Colossus and Colossi - Page 3

On November 18 2010 09:55 iCCup.Raelcun wrote:
The real question, does it even really matter? You can say Colossus for 2+ Colossi and still be correct. People always nitpicking this shit when they're not even 100% correct either.

On November 18 2010 09:53 Dirich wrote:


The way we learned it, english has roots in proto-germanic and latin (because of the roman domination over the southern part of the island).
Altough here in Italy we may be probably not the best suited for an impartial judgment, I am surely suited to judge the fact that half the words in english have latin roots. Infact a common "joke" here in Italy is that if you wanna speak english you just add an "s" at the end of any italian word you pronounce.

On November 18 2010 10:05 smokeyhoodoo wrote:


That's incorrect because the Angles (who speak Anglish) weren't in britain at that time. They were in Germany, and their language untouched by Latin. Latin influence comes later, and mostly from French. As a result, English has a lot of Latin vocabulary, but none if its grammar or structure is like Latin.

On November 18 2010 10:27 5ahj4g wrote:
if only casters casted in latin - then this thread would have a purpose

On November 18 2010 10:16 Dirich wrote:


Mmmh my bad, I assumed by proto-german you meant something else (actually, I was told the other influence came from people from the north part of europe, norther than germany).
Altough romans did conquer Germany too (or part of it at least), and even if when I studied german (only 2 years, but mostly at pre-high school level) I found the structure and grammar of that language was a bit similar to latin, in my opinion, you seem to know more than me about the "timeline" of the evolution of english, so I guess I'll trust you (I do not fully trust my memory on this matter anyway), since I totally agree on the fact that english grammar and structure are alien to latin.

On November 18 2010 08:59 Dirich wrote:
First of all, I hope I am posting in the right section, if not I hope the mods will be so nice to move it to the proper board without sending me 200 supplies of speedlings to punish my error.

I watch every dayly from day9 and sometimes I watch some cast from HD and Husky (not to speak about tastosis @ gsl or co-casters of day9 during MLGs and such). It seems everyone is unsure about to pronounce "Colossi".

First of all, it seems that most of the casters use the term "Colossi" when they are talking about more than one Colossus. Now, that's exactly how ancient latin works: 1 Colossus, 2 or more Colossi.

So, since it seems we are talking "latin", the exact pronounciation of Colossi is not Coloss-"i", but Coloss-"e". Where by "e" and "i" I meant the way you pronounce those vowels when you list the alphabet.
Also, the "e" is short, not long. So the sound is like the sound of the "i" in fish, and not like the "ee" in tree.

On November 18 2010 10:43 Achilles wrote:
Octopus = Octopusses

I assume Colossus -> Colossuses

On November 18 2010 10:43 Achilles wrote:
Octopus = Octopusses

I assume Colossus -> Colossuses

On November 18 2010 10:37 Dirich wrote:


You don't need to cast in latin to properly read a latin word. I thought Blizzard used the latin word to name the Colossus, thus the thread made sense.

It has been brought up that there also is an english-assimilated version of Colossus, but nevertheless, unless Blizzard speaks on the matter, we (each one of us) are free to choose the language we prefear to read "Colossi", and altough I do prefear Coloss-eye, the thread is still informative for those who prefear the latin version (since, judging by the kind of names people give to their guilds in MMORPGs etc, it seems latin is considered a cool language to name things).

On November 18 2010 09:36 Honeybadger wrote:
Octopus.

(all of these are acceptable plurals according to the people who write miriam webster)

Octopuses

Octopi

octopods

Octopodes