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Hi, I am a Dark Angels player and I just want to know do I need to buy a Space Marine Codex as well as a Dark Angels Codex

No.

And the plural of codex is codices.

Thanks that solves alot for both the problems

 Ailaros wrote:
No.

And the plural of codex is codices.

Unless you are working for GW then it is Codexes. /shrug

You don't really expect GW to spell correctly now do you?

At least they spell colour correctly.

 DeathReaper wrote:

 Ailaros wrote:
No.

And the plural of codex is codices.

Unless you are working for GW then it is Codexes. /shrug

The singular for dice is a die, but GW always refer to a single die as a dice.

And now I've said dice so many times in my head the word sounds dumb.

And the singular of alumina is aluminum, but that didn't stop them either.

Davor wrote:You don't really expect GW to spell correctly now do you?

It's a bit of a grey area. For 'borrowed' words ending in 'ex' the correct plural is '-ices'... but in English it would just have an 'es' slapped on the end. So the correct plural really just comes down to whether or not you consider 'Codex' to be a borrowed word. In everyday English it would be, but in the context of the 40K game, where 'Codex' is just a name for an army book, it could be considered a name rather than a borrowed word, in which case 'Codexes' is perfectly acceptable and is in fact more correct than 'Codices'...

-Loki- wrote:The singular for dice is a die, but GW always refer to a single die as a dice.

The singular for 'dice' used to be 'die'... but these days in common usage 'dice' is acceptable as both singular and plural. 'Die' has largely fallen into disuse.

insaniak wrote:'Die' has largely fallen into disuse.

[citation needed]

 Ailaros wrote:
No.

And the plural of codex is codices.

Maybe GW doesn't employ anyone that went to Eton and studied Latin?

 Ailaros wrote:

insaniak wrote:'Die' has largely fallen into disuse.

[citation needed]

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/die--2

In modern standard English, the singular die (rather than dice) is uncommon. Dice is used for both the singular and the plural.

 insaniak wrote:

 Ailaros wrote:

insaniak wrote:'Die' has largely fallen into disuse.

[citation needed]

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/die--2

In modern standard English, the singular die (rather than dice) is uncommon. Dice is used for both the singular and the plural.

That thar is the Queen's English. Here in 'Murrica we use Mr. Webster's English. = die = dice.

Games Workshop are an English company. Thus they write in English.

Which is basically what I said. If Games Workshop was an American company, the proper usage would be die/ dice, because we follow Noah Webster's spelling rules. As members of the British Commonwealth, I expect the British, Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders (?) to use the Queen's English.

Thus, we do things differently, i.e. tire vs. tyre, aluminum vs.aluminium, tractor-trailer vs. articulated lorry, etc.

My previous wording was meant as humor, hence the .

Interestingly enough, the online Mirriam Webster, while defining the 'correct' singular as 'Die' like the Oxford, also lists 'Dice' as synonymous with 'Die', with the plural being Dice or Dices.


So while 'die' might be more common still in the US, 'dice' is still common enough for the dictionary to accept it.

That is interesting, but not surprising. We do a lot of non-standard things. Still, most everyone I've known in the US still uses die / dice. I've only heard dice as singular among the younger gamers, and I suspect they're getting it from their rulebook's usage.

Heh. If you want to watch a grammar nazi go nuts, just tell them that "ain't" is a proper word (although some dictionaries do include that term nowadays).

Snapshot wrote:

 Ailaros wrote:
No.

And the plural of codex is codices.

Maybe GW doesn't employ anyone that went to Eton and studied Latin?

GW rules aren't written in Latin, they're written in English.

Yes, but just like "virus", "codex" was directly borrowed from Latin, and used to follow the Latin rules for plural forms. Which is why some old-fashioned diehards still say the proper plural of virus is virii, not viruses.

BairdEC wrote:
Which is why some old-fashioned diehards still say the proper plural of virus is virii, not viruses.

That's nothing to do with being old-fashioned, and simply based on a misunderstanding of the word's etymology. There is no Latin plural of 'virus'. English took a word that originally applied to a group and turned it into a singular noun... and so the plural is purely an English creation.

 insaniak wrote:
Interestingly enough, the online Mirriam Webster, while defining the 'correct' singular as 'Die' like the Oxford, also lists 'Dice' as synonymous with 'Die', with the plural being Dice or Dices.


So while 'die' might be more common still in the US, 'dice' is still common enough for the dictionary to accept it.

Dices... really?
Bad enough that it has seemingly given up and dumbed itself down a bit.

 n0t_u wrote:

 insaniak wrote:
Interestingly enough, the online Mirriam Webster, while defining the 'correct' singular as 'Die' like the Oxford, also lists 'Dice' as synonymous with 'Die', with the plural being Dice or Dices.


So while 'die' might be more common still in the US, 'dice' is still common enough for the dictionary to accept it.

Dices... really?
Bad enough that it has seemingly given up and dumbed itself down a bit.

I like that it's essentially the plural form of a word that is already a plural noun...

Oh Merica.

awesome discussion btw

i'm of the die and codices for plural version and dice, codex for the singular tho i understand that as language developes and changes dice is now also very much like sheep lol, plural and singular.

a lot of words are dissapearingg and changing. I used the word cobbler a little bit back and i was met with puzzeled looks by my peers...and i was like wtf? you don't know what a cobbler is? damn

so i guess what i'm tryign to say is that correct english...is well, very subjective and i don't think it's a static thing more fluid and constantly changeing, so whats right today will be non existent tomorrow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex

Try looking up the plural of Octopus for example.

 Rogues Gambit wrote:

i'm of the die and codices for plural version and dice, codex for the singular

I think you have that backwards for the dice...

 Skinnereal wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex

Try looking up the plural of Octopus for example.

Octopussies?

Lansirill wrote:

 Skinnereal wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex

Try looking up the plural of Octopus for example.

Octopussies?

There are literally thousands of exceptions because English is a "Bastard Language" (correct term) because it is made of so many other languages, Celtic, Anglo-saxon, Latin, Norse, French and lots of others.

Getting on your high horse about things like the plural of Hippopotamus, or the plural of Tortoise or if "Ain't" is a word, is just individuals trying to be superior. Any Professor of Language worth his salt understands that language is alive, not static or dead (the exception being Latin ) alot of this is just diverging language like the entymology of the word "Ghost" or the loss of the spelling "Gheese" (both from Flemish type setters) or the loss of the spelling of "Rhubarb" to "Rubarb" . Or the term "Det" for money owed, taken from Norman French which was changed in the 14th Century to "Debt" in line with dēbitum (latin).

There is no real right or wrong, because the language continually evolves, it is only right at this particular point in time. The Great Bard himself invented alot of Words, and more recently we now have the term "Amazeballs".

As my English teacher used to say if some one is uptight about this ask them "What is the Plural of Anus?" Only the densest individuals won't get what you are driving at .

EDIT - Or should that be Axe them?

We had to study this at school.

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Magnificent-Bastard-Tongue-History/dp/1592404944

I really could care less what the proper form is, but when I refer to more than one codex, I use codexes.

"Can you grab my codexes?"
"Those codexes are lame"

Couldn't care less.

 Locclo wrote:

I like that it's essentially the plural form of a word that is already a plural noun...

Oh Merica.

There are plenty of those, or were you not aware that you can stick an "s" on the end of "people"?

An Englishman, Australian and a American were judging the same spelling contest...