Talk:metropolis

I am curious as to why metropoleis is noted as pertaining to Ancient Greece. Certainly it should be noted as uncommon, but I think the quotes provided do evidence usage in a non-Greek sense. Atelaes 02:28, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Yes, in the second sense here. Stephen G. Brown, even when directed by me unto this evidence, reverted me nonetheless. Judging the speed from which he did so, I doubt he even looked at the evidence. I shall revert him now. † Raifʻhār Doremítzwr 02:35, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Things have changed in the time I wrote the above message. He has changed the tag unto rarely. I would not say that it is that rare. † Raifʻhār Doremítzwr 02:38, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Stephen. Atelaes 02:57, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Indeed, but I think it is rare. I don't think any more than a very small handful of English speakers are aware of what an inflected language is, much less that Greek is inflected, very much less how to decline a proparoxytonal third declension noun with front closed vowel contraction. I've never heard it in speech before in my life. While you've admirably proven that it is in use, I think it unlikely that you're going to convince anyone that it's in common use. Atelaes 04:23, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

That is a mostly fair view; however, it is not necessary to know that arcane declension pattern (if asked, I would say that I do not), only to follow the rationale that as polis forms its plural as poleis, then so should all words formed with the -polis suffix (the cited author at metropolises used that very rationale for using metropoleis). Though metropoleis is uncommmon, I do not think that it is so uncommon as to be considered rare. A comparison with metropoli using Google Book Search is in order, I believe; however, as searching for metropoli leads to results clouded by hyphenated metropoli-tan hits, the task is a time-consuming one. Which means I am the only one who is going to do it. † Raifʻhār Doremítzwr 12:12, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Gender of Latin "metropolis"

It says there that "metropolis" is masculine. Is that correct? In my native language, Spanish, it is feminine, so would it not also be feminine in Latin? AndyTheProfessor (talk) 21:43, 13 October 2015 (UTC)

Well, genders can change (f.ex. 2nd declension feminines like dialectus and paragraphus often became masculine in Romance languages and in German and sometimes also in Medieval or New Latin), but:

• Dictionaries state that metropolis is feminine - and I didn't see any exception like some dictionaries stating it's feminine while some others state it's masculine or neuter
• The Greek origin of metropolis is feminine
• Some descendants are feminine (as in French, Spanish, German)
• Some related terms are feminine like -polis as well as mater (mother; mother-city) and urbs (city) - but caput (head; capital [city]) is neuter

So masculine gender likely was just an error. -84.161.18.82 21:40, 30 May 2017 (UTC)

English plural : "metropoles"

For the English plural "metropoles" is also used, no? —DIV (120.17.219.74 10:09, 7 July 2017 (UTC))