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Colossus and Colossi

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Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
November 17 2010 23:59 GMT
#1
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.
Thrill
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
2599 Posts
November 18 2010 00:01 GMT
#2
This is not wrong..

.. but it's also not right.
Al Bundy
Profile Joined April 2010
7257 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 00:02:42
November 18 2010 00:02 GMT
#3
You are right. However, because most of the caster are NA / native english, I feel that this habit may stay forever
o choro é livre
Fa1nT
Profile Joined September 2010
United States3423 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 00:02:51
November 18 2010 00:02 GMT
#4
Nobody cares about unit name pronunciation.
Slayer91
Profile Joined February 2006
Ireland23335 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 00:03:26
November 18 2010 00:02 GMT
#5
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.


So like Colossih?
Don't tell me the koreans will be correct with the like
AAAAH COLOSSIH COLOSSIH COLOSSIH COLOSSU YAAA KAWASAMIDA
aidnai
Profile Joined January 2010
United States1159 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 00:04:47
November 18 2010 00:03 GMT
#6
Nobody knows how to pronounce Latin 'correctly': it's a dead language. CollosAI is as good as collosIH.
Sc1pio
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States823 Posts
November 18 2010 00:05 GMT
#7
I was taught classical latin (just look at my username), and I learned the nominitave plural as pronounced as -eye, making it pronounced phonetically as col-OSS-eye.
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's there are few. " -Shunro Suzuki | fortuna fortes adiuvat
Bear4188
Profile Joined March 2010
United States1797 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 00:06:56
November 18 2010 00:05 GMT
#8
It's not Latin, it's English. Just because English takes roots from Latin doesn't meant he pronunciation goes unchanged.

Radii, alumni, prospecti, foci are all pronounced with a long i in (American) English.

"I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something." - R. Feynman
archon256
Profile Joined August 2010
United States363 Posts
November 18 2010 00:05 GMT
#9
Those damn Colloxen!
"The troupe is ready, the stage is set. I come to dance, the dance of death"
skirmisheR
Profile Joined August 2010
Sweden451 Posts
November 18 2010 00:05 GMT
#10
On November 18 2010 09:02 Slayer91 wrote:
Show nested quote +
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.


So like Colossih?
Don't tell me the koreans will be correct with the like
AAAAH COLOSSIH COLOSSIH COLOSSIH COLOSSU YAAA KAWASAMIDA


HAHAHAHAHAHA I Lol'd "KAWASAMIDA"

OnT: Ty for the information :D
I can jungle Pudge, can you?
NuKedUFirst
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Canada3139 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 00:08:58
November 18 2010 00:06 GMT
#11
I personally have always preferred "Collosuses".

Definitely thread worthy. It should be brought to their attention at once!
FrostedMiniWeet wrote: I like winning because it validates all the bloody time I waste playing SC2.
Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
November 18 2010 00:06 GMT
#12
On November 18 2010 09:02 AlBundy wrote:
You are right. However, because most of the caster are NA / native english, I feel that this habit may stay forever


Actually, it is way cooler to me the way they pronounce it.
But since I've listened more than once every caster I named asking themselves out loud what is the correct pronountiation (aka someone DO care...), I felt like I could do something good by writing this info.
It's not like they gotta change the way they say it, but at least now they can stop wondering about it! :D
Thrill
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
2599 Posts
November 18 2010 00:06 GMT
#13
If we go down this road, shouldn't it technically also be "Colossii" when referring to a defined amount? In effect: "These coloss-ee-eye" / "He is producing coloss-ee" ..
funcmode
Profile Joined June 2010
Australia720 Posts
November 18 2010 00:06 GMT
#14
The plural of cactus is cacti, and everyone says it as cactAI, not cactih. Same with hippopotami, nuclei, etc.
@funcmode - TPW Mapmaking Team - theplanetaryworkshop.com
Torenhire
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States11681 Posts
November 18 2010 00:07 GMT
#15
Collosusees, one better, Nukedufirst.
SirJolt: Well maybe if you weren't so big and stupid, it wouldn't have hit you.
Wasteweiser
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Canada522 Posts
November 18 2010 00:08 GMT
#16
Good analysis, but consinder artosis for a minute. I'm sure he's been repeatidly corrected about how to pronouce ih-dra, and he still says eye-dra. Most casters just have a personal flare they wont give up and the masses listening pick up what casters say. Artosis is definitly the most notorious for doing stuff like this lol.

