Re: -i? -orum? ACK!

[Nick Pharris <npharris@umich.edu>]

Quoting Ivan Kwan <dino_rampage@hotmail.com>:

> After browsing through the DML archives countless times, it seems that there
> has been no resolution to that long-standing issue:
>
> When does the species epithet end with -i, and when does it end with -orum?
>
> Has there been any consensus? I know that -i is used when referring to
> individuals, and -orum when referring to more than one person, but the sheer
> number of dinosaur names with both variations is driving me nuts.

I think the problem is that English speakers tend to think of -i as if it were
equivalent to the English preposition "of" ("steller-i" = "of Steller"), rather
than specifically a *masculine singular* genitive ending.

Nick Pharris
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Linguistics
University of Michigan