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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Western Washington has been invaded by a South American army ... of nutria (Myocastor coypus). Nutria are small (12- to 17-inch) semi-aquatic rodents which look like a beaver on steroids. Protectors of native species are organizing to repel the invasion. The nutrias' plan is to win by procreation (about sixty offspring per female per year).
The name of this wee beastie looks, for all the world, like a plural to me. The back formation of the singular would then be "nutrium" but that is unlikely. Where'd these critters get such a name?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
singular: nutria; plural: nutrias
Etymology: Spanish, 19 C, from vulgar Latin, nutria, varient of lutra, meaning "otter".
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
The photographs in the newspaper looked a bit like otters, so one can see how the Spanish word might have been borrowed. It still ends funny.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
There is a theory running around that the Latin first declension descended from an uncountable plural declension in an older language, hence its similarity to the second declension neuter plural. Or was it the other way round?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Well, Faldage, you otter know.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Bravo! 
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