4

Which should I say?

These are two fine Homo sapiens.

or

These are two fine Homines sapientes.

(Assume I insist on using the Latin Homo sapiens in my sentence, for whatever reason. Edit to elaborate: For example, for ironic effect or humor or as one suggests, to demonstrate my erudition.)

There's a brief discussion of this matter here.

  • 4
    If you insist on using the Latin Homo sapiens, you'll be off-topic here. If you recognise that Homo sapiens is a scientifically accepted binomial, you'll fit in with the way scientists use the term: two examples of Homo sapiens and six of Gorilla gorilla gorilla. – Edwin Ashworth May 20 '14 at 20:53
  • Using the Latin plural might be stylistically justified in some non-academic contexts (e.g. to demonstrate your erudition in a blog post). – augurar May 21 '14 at 01:40

2 Answers2

4

You should say:

These are two fine examples of Homo sapiens.

Oldcat
  • 8,445
  • 21
  • 32
4

Never. If you really want to use Homo sapiens, you should say

One Homo sapiens
Two Homo sapiens
Three Homo sapiens
Four Homo sapiens
Too many Homo sapiens

This is the same for all species names. For example, you would say five Mus musculus or six Tribolium castaneum. As a general rule though, you just wouldn't. Even in scientific literature, you will tend to refer to the species by their common names, so four humans, five mice, six red flour beetles.

terdon
  • 21,559