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🐙 Octopus is Octopus 🐙 (thelemmy.club)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] 5 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

As a native greek speaker, I find anything other than "octopuses" to be silly. In greek we don't say (any more) octopodes, we say "chtapodia" (the "ch" is the canonical (ELOT) transliteration of the letter χ).

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Could you just clarify one thing? I was told that the plural wouldn't be octopodes, but octopoda, similarly to what you used for modern Greek.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    In modern Greek, singular: χταπόδι, plural: χταπόδια.

    Transliterated using standard ELOT (that maps χ to ch) singular: chtapodi, plural: chtapodia.

    The word is composite and contracted. First part originally is οχτώ (8) (transliteration: ochto) but has been uncommonly shortened to χτα (chta). Second part is the word for foot (singular: πόδι/podi, plural: πόδια/podia).

    So without the uncommon shortening in more archaic Greek it would be: οχταπόδι (ochtapodi) and οχταπόδια (ochtapodia).

    If ELOT is ignored and οχτώ is transliterated as octo, then you can get to octapodi, octapodia.

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