But just for you, i'll honor your works by calling Coloss-ee as Coloss-ih.
Obitus.243
synapse
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
China13814 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 00:12:37
November 18 2010 00:10 GMT
#17
On November 18 2010 09:03 aidnai wrote:
Nobody knows how to pronounce Latin 'correctly': it's a dead language. CollosAI is as good as collosIH.

Latin being a dead language in no way means that nobody knows how to pronounce Latin correctly.

@OP: "Colossi" in classical Latin would be pronounced "kole-awh-ssee." There is no emphasis on the last syllable, but it is most definitely a long "e" vowel sound. Also, English speakers saying "kawl-aws-sigh" is correct, as words such as "octopi" are English terms derived from Latin, not Latin words themselves.
:)
Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 00:13:24
November 18 2010 00:10 GMT
#18
On November 18 2010 09:03 aidnai wrote:
Nobody knows how to pronounce Latin 'correctly': it's a dead language. CollosAI is as good as collosIH.


Allow me to disagree. Actually, allow those that wrote the books on which I studied to disagree

Both ancient greek and latin are "dead", but it is well known how to correctly read them. Actually, we even know the differences in pronountiation between different ages.
Latin is still spoken by the christian church, altough in an evoluted form, and it was the language used by man of science up untill the beginning of the 20th century, so it was not exactly "dead".
Just two examples.

Even if you want to consider it dead, it really died not many years ago.
Fa1nT
Profile Joined September 2010
United States3423 Posts
November 18 2010 00:12 GMT
#19
[image loading]
Al Bundy
Profile Joined April 2010
7257 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 00:13:32
November 18 2010 00:13 GMT
#20
On November 18 2010 09:12 Fa1nT wrote:
[image loading]



I thought that "Nobody cares about unit name pronunciation." ??

You got to get you shit straight, man.
o choro é livre
azhang
Profile Joined June 2010
United States178 Posts
November 18 2010 00:13 GMT
#21
On November 18 2010 09:02 Fa1nT wrote:
Nobody cares about unit name pronunciation.


Haterz gonna hate
Cool Post OP

User was warned for this post
Nydus in yo main.
Fa1nT
Profile Joined September 2010
United States3423 Posts
November 18 2010 00:14 GMT
#22
On November 18 2010 09:13 AlBundy wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2010 09:12 Fa1nT wrote:
[image loading]



I thought that "Nobody cares about unit name pronunciation." ??

You got to get you shit straight, man.


I assumed a mod would close it =((
Al Bundy
Profile Joined April 2010
7257 Posts
November 18 2010 00:14 GMT
#23
On November 18 2010 09:14 Fa1nT wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2010 09:13 AlBundy wrote:
On November 18 2010 09:12 Fa1nT wrote:
[image loading]



I thought that "Nobody cares about unit name pronunciation." ??

You got to get you shit straight, man.


I assumed a mod would close it =((


Lol fair enough
o choro é livre
Scorch
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Austria3371 Posts
November 18 2010 00:17 GMT
#24
I don't care too much about the pronounciation, more about the fact that many many casters mess up singular and plural with Colossus/i. Even some very good casters. The singular is Colossus. The plural is Colossi, or Colossuses. I cringe whenever I hear it wrong, like "The Protoss has five Colossus, but the Terran has lots of Vikings. One Colossi goes down, second Colossi goes down!"
EliteAzn
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States661 Posts
November 18 2010 00:18 GMT
#25
Lets call them what people proposed in the awful SC2 B.net forums during beta...

