Love the sheen on the Straw-necked Ibis. I think the plural is still Ibis, can anyone confirm? Just missing the Gossy Ibis then you would have the complete set (insert smiley face here)
The matter of this plural is something I happened to fall into by accident this week. I was working on this out of Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.50:
Vomitione canes, purgatione autem alvos ibes Ægyptiæ curant.
Dogs treat their stomachs by vomiting, while the ibises of Egypt do it by purging the bowel.
I went to Wikipedia to see what the current plural of “ibis” was—I know, I know—but got no help there; some persistent vandals had taken it into their heads that it ought to be “ibi”.
More than one ibis.
I’ve run into worse cases than this before, but I’ll say it again: Just because it ends in something that sounds like -us—or even if it does end in -us—doesn’t mean it takes a plural in -i, or -ii, or anything like it. Of course the classical plural of “ibis” is its own special matter: it belongs to one of those sets of words that are attested being declined in a couple of different ways: with a stem in -i- and with a stem in -id-. (In a dictionary you’d see: ib|is, -isor-idis.)
Cicero, for example, uses ibes in the nominative plural twice and the d-less form (ibes or ibis, depending on your edition) in the accusative plural once, all in De Natura Deorum, as in the example above. (He also uses ibin for the accusative singular, though this is not a point for either side: the regular Greek declension would be ἶβιν whether the stem is in -id- or not.)
On the other hand, Ovid uses the form with -id- in his poetry—and actually wrote a whole vicious poem about a person he titled Ibis.
Anyway. The upshot of all this is that the Latinate plural of “ibis” in English could be either “ibides” or “ibes”. “Ibes” is, so far as I can tell, rarer, but neither of them is common; the purely English plurals “ibises” and “ibis” without an ending (like ‘grouse’) are more usual these days.......(Smurky face......Smiley face)
The matter of this plural is something I happened to fall into by accident this week. I was working on this out of Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.50:
Vomitione canes, purgatione autem alvos ibes Ægyptiæ curant.
Dogs treat their stomachs by vomiting, while the ibises of Egypt do it by purging the bowel.
I went to Wikipedia to see what the current plural of “ibis” was—I know, I know—but got no help there; some persistent vandals had taken it into their heads that it ought to be “ibi”.
More than one ibis.
I’ve run into worse cases than this before, but I’ll say it again: Just because it ends in something that sounds like -us—or even if it does end in -us—doesn’t mean it takes a plural in -i, or -ii, or anything like it. Of course the classical plural of “ibis” is its own special matter: it belongs to one of those sets of words that are attested being declined in a couple of different ways: with a stem in -i- and with a stem in -id-. (In a dictionary you’d see: ib|is, -isor-idis.)
Cicero, for example, uses ibes in the nominative plural twice and the d-less form (ibes or ibis, depending on your edition) in the accusative plural once, all in De Natura Deorum, as in the example above. (He also uses ibin for the accusative singular, though this is not a point for either side: the regular Greek declension would be ἶβιν whether the stem is in -id- or not.)
On the other hand, Ovid uses the form with -id- in his poetry—and actually wrote a whole vicious poem about a person he titled Ibis.
Anyway. The upshot of all this is that the Latinate plural of “ibis” in English could be either “ibides” or “ibes”. “Ibes” is, so far as I can tell, rarer, but neither of them is common; the purely English plurals “ibises” and “ibis” without an ending (like ‘grouse’) are more usual these days.......(Smurky face......Smiley face)
Thats a lot of info!! I am still none the wiser after reading it, if anything, I am more confused. Ibides...really. Isn't that something you do an an auction.
Ibis or ibises or what ever as long as we understand each other (Smiley) And surely the plural of 'grouse' should be 'grice' eg mouse mice (Another smiley)
Nice photos sandgroper!
Love the sheen on the Straw-necked Ibis. I think the plural is still Ibis, can anyone confirm? Just missing the Gossy Ibis then you would have the complete set (insert smiley face here)
The matter of this plural is something I happened to fall into by accident this week. I was working on this out of Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.50:
I went to Wikipedia to see what the current plural of “ibis” was—I know, I know—but got no help there; some persistent vandals had taken it into their heads that it ought to be “ibi”.
More than one ibis.
I’ve run into worse cases than this before, but I’ll say it again: Just because it ends in something that sounds like -us—or even if it does end in -us—doesn’t mean it takes a plural in -i, or -ii, or anything like it. Of course the classical plural of “ibis” is its own special matter: it belongs to one of those sets of words that are attested being declined in a couple of different ways: with a stem in -i- and with a stem in -id-. (In a dictionary you’d see: ib|is, -is or -idis.)
Cicero, for example, uses ibes in the nominative plural twice and the d-less form (ibes or ibis, depending on your edition) in the accusative plural once, all in De Natura Deorum, as in the example above. (He also uses ibin for the accusative singular, though this is not a point for either side: the regular Greek declension would be ἶβιν whether the stem is in -id- or not.)
On the other hand, Ovid uses the form with -id- in his poetry—and actually wrote a whole vicious poem about a person he titled Ibis.
Anyway. The upshot of all this is that the Latinate plural of “ibis” in English could be either “ibides” or “ibes”. “Ibes” is, so far as I can tell, rarer, but neither of them is common; the purely English plurals “ibises” and “ibis” without an ending (like ‘grouse’) are more usual these days.......(Smurky face......Smiley face)
I was hoping for more close-ups but a t̶e̶r̶r̶o̶r̶i̶s̶t̶ tourist and his dog scared them off too quickly to get flight shots.
Thats a lot of info!! I am still none the wiser after reading it, if anything, I am more confused. Ibides...really. Isn't that something you do an an auction.
Ibis or ibises or what ever as long as we understand each other (Smiley) And surely the plural of 'grouse' should be 'grice' eg mouse mice (Another smiley)
And house hice.