Discussion Forum (Archived)
Guest
We were arguing at work about whether more than one antenna was “antennae†or “antennasâ€, as well as whether it was Latin, etc. (Interestingly, our lawyer argued it wasn't Latin, and it had the English plural. Would have thought the opposite.)
ANYWAY, I'm now more confused than ever. All the online references, such as the Am. Heritage 4th, say that the Latin plural is used for zoology (insect antennae) and for similes (sensitive public relations antennae), but the English is used for radio/radar/etc. (two radar antennas). (Some allow the English plural for all usages.)
Why on Earth are the two plurals used for the different usages? How can this be right, make sense, etc.? (I suppose the usual dictum applies — it's how English speakers speak…)
And if there have to be TWO plurals, why is the simile form given the Latin rather than the English plural?? (I get zoology & Latin, but…)
(And they say it does come from Latin, from Greek, EVEN THOUGH the first recorded usage was 1646 ??)
Thanks,
Bill
PPS - One of my long-time consulting radar experts (one of the "grey beards") tells me that the plural of antenna is slightly different. (He's the one who's also a lawyer.)
He says that when it's a PAIR, it's "ae", and when it's just a random collection of two or more, it's "s". Works for insect antennae.
For (plural radar antenna), when you have a storeroom full of them, you have antennas. When you have a matched pair of (plural radar antenna), such as one for transmitting and one for receiving, he calls them antennae.
Makes more sense than entemology being different than electrical engineering.
I don't have a dictionary reference for that, but an expert in the field...
Not a bad theory. It was one of the initial distinctions that came to my mind when I first read the post.
I wonder if another factor is based in the usage of it as well. Anyone who has had to go through schooling in a subject are going to learn the vocabulary related to the subject and be more likely to use it correctly. Therefore, radio/radar operators and entomologists, are both going to understand the lingo they need to communicate to peers, etc. and are more likely to use antennae, while uneducated slobs like myself who do not know any better are likely to assume you can slap an "s" on it and call it good. Since, with regards to any subject, there are more uneducated people than educated people, it is used with much more frequency that way and therefore will almost always gain a foothold on the language. Just my 2 cents. 🙂
There may be something to that. Electrical engineers are utilitarian, and I suspect that they preempted antennae and antennas out of a desire to make useful distinctions in their field rather than out of any desire to be linguistically correct. I am an electrical engineer, but not the radar or antenna sort. Actually, not even the utilitarian sort.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
1 Guest(s)