2020-11-10
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด M - myriad
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Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง myriad = ‘MIR-ee-uhd’
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
s myriad a noun?: Usage Guide
Noun
Recent criticism of the use of myriad as a noun,
both in the plural form myriads and in the phrase a myriad of,
seems to reflect a mistaken belief that the word was originally
and is still properly only an adjective.
As the entries here show,
however, the noun is in fact the older form, dating to the 16th century.
The noun myriad has appeared in the works of such writers as Milton (plural myriads) and Thoreau (a myriad of), and it continues to occur frequently in reputable English.
There is no reason to avoid it.
Merriam-Webster DictionaryMerriam-Webster Dictionary
Did You Know?
Noun
In English, the "ten thousand" senseof myriad
mostly appears in references to Ancient Greece,
such as the following from English historian Connop Thirwall's History of Greece: "4000 men from Peloponnesus had fought at Thermopylae with 300 myriads."
More often, English speakers use myriad in the broad sense
—both as a singular noun ("a myriad of tiny particles")
and a plural noun ("myriads of tiny particles").
Myriad can also serve as an adjective meaning "innumerable" ("myriad particles").
While some usage commentators criticize the noun use, it's been firmly established in English since the 16th century, and in fact is about 200 years older than the adjective.
Myriad comes from Greek myrias, which in turn comes from myrioi, meaning "countless" or "ten thousand."
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Usage Notes
C'mon, Of Course 'Myriad' Is a Noun
Some say it's just an adjective, but we say no
We're not entirely sure who first decided that
myriad should not be used as a noun.
Somewhere along the way,
someone made the ruling that it is most properly an adjective,
but we are here to tell you that that is simply not true.
Myriad is a noun, and if anyone tells you otherwise, feel free to print this article and shove it in their very wrong hands.
One will occasionally find usage guides (professional and otherwise) specifying that myriad should not befollowed by an of,
which is another way of saying it's just an adjective.
The problems with this idea, however, are both historical and contemporary.
The earliest evidence we have for the word goes back to the middle of the 16th century, and at that time it existed solely as a noun.
As we haue sayde at the begynnynge, yowre holynes shall hereafter nooryshe many myriades of broodes of chekins vnder yowre wynges.
— Peter Martyr (trans. by R. Eden), The Decades of the Newe Worlde, 1555
The breaking of 300 earthen pottes, was a sclender pol|lycie to make so many Myriades to flee and one to kille another.
— John Aylmer, An Harborowe for Faithfull and Trewe Subjectes, 1559
The word does not begin to appear in any adjectival sense until the 18th century, almost 150 years after when it was first recorded as a noun. And at this late stage myriad only takes on this new part of speech due to the poets getting their filthy paws on it (poets have been messing with words and their meanings for many centuries).
At Chiari too
Out brave the Foe
Afraid, unlike Gaul’s valiant Host,
By Myriad-Heaps below to post;
Or e’re retreat from Oglio!
— Joseph Harris, Leighton-Stone-Air, 1702
Nought, Nought exempt; the myriad minim Race
Inscrutable amid th’ etherial Space….
— Henry Brooke, Universal Beauty, 1735
This is not simply a matter of us scouring through our dusty files in order to be contrarian.
Myriad has been commonly used as a noun for almost five hundred years.
Since that Easter time a great change had come over the prospects of Florence; and as in the tree that bears a myriad of blossoms, each single bud with its fruit is dependent on the primary circulation of the sap, so the fortunes of Tito and Romola were dependent on certain grand political and social conditions which made an epoch in the history of Italy.
— George Eliot, Romola, 1863
The walls are sweetly melancholy with prints of a past voluptuousness. A myriad of tiny glass pendants impale the atmosphere on their darting points.
— Djuna Barnes, Two Ladies Take Tea, 1923
The guard's interest in them was limited to scrutinising their faces and reactions. Not quite sure, he decided to take up a position where he was, covering the length of the corridor and the myriad of doors.
— Eddie Iroh, The Siren in the Night, 1982
Everyone is, of course, entitled to be passionate about language, and to nourish a personal stable of pet peeves and linguistic grudges.
However, as language professionals, we are obligated to point out that if ‘MYRIAD CAN ONLY BE AN ADJECTIVE!!!’ is the hill that you have chosen to die on….you might want to look for a bigger hill.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
Usage Note:
Throughout most of its history in English
myriad was used as a noun, as in a myriad of reasons. In the 1800s,
it began to be used in poetry as an adjective, as in myriad dreams.
Both usages in English are acceptable,
as in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Myriad myriads of lives."
This poetic, adjectival use became so well entrenched generally that many people came to consider it as the only correct use.
In fact, however, both uses are acceptable today.
Common Errors In English Usage Dictionary
Myriad
Some traditionalists object to the word “of” after “myriad”
or an “a” before, though both are fairly common in formal writing.
The word is originally Greek, meaning 10,000,
but now usually means “a great many.”
Its main function is as a noun, and the adjective derived from it shows its origins by being reluctant to behave like other nouns expressing amount, like “ton”
as in “I’ve got a ton of work to do.”
In contrast: “I have myriad tasks to complete at work.”
