Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2020 December 27

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December 27

Millenniums or millennia--or are both correct?

If I want to write, for instance: "Before their expulsion from Anatolia in the early 1920s, the Anatolian Greeks had a millenniums-long presence in Anatolia" -- or "... had a millennia-long presence in Anatolia"? Or are both of these correct? Futurist110 (talk) 22:34, 27 December 2020 (UTC)

The 1979 Collins English Dictionary, for example (being the nearest to hand at this moment), gives "-nniums" and "-nnia" as alternatives. My personal preference would be for the latter, but that's probably a reflection of my formal Latin teaching back in the day. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.56.237 (talk) 23:13, 27 December 2020 (UTC)

Wiktionary, which I have always near my fingertips, also gives both. Google Books Ngram viewer shows a strong preference among book authors (or copy editors) for millenia millennia, at least since about 1970.  --Lambiam 00:08, 28 December 2020 (UTC)

Try searching for "millennia" instead. Seriously. Futurist110 (talk) 01:20, 28 December 2020 (UTC)

That is what I searched for, as you can see if you follow the link.  --Lambiam 12:55, 28 December 2020 (UTC)

Yep; gotcha! Futurist110 (talk) 01:34, 30 December 2020 (UTC)

I sincerely hope not. Not millenia [sic] at any rate. That's just a bad spelling of the US First Lady's name. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 00:23, 28 December 2020 (UTC)

LOL! Millenia Pump! ;) Futurist110 (talk) 01:34, 30 December 2020 (UTC)

Regardless of which plural form is "correct", I find "millennia-long" rather awkward and artificial, as I would with "years-long" etc. I'd prefer a more straightforward expression such as "a presence lasting several millennia" (where "several" could be replaced by something more precise). AndrewWTaylor (talk) 10:27, 28 December 2020 (UTC)

Oof, hardly. I don't think -ums is quite wrong, but it certainly feels wrong in that sentence. To me it would feel natural to compare two -ums, but refer only to the passage of -ia. Even if neither can be quite exactly wrong. Temerarius (talk) 06:17, 29 December 2020 (UTC)