...Giraffes.
This is the only thing that I'll ever take away from those forums that is useful...

as for "i" sound vs. "e" sound...I personally like the "i" sound better because it sounds "cooler", but when you brought it up, it seems that the "e" sound sounds "correct"
(╯`Д´)╯︵ ┻━┻ High Five! _o /\ o_
Mindcrime
Profile Joined July 2004
United States6899 Posts
November 18 2010 00:22 GMT
#26
On November 18 2010 09:12 Fa1nT wrote:
[image loading]


Yep. In English, the word ends in a long "I" sound.
That wasn't any act of God. That was an act of pure human fuckery.
Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
November 18 2010 00:23 GMT
#27
On November 18 2010 09:18 EliteAzn wrote:
Lets call them what people proposed in the awful SC2 B.net forums during beta...

...Giraffes.
This is the only thing that I'll ever take away from those forums that is useful...


Now that you talk about giraffes, I must say that I found an even better image for the Colossi, the one on the right of the Giraffe in this picture:

Picture's url hided because the name would spoiler the fun part
ibreakurface
Profile Joined June 2010
United States664 Posts
November 18 2010 00:24 GMT
#28
On November 18 2010 09:05 archon256 wrote:
Those damn Colloxen!

I believe this is the correct form.
:) I play zerg. FOX AND KT ROLSTER COASTER FAN! Because I love everyone. Except bisu.
SonicBoom
Profile Joined September 2010
United States20 Posts
November 18 2010 00:25 GMT
#29
If you speak Latin, you say Colossee, if you speak English you say Colosseye or Colossuses. If you speak Italian you might say the Latin pronunciation since the two languages are similar. If you are intelligent you spell it with one "l", never two.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ლ(ಠ益ಠლ) (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
LittLeD
Profile Joined May 2010
Sweden7973 Posts
November 18 2010 00:26 GMT
#30
On November 18 2010 09:05 archon256 wrote:
Those damn Colloxen!


Always get roflstomped by dem darn Collouson >.<
☆Grubby ☆| Tod|DeMusliM|ThorZaiN|SaSe|Moon|Mana| ☆HerO ☆
CactusApple
Profile Joined September 2010
22 Posts
November 18 2010 00:27 GMT
#31
It is never wrong to pronounce Latin words the way you would read them in the language you are currently speaking. This means that it is perfectly correct to pronounce the "i" in Colossi as "ai". The other correct pronunciation would be the Roman way, as you suggested.

BY THE WAY: When a word is used in the English language it gets assimilated, which means that it adheres to English grammar. This means that it is also correct to say Colossuses. It is a safety net so to speak.
Darkstar_X
Profile Joined May 2010
United States197 Posts
November 18 2010 00:31 GMT
#32
Why don't you just look it up instead of making a useless thread -
co·los·sus
[kuh-los-uhs]
–noun, plural -los·si
fauxreal
Profile Joined October 2010
United States67 Posts
November 18 2010 00:31 GMT
#33
Agreed with those, we're using the english pronunciation. Much like the word, radii.
Honeybadger
Profile Joined August 2010
United States821 Posts
November 18 2010 00:36 GMT
#34
Octopus.

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

Octopuses

Octopi

octopods

Octopodes
"I like to tape my thumbs to my hands to see what it would be like to be a dinosaur."
Mr. Wiggles
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Canada5894 Posts
November 18 2010 00:36 GMT
#35
I don't think that the Latin pronunciation holds here. Colossus in this case is using the English derivative, for which the plural is pronounced with an eye sound.

I see what you're trying to do, but I don't think we can just apply Latin grammar and pronunciation rules to certain words just because they are spelled the same in English as Latin haha, or else we'd end up with:

He's using his vikings to target fire colossōs!!!

The lasers colossōrum are really tearing through those Hydra's!!!!

etc. :p
you gotta dance
Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 00:41:59
November 18 2010 00:37 GMT
#36
On November 18 2010 09:27 SC2Chobo wrote:
It is never wrong to pronounce Latin words the way you would read them in the language you are currently speaking. This means that it is perfectly correct to pronounce the "i" in Colossi as "ai".


I had the feeling that this (as also other suggested) was what was going on.
Altough if I can recognize a word not for a "native word" but for an "assimilated one", my brain can't ignore the idea that any pronountiation different from the one used in the native language of that word is wrong.
Nevetheless, I understand that it is totally normal to use our own language pronountiation since usually those knowing the "correct" pronountiation are only a small percentage (unless the the word is being assimlated from english), which means that the "wrong" pronountiation will be forced to be right by "popular decision", since it's not some linguistic professor that decide how a language evolve, but the population itself.

