Just got an edit in which my “indexes” — referring to the indexes at the backs of books — was changed to “indices.” I promptly changed it back.
I don’t feel that strongly about this (the forcefulness of this post’s title is mild hyperbole), but I prefer to follow the English “-es” plural over the Latinate versions when possible. Sometimes only the Latin form may be common, and sometimes I’m just so used to the Latin version (consider “matrices,” which is much more common than “matrixes,” and I’ve thus heard mostly the former and rarely the latter). But when the two forms are equally common, I like to stick with English idiom.
I realize that some people will think that I don’t know the Latin version, but I can afford to live with that. Nothing wrong with “indices,” mind you (though my sense is that it’s more common for the plural of a mathematical index than for the plural of a book index); but when in doubt, I try to avoid the Latinate.
The same journal, by the way, suggested that I change “ubermensches” to “ubermenschen” (though that might have been a bit of pedantic humor). No dice, Kameraden.
By the way, “octopi” as a plural of “octopus” appears to have originated from a misunderstanding of the word’s etymology (see the Oxford English Dictionary folks’ comment on this), except to the extent that it has simply been a bit of a joke. It’s quite acceptable English now, but I bristle at it, and prefer “octopuses,” if only to annoy the octopi fans.
UPDATE: Reader Dave Neumann writes that the American Society of Indexers uses “indexes.” He adds: “This usage also surprised me when I started working on a Masters degree in Library Science. I come from an engineering background where ‘indices’ is indeed more often used. You’re right about that being more common usage in mathematics.”
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