a question in my notes from this afternoon

[fox]

why is the plural of lexicon not lexica?

[eta:  dudes!

Main Entry: lex·i·con
Pronunciation: 'lek-s&-"kän also -k&n
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural lex·i·ca /-k&/; or lexicons
Etymology: Late Greek lexikon, from neuter of lexikos of words, from Greek lexis word, speech, from legein to say -- more at LEGEND
1 : a book containing an alphabetical arrangement of the words in a language and their definitions : DICTIONARY
2 a : the vocabulary of a language, an individual speaker or group of speakers, or a subject b : the total stock of morphemes in a language
3 : REPERTOIRE, INVENTORY

i hereby recommend that we all start using lexica ... whenever we ... happen to ... need to talk about ... more than one ... lexicon ... okay.  well, look for it in my thesis, then! heh.]

Comments

[cannons-at-dawn.livejournal.com]

Lexica is a fab word. I'm going to try hard to slip it into conversation.