EDIT: and when I say "linguistic professor" I am not speaking about myself I actually just had the misfortune to study ancient greek and latin during high school, I am happy to inform you I luckyly switched to engineering for my master degree. :D
PointyBagels
Profile Joined September 2010
United States90 Posts
November 18 2010 00:45 GMT
#37
Colossi would be pronounced the same way as cacti, or any other similar word.

Though apparently Colossuses is also correct according to some, though I am not sure.
smokeyhoodoo
Profile Joined January 2010
United States1021 Posts
November 18 2010 00:45 GMT
#38
On November 18 2010 09:05 Bear4188 wrote:
It's not Latin, it's English. Just because English takes roots from Latin doesn't meant he pronunciation goes unchanged.

Radii, alumni, prospecti, foci are all pronounced with a long i in (American) English.



Actually English roots from proto-germanic. There are latin influences for various historical reasons but it is not a latin language.
There is no cow level
Galaxy77
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Hong Kong256 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 00:48:01
November 18 2010 00:46 GMT
#39
Searched it on google:

Definition of colossus (noun)
forms: colossi, colossuses
any strikingly great person or object

http://www.english-test.net/sat/vocabulary/words/358/sat-definitions.php#colossus

And you are correct, the "i" on the end of colossi is pronounced as the letter name 'e'
Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
November 18 2010 00:53 GMT
#40
On November 18 2010 09:45 smokeyhoodoo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2010 09:05 Bear4188 wrote:
It's not Latin, it's English. Just because English takes roots from Latin doesn't meant he pronunciation goes unchanged.

Radii, alumni, prospecti, foci are all pronounced with a long i in (American) English.



Actually English roots from proto-germanic. There are latin influences for various historical reasons but it is not a latin language.


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.
Durp
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Canada3117 Posts
November 18 2010 00:54 GMT
#41
[/QUOTE]
So like Colossih?
Don't tell me the koreans will be correct with the like
AAAAH COLOSSIH COLOSSIH COLOSSIH COLOSSU YAAA KAWASAMIDA[/QUOTE]

Why all the arguments? This is clearly the only comment of importance. LOL to you sir, good line
SOOOOOooooOOOOooooOOOOoo Many BANELINGS!!
Raelcun
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States3747 Posts
November 18 2010 00:55 GMT
#42
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.
Retgery
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada1229 Posts
November 18 2010 00:56 GMT
#43
i vote for all canadians to start pronoucing it coloss-eh!
Fall down 7 times, stand up 8.
Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
November 18 2010 01:05 GMT
#44
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.


First of all, you may not care, but it seems casters do care for this (and also some other people since someone did reply to this in a costructive way).

Second of all, I am 100% correct in what I'm saying. As a latin words it is read the way I wrote.

Third, according to the research made on online dictionaries by other posters it seems Colossus, as an english word, has a plural form (either one or both of Colossi and Colossuses). Which usually implies that it is not correct to use the singluar term for a group of more than 1 (in 4 language I studied, the only cases that allow that are words with no plural and ignorance from the speaker).
So, I am quite interested in a source to confirm the "2 Colossus is correct" line, because it would be an interesting special case.
smokeyhoodoo
Profile Joined January 2010
United States1021 Posts
November 18 2010 01:05 GMT
#45
On November 18 2010 09:53 Dirich wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2010 09:45 smokeyhoodoo wrote:
On November 18 2010 09:05 Bear4188 wrote:
It's not Latin, it's English. Just because English takes roots from Latin doesn't meant he pronunciation goes unchanged.

Radii, alumni, prospecti, foci are all pronounced with a long i in (American) English.



Actually English roots from proto-germanic. There are latin influences for various historical reasons but it is not a latin language.


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.


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.
There is no cow level
Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
November 18 2010 01:16 GMT
#46
On November 18 2010 10:05 smokeyhoodoo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2010 09:53 Dirich wrote:
On November 18 2010 09:45 smokeyhoodoo wrote:
On November 18 2010 09:05 Bear4188 wrote:
It's not Latin, it's English. Just because English takes roots from Latin doesn't meant he pronunciation goes unchanged.

