FROM THE PAST - OCTIPOS

C. Rafinesque (1783-1840) reported this creature.  He said it was seen in the Atlantic in 1818.  It had 8 gills, its head was 2' in length and its body 56'.  Presumably, with a name such as that, it had eight feet.

Rafinesque

Rafinesque himself was a somewhat extraordinary character, self-educated, fluent in Greek and Latin.  There is some suspicion that he forged the Wallum Olum which claimed to be a traditional record of the Delaware Indians.  

Turning from the Octipos to the Octopus, this his a word that causes confusion in English when it comes to pluralizing it.  The plural should be octopuses or octopodes (4 syllables), but not octopi.  This is because it comes from Greek, not Latin.

For the same reason, the correct plural of Hippopotamus is Hippopotamuses and that of Rhinoceros is Rhinoceroses.