Re: The millennial dinosaur

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/14/99 1:02:06 AM EST, qilongia@yahoo.com writes:

<< millenii > millenium, Lat. = one thousand [years];
         derived from a possessive where nouns ending
         in -um or -us are transformed to -i, but where
         also the word ends in -ium or -ius, the
         transformation is -ii, as the original "i"
         does not get altered; so = the millenium's;; >>

The problem is with the spelling: even in Latin the spelling is "millennium," 
not "millenium." Double n, not single n; the double n ultimately comes from 
"annum," for "year." But if we >just< want "one thousand," without the 
"years," then it's "mille" plus "eni," a distributive suffix (not year). 
Hence the confusion.