 

Hey, look! A Prius! Hey, there's another one! And another! It's a whole battery of 'em!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusguy04 @ Feb 27 2007, 01:12 PM) [snapback]397304[/snapback]</div>

"Prius's" is completely incorrect as a plural. 's denotes possession. This term would only be applicable if you're saying something like "It's the Prius's steering wheel" but usually when the word ends in an "s" the correct thing to do would be "Prius' steering wheel".

I think both of you are trying to say "Priuses" would be plural. lol

 

"Prii..." is that pronounced Pree - eye ?? I like Prii best, but it would probably only understood by Prius owners. Telling someone else that you saw three Prii on the way to work.... well, I doubt that they would know what you were talking about!

 

Here goes a quasi-technical rationale for the plural of prius.



From a handy online latin dictionary:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

prior prius genit. -oris , compar. adj. [fore, former], of place or time; [higher in importance]; m. pl. as subst. [ancestors]. N. acc. as adv., prius, [before, previously; formerly; sooner, rather]; prius quam, or priusquam, conj., [before]. Superl. primus -a -um, [first, foremost], of place or time; of rank, etc. [first, most distinguished]; '(partes) primae', [the leading part]; 'in primis', [especially]. N. acc. as adv., primum, [at first or for the first time]. N. abl. primo, [at first].


I'm rusty on my latin, but it looks like prius is the N. acc. used as an adverb meaning "before or sooner". Problem is, there is no plural of an adverb...

Luckily Toyota created a new noun: "prius" - a hybrid car!

It is either:
a) a second declension noun in which case the nominative plural would be (drum roll please) "prii"
B) a fourth declension noun which means it would still be spelled "prius" (but with a long u...pronounced pri-oose...rhymes with moose).

So if, Toyota says the plural is Prius...maybe it should be pronounced pri-oose! Anyone else want to start a fad? Maybe a tie-in to the green/eco thing.

Imagine a commercial with a moose, or a whole herd of moose. Then you could have talking moose arguing what the plural of Prius should be, then getting side-tracked talking about the plural of moose (meese) while a herd of Pri-ooses zoom by (in stealth mode of course!).

Getting late and apparently giddy from loss of blood after a block heater install. B)

g'night all!

PS - Commercial idea is Copyright 2007 by Zendriver LLC. Toyota can contact me for reasonable licensing rights

-Zendriver

 

Prioose. I like that. Or you can really screw with peoples' heads and call them Priooses.

 

Prii is nice, but unfortunately prius is not a noun! Toyota have (if I understand correctly) used the Latin adverb for 'before', which - as an adverb - does not decline. So the only way to make a plural would be to assume that you have turned the Latin adverb into an English noun, and therefore the plural would hve to be Priuses...

Caroline

Edited: Sorry - just saw other grammatical responses above which somehow I didn't take in before posting!

 

I like Prii, just as I like cactii better then cactuses! ... but what about the owners?

Is it Priusians or Priitory?

 

This topic comes up every six months or so. If you are interested in Latin declinations in gory detail, give it a search and you'll find an afternoon's reading. For those of you interested in the condensed version, here it is:

1) The Latin experts in the group tell us it's Prius, not Prii. The Prii version comes from those of us with just a little Latin, but not enough to know a declination from a down-hill grade.

2) Toyota says it's Prius. It's their car, they should know.

3) We know it's not Prius's; that's the Green Grocers Apostrophe (and what I just did is called Ironic Capitalization - darn it, I just did it again ).

So that's it. The plural of Prius is Prius. Of course, it's your car and you can call it as you wish.

Tom

 

I'll say it again. The Latin plural of the Latin noun "Prius" is "Priora".

Anyone who says the Latin plural is "Prii" or "Prius" is wrong.

I know everyone ignores me, because they don't like the sound of it...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KMO @ Mar 26 2007, 01:40 PM) [snapback]412391[/snapback]</div>

I'm not the one to argue the point with you: my Latin is as dead as the language. I recall a good debate on this awhile back. Where are the PC Latin experts? Chime in here.

Tom

 

Fortunately this is the English language (American English specifically). So, the correct plural of Prius is whichever plural is used by the most people. Additionally, the next most often used plural and perhaps the third most often used one will also be recognized.

 

Perhaps the problem is with how we are using the word Prius®. Toyota has trademarked the name Prius® to refer to their flagship hybrid automobile. Trademarks are by definition and law adjectives applied to a generic commodity, so it it a Prius® [car] or Prius® hybrid [automobile]. The plural is Prius® cars or Prius® hybrid [car]s.

We have a lot of discussion here about the merits of the OEM Integrities. That is just a shorthand way of identifying Goodyear® (note the y is not capitalized) Assurance® Integrity® tires. We are identifying a specific brand of generic tire. When we talk about more than one Integrity® tire, we incorrectly shift the plural s to the brand name, and, in this case, modifiy the spelling to conform to the standard way of making words ending in y plural.

Owners of intellectual property, such as a trademark, must constantly guard against the common tendency to turn their adjectival property into a generic noun. Kleenex® and Xerox® come to mind as brands for paper tissue and electrostatic facsimile. Most people blow their nose in a kleenex and make a xerox copy, to the mixed joy and chagrin of the trademark owners. Just ask Bayer about aspirin, a name they once owned.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marlin @ Mar 26 2007, 12:28 PM) [snapback]412415[/snapback]</div>

Great. Then it would be Prius's (sic).