From: verdy_p (verdy_p@wanadoo.fr)
Date: Mon Oct 26 2009 - 05:06:52 CST
> De : "William_J_G Overington"
> Yet http://www.yahoo.com gives various links to various other things for both of them and also there is the
problem that poly- means many.
No. See "Polygon" (the smallest polygon include the triangle which is just three sides, but look at "polyedre" which
includes "diedre" (two angles).
The Greek prefix "poly-" just means several (more than one), not necessarily many (the Greek prefix for many is
"myria-").
But "plu-" is not a correct Latin prefix (the correct Latin prefix is "pluri-"). You may note that in some
languages, the "plural" also starts at 3, and sometimes more (a distinction is made for "dual", and sometimes also
for the indefinite/uncounted number which means some indefinite part of all possible instances).
Don't take "pluperfect" as an example, because there "plu" just means "more" : pluperfect is derived from the French
"plus-que-parfait" which would translate today litterally as "more-than-perfect", except that Modern English as
elided the comparative coordination within the compound word. The "plu" part in this English word is an abbreviated
form of the "plus" Latin adverb (created by allophony), but is not a formative prefix. "Pluperfect" is then just an
irregular exception within compound words, that should only be kept as an exception.
There's no effective difference of meaning between the Greek "poly-" and Latin "pluri-" prefixes (even in languages
where both prefixes are used but where there are several distinct plural forms like dual).
Philippe.
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