Editing Octopus (section)

==Etymology and pluralisation==<!--Avoid changing. Used in links to subsection.-->
{{See also|Plural form of words ending in -us}}
The [[Neo-Latin|scientific Latin]] term {{wikt-lang|la|octopus}} was derived from [[Ancient Greek]] {{wikt-lang|grc|ὀκτώπους}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|oktōpous}}), a [[compound (linguistics)|compound]] form of {{wikt-lang|grc|ὀκτώ}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|oktō}}, 'eight') and {{wikt-lang|grc|πούς}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|pous}}, 'foot'), itself a variant form of {{wikt-lang|grc|ὀκτάπους}}, a word used for example by [[Alexander of Tralles]] ({{circa|525}} – {{circa|605}}).<ref name=etym>{{OEtymD|octopus}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/octopus |title=Octopus |website=Dictionary.reference.com |access-date=4 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{LSJ|o)kta/pous|ὀκτάπους}}, {{LSJ|o)ktw/pous|ὀκτώπους|ref}}.</ref> 

The standard [[plural]]ised form of ''octopus'' in English is ''octopuses'';<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Michel |first1=Jean-Baptiste |last2=Shen |first2=Yuan |last3=Aiden |first3=Aviva |last4=Veres |first4=Adrian |last5=Gray |first5=Matthew |last6=Pickett |first6=Joseph |last7=Hoiberg |first7=Dale |last8=Clancy |first8=Dan |last9=Norvig |first9=Peter |last10=Orwant |first10=Jon |last11=Pinker |first11=Steven |author11-link=Steven Pinker |last12=Nowak |first12=Martin |title=Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books |journal=Science |year=2011 |volume=331 |issue=6014 |pages=176–182 |doi=10.1126/science.1199644 |pmid=21163965 |pmc=3279742| bibcode=2011Sci...331..176M }} [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=octopuses%2Coctopi%2Coctopodes&yece.com/ngrams/graph?content=octopuses%2Coctopi%2Coctopodes&year_start=1850&year_end=2000&corpus=1orpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Coctopuses%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Coctopi%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Coctopodes%3B%2Cc0 Relevant data at Google Ngram Viewer].</ref> the Ancient Greek plural {{lang|grc|ὀκτώποδες}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|octopodes}} ({{IPAc-en|ɒ|k|ˈ|t|ɒ|p|ə|d|iː|z}}), has also been used historically.<ref name="OD">{{cite web |url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/octopus |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030205455/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/octopus |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 October 2012 |title=Octopus |publisher=Oxforddictionaries.com |date=2014 |access-date=4 February 2014}}</ref> The alternative plural ''octopi'' is usually considered etymologically incorrect because it [[hypercorrection|wrongly assumes]] that ''octopus'' is a Latin [[second declension|second-declension]] {{wikt-lang|la|-us}} noun or adjective when, in either Greek or Latin, it is a [[third declension|third-declension]] noun.<ref>Peters, Pam (2004). ''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-62181-X}}, p. 388.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Fowler |first1=Henry Watson |title=A Dictionary of Modern English Usage |date=1994 |isbn=978-1-85326-318-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmo00fowl/page/316 316] |publisher=Wordsworth Editions |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmo00fowl/page/316 |quote=In Latin plurals there are some traps for non-Latinists; the termination of the singular is no sure guide to that of the plural. Most Latin words in ''-us'' have plural in ''-i'', but not all, & so zeal not according to knowledge issues in such oddities as...''octopi''...; as caution the following list may be useful:...''octopus'', ''-podes'' }}</ref> Historically, the first plural to commonly appear in English language sources, in the early 19th century, is the Latinate form ''octopi'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tuckey |first1=James Hingston |author-link=James Hingston Tuckey |last2=Smith|first2=Christen |author2-link=Christen Smith | date=1818 |title=Narrative of an Expedition to Explore the River Zaire |work=The Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2020toner34663/?st=gallery |publisher=Kirk & Mercein }}</ref> followed by the English form ''octopuses'' in the latter half of the same century. The Hellenic plural is roughly contemporary in usage, although it is also the rarest.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Many Plurals of 'Octopus' |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-many-plurals-of-octopus-octopi-octopuses-octopodes |website=www.merriam-webster.com}}</ref>

''[[Fowler's Modern English Usage]]'' states that the only acceptable plural in English is ''octopuses'', that ''octopi'' is misconceived, and ''octopodes'' [[pedantic]];<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199661350.001.0001/acref-9780199661350-e-3956?rskey=siwVQG&result=3941|title=Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage|last1=Butterfield|first1=Jeremy|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-174453-2|quote=The only correct plural in English is octopuses. The Greek original is {{lang|grc|ὀκτώπους}}, {{lang|grc|-ποδ-}} (which would lead to a pedantic English pl. form ''octopodes''). The pl. form ''octopi'', which is occasionally heard (mostly in jocular use), though based on modL ''octopus'', is misconceived}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Chambers Reference Online |year=1996 |work=Chambers 21st Century Dictionary |publisher=Chambers Harrap |access-date=5 February 2024 |url=https://chambers.co.uk/search/?query=octopus&title=21st }}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |first=Kory |last=Stamper |title=Ask the editor: octopus |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0015-octopus.htm |access-date=26 June 2013 |publisher=Merriam-Webster |archive-date=30 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430140919/http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0015-octopus.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> the last is nonetheless used frequently enough to be acknowledged by the [[descriptivist]] ''Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary'' and ''Webster's New World College Dictionary''. The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' lists ''octopuses'', ''octopi'', and ''octopodes'', in that order, reflecting frequency of use, calling ''octopodes'' rare and noting that ''octopi'' is based on a misunderstanding.<ref>{{OED |octopus}}</ref> The ''[[New Oxford American Dictionary]]'' (3rd Edition, 2010) lists ''octopuses'' as the only acceptable pluralisation, and indicates that ''octopodes'' is occasionally used, but that ''octopi'' is incorrect.<ref name=NOAD>{{cite book |title=New Oxford American Dictionary|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=sZoFRwAACAAJ}} |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-539288-3 |edition=3rd |editor1-first=Angus |editor1-last=Stevenson |editor2-first=Christine A. |editor2-last=Lindberg}}</ref>