Octopus

Octopus (pronounced ok-tuh-puhs)

(1) Any cephalopod mollusc of the genera Octopus, Eledone etc, having a soft oval body with eight long suckered tentacles and occurring at the sea bottom; the order is Octopoda (octopods).

(2) Something likened to an octopus, as an organization with many forms of far-reaching influence or control.

(3) An alternative name for a spider (archaic).

1758: From the New Latin octopūs from the Ancient Greek ὀκτώπους (oktṓpous) (literally "eight foot"), the construct being ὀκτώ (oktṓ) (eight) + πούς (poús) (foot), from the primitive Indo-European root ped (foot).  The surviving evidence seems to hint the word more usually used in Greek discourse was polypous (also as pōlyps), the construct being poly-, from the Ancient Greek πολύς (polús) (many, much), from the primitive Indo-European polhús (much, many) + πούς (poús) (foot) but of this etymologists have suggested non-Hellenic folk origins.

Octopus has since at least 1882 been used figuratively of powers having far-reaching influence (usually as considered harmful and destructive). To the ancients, the octopus was crafty and dangerous, thrifty (stores food in its nest), and proverbial of clever and adaptable men, based on the animal's instinct of changing color when frightened or for disguise.  When speaking of politics, the word octopus is often used in the sense of "those whose tentacles reach many places" and this is sometimes applied to the activities of sprawling corporations.  In antiquity, such was the suspicion attached to the creature that it was thought to be amphibious, climbing trees near the shores to steal grapes and olives (the giant ones were said to raid whole warehouses).  Later historians link the myth to their eggs which resemble ripe olives.

The plural: Octopi, octopuses and octopodes

Although often used, there’s no etymological basis for Octopi.  The form was created by English speakers who mistakenly believed octopus was originally Latin and thus pluralized with an -i suffix, the assumption being the -us in octopūs is a Latin second declension ending; it’s actually the third declension noun.  The historic plural octopodes follows the Greek: ὀκτώποδες (oktṓpodes).  Although octopus came to English via scientific Latin (one of the late varieties that kept the language alive long after it had died out as a living tongue), it was never a native Latin word and didn’t exist in that language until scientists borrowed it from Greek in the eighteenth century.  Latin scholars also enjoy pointing out even were it a Latin word, it would take a different form and would not be pluralized with the -i ending)

Southern Blue-Ringed Octopus.

Pedants insist therefore either (1) the original Greek plural is correct or (2) it has over the centuries become an English word and thus the usual convention should be followed and the plural is octopuses.  In modern use, there’s also the general anomaly of culinary matters.  Although typically served by the dozen, when describing octopus the dish, the singular form is always used.  Among the lexicographers, Merriam-Webster is octopi-permissive but their modern dictionaries tend now to the descriptive; popularity prevails over etymology.  Both the online Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and Fowler's Modern English Usage demands “octopuses”, the OED listing the plurals (in order of popularity): octopuses, octopi, and octopodes, noting the rarity of the last.  The online Oxford dictionary states (1) the standard plural is octopuses, (2) octopodes remains occasionally used and (3) octopi is incorrect.  It may be decades before the classists accept octopi as a genuine invention of Modern English.  Hopefully none of this will encourage adoption of "diplodoci" as the plural of dinosaur; one can make a case for octopi but dinosaurs is fine.

Baffled: Lindsay Lohan as a judge on The Masked Singer, an Australian game show in which performers appear in disguise and the panel tries to guess their identity.  Given she'd never heard of any of the contestants, she was certainly impartial but, not unexpectedly, was baffled by the octopus.  Ms Lohan was paid to be there but others actually willingly sat through several seasons of what appears to have been among the worst examples of television programmes.

A ballerina being trained in China.  This is how ballerinas are trained so we can go and watch Swan Lake.  For the pleasure of that, it seems a small price for them to pay.

Ballerina is another word in English which, by virtue of the history of use, maintained an alternative (if rare outside the profession and the notes in the programmes sometimes provided at performances) plural form.  Ballerina was from the Italian ballerina, the feminine equivalent of ballerino (dancer).  In English, a male performer is usually called a “ballet dancer” and the alternative is danseur (the plural form danseurs).  Ballerina is also used as a name for what is more often called a “ballet slipper” or “ballet flat” although the latter should be avoided because the term is used by the footwear industry for street shoes in this style (somewhat confusingly also known in some markets as “ballet pumps”).