Radii, alumni, prospecti, foci are all pronounced with a long i in (American) English.



Actually English roots from proto-germanic. There are latin influences for various historical reasons but it is not a latin language.


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.


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.


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.
5ahj4g
Profile Joined August 2010
72 Posts
November 18 2010 01:27 GMT
#47
if only casters casted in latin - then this thread would have a purpose
Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
November 18 2010 01:37 GMT
#48
On November 18 2010 10:27 5ahj4g wrote:
if only casters casted in latin - then this thread would have a purpose


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).
smokeyhoodoo
Profile Joined January 2010
United States1021 Posts
November 18 2010 01:38 GMT
#49
On November 18 2010 10:16 Dirich wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2010 10:05 smokeyhoodoo wrote:
On November 18 2010 09:53 Dirich wrote:
On November 18 2010 09:45 smokeyhoodoo wrote:
On November 18 2010 09:05 Bear4188 wrote:
It's not Latin, it's English. Just because English takes roots from Latin doesn't meant he pronunciation goes unchanged.

Radii, alumni, prospecti, foci are all pronounced with a long i in (American) English.



Actually English roots from proto-germanic. There are latin influences for various historical reasons but it is not a latin language.


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.


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.


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.


No, you're right, proto-germanic was spoken in denmark, sweden, and norway.
There is no cow level
SichuanPanda
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Canada1542 Posts
November 18 2010 01:40 GMT
#50
As far as I'm concerned the only pronunciation should be the correct English one - Colossus refers to the singular and since it ends in s, nothing need to be done. 'Check out that Colossus (one)' and 'Check out those Colossus (many)' are both grammatically correct. I'm not sure why the use of the Latin pluralization has become popular, but it really is unnecessary. Just say Colossus to refer to both a group and a lone one, no one is going to get confused. In-fact the use of an outdated pluralization is causing more confusion than anything else.
i-bonjwa
Ballistixz
Profile Joined January 2010
United States1269 Posts
November 18 2010 01:41 GMT
#51
you say tomat-oh i say tomat-ah

who gives a shit?
Achilles
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada385 Posts
November 18 2010 01:43 GMT
#52
Octopus = Octopusses

I assume Colossus -> Colossuses
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Castles
Profile Joined September 2010
Canada77 Posts
November 18 2010 01:43 GMT
#53
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.



quality posting on the tl forums, this will surely advance our gaming experience
ITSGOD
Thegilaboy
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States2018 Posts
November 18 2010 01:45 GMT
#54
I don't really understand why it's such a big deal. Regardless of how they say it you're going to know exactly what their talking about.
SichuanPanda
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Canada1542 Posts
November 18 2010 01:45 GMT
#55
On November 18 2010 10:43 Achilles wrote:
Octopus = Octopusses

I assume Colossus -> Colossuses


Octopuses is one of many exceptions in English, Colossuses is not a word, while Octopuses is. Its simply just Colossus.
i-bonjwa
salsaPOUND
Profile Joined October 2010
Australia24 Posts
November 18 2010 01:45 GMT
#56
I just wish the whole "Colloxen" thing would go away...
mikeymoo
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
Canada7170 Posts
November 18 2010 01:45 GMT
#57
On November 18 2010 10:43 Achilles wrote:
Octopus = Octopusses

I assume Colossus -> Colossuses

Actually, it's octopodes.
Thank you defenestrate.
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5ahj4g
Profile Joined August 2010
72 Posts
November 18 2010 01:46 GMT
#58
On November 18 2010 10:37 Dirich wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2010 10:27 5ahj4g wrote:
if only casters casted in latin - then this thread would have a purpose


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).


wait so you were completely unaware of the english word "Colossus", and thought blizzard decided to pick a latin word to use in their game?

my apologies. perhaps you should have looked up the word before making this thread...
Redmark
Profile Joined March 2010
Canada2129 Posts
November 18 2010 01:47 GMT
#59
I've never seen anyone saying, for example, zeitgeist being told that it needs to be pronounced with a 'ts'. Or if someone says a name in Chinese, no one says anything about the correct Chinese pronunciation.
It's always Latin or Greek.
pxds
Profile Joined October 2010
Brazil72 Posts
November 18 2010 01:47 GMT
#60
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


