I suppose that 'legally' it is censi as it is a word from Latin, Latin words ending in -us changed to an -i ending in the plural. But common usage now seems to use censuses. Mike ________________________________ So - what is the plural of census? Over the years, I have seen several ways of expressing this - census; censuses; censi; censii. Do you have a preference? Are there any other versions? Pat "Here's tae us! Wha's like us? Damn few! - an' they're a' deid!" Old Scots Toast

The Latin is censere. Janet ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Wells" <casofilia@xtra.co.nz> To: <aberdeen@rootsweb.com>; <angus@rootsweb.com>; <tay-valley-bridges@yahoogroups.com>; <sct-fife@rootsweb.com>; <perthshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 7:10 PM Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] What is the plural of census? >I suppose that 'legally' it is censi as it is a word from Latin, Latin words ending >in -us changed to an -i ending in the plural. But common usage now seems to use censuses. > > Mike

Janet wrote: >The Latin is censere. > > That is not the plural of *any* Latin Declension I ever heard of. And it isn't "censi", either. Latin has 5 different patterns (or "declensions") for the variant forms of nouns, and there are two which, in the nominative singular, end with "-us". The better-known is the Second Declension; this gives us "dominus" (= master), which in the nominative plural, becomes "domini". But there is also the Fourth Declension, common examples of which are "domus" (=house) and "manus" (=hand). The nominative plurals of these are ... "domus" and "manus". And (yes, you've guessed it!) "census" belongs to the Fourth Declension. So the Latin plural of "census" is "census". What you choose to use as the plural of the English word is a different question, although I can see no reason to object to "censuses". You can check the latin at: http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/~econrad/lang/ln4.html Gavin Bell