So the plural of ethos is....?

[NooNoo]

I'm thinking that sice the ethos is a grouping of things, you would have to compare each individual part to each individual part. (Besides, weren't the Ethoi those things in HG Wells Time Machine? )

Eloi you morlock!

[geoscomp]

Well, if you look at one definition:

The disposition, character, or fundamental values peculiar to a specific person, people, culture, or movement

you would break it down to the individual elements of the disposition, character, etc.

Ahh..Eloi.. Well, at least I had the first letter correct.

[street1]

ethics can be singular or plural...From the ancient Greek word ethos.

So it is....All for one and one for all.

Damn Goggle#$# Your right NooNoo.

[geoscomp]

ethics can be singular or plural...From the ancient Greek word ethos.

So it is....All for one and one for all.

Damn Goggle#$# Your right NooNoo.

Yep but the question wasnt ethics....it was ethos

[houseisland]

I asked my classicist spousal unit. Her response was that in Greek the plural of ethos would be ethoi.

However, I still side with geoscomp that ethos in its existence as an English word does not have a plural.


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It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

[NooNoo]

So I see a new campaign - let's get the OED working out the rules for ethos! The right for more than one ethos to exist in a sentence must be set out in the dictionary!

[Platypus]

For a while now, the post sequence on Today's Posts has been:

So the plural of ethos is....?
Driving me nuts!

But I agree, it seems probable ethos has no official English plural. An oft quoted rule for this situation is use English rules now that it's used as an English word.

[NooNoo]

For a while now, the post sequence on Today's Posts has been:

So the plural of ethos is....?
Driving me nuts!

But I agree, it seems probable ethos has no official English plural. An oft quoted rule for this situation is use English rules now that it's used as an English word.

And that opens another can of worms

ethoses... pronounced ethosses? or
ethoses .. pronounced ethoh-sez ?
Or perhaps after platypi... ethi ?

[houseisland]

So I see a new campaign - let's get the OED working out the rules for ethos! The right for more than one ethos to exist in a sentence must be set out in the dictionary!

The full OED lists no plural form. The Longman Dictionary of Comtemporary English lists it as a singular noun.

I do actually have an OED.

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It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

[NooNoo]

I do actually have an OED.

But are you on the OED committee that updates and adds to the OED?

[houseisland]

No, but one of my Linguistics profs once tried to unload a stack of his reader's cards on me so that I could fill them out and he could mail them in.



Get something published using ethoi and then there would be grounds for a submission.

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It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

[NooNoo]

Get something published using ethoi and then there would be grounds for a submission.

Why ethoi? There is an opportunity here for something more tongue friendly!

[Platypus]

Ethoi is disregarded in Wikipedia reference desk discussions on the subject, in favour of ethe (maybe pronounced aythee like in the Greek). For example the sole occasion the word is used in the New Testament (1 Cor 15:33) it is ethe.

In Greek, ethos can mean either the entire moral nature, which is the meaning we give it in English, or specific customs or habits, with the difference inferred from context.

Ethe is pointed out as almost always indicating the specific, so being unsuitable as a plural for the English meaning. A counter to that could be if we aren't completely compliant with Greek usage with ethos, should we have to be with ethoi/ethe?

[El_Squid]

Moose by any other name, is still singular/plural. Let's leave it at ethos and get the plurality/singularity from context, ey wot?

[street1]

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/ref/vampire_squid

Flash:Oaklahoma children can no longer play outdoors after dark.
See above link.

The only hope is the grouping of ethos by Mayor Ethoi.