Colossus -> Colossopodes?
--
5ahj4g
Profile Joined August 2010
72 Posts
November 18 2010 01:51 GMT
#61
On November 18 2010 10:47 pxds wrote:
Show nested quote +
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


Colossus -> Colossopodes?


well even if you were right i'd assume it'd be colossodes

though octopus is like that because it has a greek root

colossus is latin
Crushgroove
Profile Joined July 2010
United States793 Posts
November 18 2010 01:53 GMT
#62
OP... You are really really really misinformed. Colossus was a latin word... but before that it was Greek. Ancient Greek κολοσσός (kolossos) "large statue". When it was brought into latin it didn't gain latin pluralisms.

If you'd taken Latin at some point you'd be able to cite declension as cause for pluralization. Its a second declension noun.


nominative colossus colossī
genitive colossī colossōrum
dative colossō colossīs
accusative colossum colossōs
ablative colossō colossīs
vocative colosse colossī

But none of this matters. In ENGLISH..... the language we all SPEAK... Oxford and Merriam-Webster both agree that Colossi and Colossuses are equally correct.

But More important than ALL OF THIS...

There have been several (~10) threads on this already. It has been discussed at length. You are pointlessly spamming.
[In Korea on Vaca] "Why would I go to the park and climb a mountain? There are video games on f*cking TV!" - Kazuke
Tomer
Profile Joined June 2009
United States105 Posts
November 18 2010 01:55 GMT
#63
We should just call it colloxen in singular and plural. It would be more fun that way.
SichuanPanda
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Canada1542 Posts
November 18 2010 02:03 GMT
#64
On November 18 2010 10:55 Tomer wrote:
We should just call it colloxen in singular and plural. It would be more fun that way.


Lol. It sure would. In an amendment to my previous post it would appear that 3 out of 5 dictionary sites I went cite that the plural of Colossus is actually accepted as both forms (Colossi or Colossuses) depending on which English speaking country you are in. North America prefers Colossi while the UK and other English countries prefer Colossuses. Some area also use simply Colossus.
i-bonjwa
Pokebunny
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States10654 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-18 02:04:59
November 18 2010 02:04 GMT
#65
Is Colossi really properly pronounced with a short i in Latin? I've been taking latin @ school for 3+ years and always have pronounced/heard it pronounced as a long i, as well as all other second declension plural nominatives.
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holy_war
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States3590 Posts
November 18 2010 02:06 GMT
#66
Guys, not again! There was a 13 page thread created in August that argued over the same thing HERE.
Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
November 18 2010 02:06 GMT
#67
On November 18 2010 10:53 Crushgroove wrote:
OP... You are really really really misinformed.
...
nominative colossus colossī


I may have been misinformed about what I quote next, but not about the declination. Infact the second one, as you too wrote, spells Colossus Colossi (singular / plural).

On November 18 2010 10:53 Crushgroove wrote:
But none of this matters. In ENGLISH..... the language we all SPEAK... Oxford and Merriam-Webster both agree that Colossi and Colossuses are equally correct.


Aside from the "we all", I would like to point out that it is not uncommon to use foreign words to name thing. Just for the "cool" sound of them. So Oxford and M-W are both unnecessary for those who prefear to think of Colossus as latin.
And by the way, my point was how to read the plural of colossus assuming you see the word as latin.
Subversion
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
South Africa3627 Posts
November 18 2010 02:08 GMT
#68
On November 18 2010 09:10 Dirich wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2010 09:03 aidnai wrote:
Nobody knows how to pronounce Latin 'correctly': it's a dead language. CollosAI is as good as collosIH.


Allow me to disagree. Actually, allow those that wrote the books on which I studied to disagree

Both ancient greek and latin are "dead", but it is well known how to correctly read them. Actually, we even know the differences in pronountiation between different ages.
Latin is still spoken by the christian church, altough in an evoluted form, and it was the language used by man of science up untill the beginning of the 20th century, so it was not exactly "dead".
Just two examples.

