03-03-2016, 11:34 AM
(03-03-2016, 09:00 AM)stevebowers Wrote: That would be me, I'm afraid. I know the correct derivation from Latin is Terragens, but I happen to prefer terragen. The 'gens' ending sounds like a plural noun, when I want to use it as an adjective (the Terragen Sphere).
It is quite common for words created in one language from pieces found in another to suffer a bit of grammatical 'breakage' on the journey, especially if the part that breaks off is something that simply didn't 'fit' well with usage in the new context (like the example Steve gives). This is certainly true of many words that are now part of English, and yes, it makes purists wince unless the adoption is so ancient that everyone has forgotten it. If we want to get into it, we can always suppose that 'Terragen' is not directly from Latin but was imported whole from some Latin-derived language.
What do our linguists think of this?
Stephen