Even if you want to consider it dead, it really died not many years ago.


Did you just try lay a language smackdown while saying "evoluted" as if its a real word?
5ahj4g
Profile Joined August 2010
72 Posts
November 18 2010 02:08 GMT
#69
by a show of hands, how many of you, besides the OP, see the word as latin?
Pokebunny
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States10654 Posts
November 18 2010 02:09 GMT
#70
On November 18 2010 11:08 5ahj4g wrote:
by a show of hands, how many of you, besides the OP, see the word as latin?

A better question is, who doesn't? Doesn't your brain scream latin every time you see a noun ending in -us? lol
Semipro Terran player | Pokebunny#1710 | twitter.com/Pokebunny | twitch.tv/Pokebunny | facebook.com/PokebunnySC
Karliath
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2214 Posts
November 18 2010 02:09 GMT
#71
I NEVER want to see this thread again. Wasted 3 hours arguing about it last time it showed up...all the way back in July.
jeeneeus
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
1168 Posts
November 18 2010 02:10 GMT
#72
How about this for an elegant solution?

No one will agree what is the "proper" plural form of Colossus. Whether or not the term came from Latin (-uses vs. -i) and no matter how people were taught to pronounce Latin (-aye or -ih, I myself was taught coll-os-aye), the point is, the way we use this word has no implication on anything other than Starcraft. The term is used by the Starcraft community for the Starcraft community.

So should not the pronunciation of this word be determined by the Starcraft community? I feel that it makes the most sense. As such, one of the greatest exemplars of the Starcraft community has already come up with a plural form of Colossus. I'm talking of course about Day[9] and his creation of "Colloxen."

Colloxen is my vote for what the overall community should start calling the plural of Colossus. In case it hasn't hit you already, the word was created by Sean "Day(nger)[9]" Plott, the Overmind of the Starcraft community.

Let's make Colloxen the real plural form of Colossus. HD already started using it in some of his casts.

My only worry about Colloxen is spelling. Colossus is spelled with one "L" and Colloxen is spelled with two. It could be Coloxen, but I think we all agree that looks pretty queer. But regardless of spelling, I think that's what we should all start using the word Colloxen.

The point is, we are all part of this wonderful community, and we should band together as one. We should all stand under the banner of Starcraft, united by our shared use of this word. And then redivided by race.
Dirich
Profile Joined September 2010
Italy101 Posts
November 18 2010 02:11 GMT
#73
On November 18 2010 11:04 Pokebunny wrote:
Is Colossi really properly pronounced with a short i in Latin? I've been taking latin @ school for 3+ years and always have pronounced/heard it pronounced as a long i, as well as all other second declension plural nominatives.


Ok.. what's going on here?
A few pages ago someone wrote he was told that the -i in the 2nd declension plural nominative is read as -eye. Now you say you were teached it is read as a long -i..

I can assure you (7 years of studying it) that here in Italy we are teached the -i is short. And if italian is in any way a good counterproof, I can assure again that -i is short.

tofucake
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Hyrule19200 Posts
November 18 2010 02:13 GMT
#74
On November 18 2010 08:59 Dirich wrote:
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.

Or if it's genitive or locative singular, or vocative plural. So almost.

On November 18 2010 08:59 Dirich wrote:
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.

No, it'd be "ee", but the way it's Anglicized, it's still pronounced like "eye".
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5ahj4g
Profile Joined August 2010
72 Posts
November 18 2010 02:16 GMT
#75
On November 18 2010 11:09 Pokebunny wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2010 11:08 5ahj4g wrote:
by a show of hands, how many of you, besides the OP, see the word as latin?

A better question is, who doesn't? Doesn't your brain scream latin every time you see a noun ending in -us? lol


no, if i see chow mein i think chinese, if i see taco i think spanish

however words ending in -us are so common i doubt people think about their roots

also as stated earlier, a -us ending is not necessarily latin

and yes, i'm hungry
mikeymoo
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
Canada7170 Posts
November 18 2010 02:17 GMT
#76
Aaaaaaaaaaand the horse has been beaten.
Thanks for playing again, folks!
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