Larry, Dick, and Bill,
I have to agree with the formal treatment of this macaronic noun phrase. "Pro tempore" is and functions as a postnominal prepositional phrase. Neither in English nor in Latin does a noun in a prepositional phrase postmodifying a noun agree with the head noun in number, or, in Latin, in gender or case. "Chair pro tempores" would bring me up short simply because of the odd use of the gender-neutral "chair" in this title. "Chairmen pro tempore" would give me no trouble at all in spite of the gender specificity many feel it to have. (I go with the etymology, which is not gender specific, but is also an instance of the etymological fallacy.)
Herb
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From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dick Veit [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: December 18, 2009 3:11 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: plural of "Chair pro tempore"
Larry,
Wikipedia has an entry for "Presidents pro tempore of the United States<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidents_pro_tempore_of_the_United_States_Senate,_1911-1913>." I would bet good money that the overwhelming majority of academics would favor "chairs pro tempore." If you went with that, perhaps a few might consider it highfalutin. If you went with "president pro tempores," more than a few would consider it ignorant.
Dick Veit
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Larry Beason
Sent: Fri 12/18/2009 1:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: plural of "Chair pro tempore"
Dear Colleagues:
Before my school inscribes a phrase (literally to be set in stone) onto our new bell tower, they want to check the plural form of "Chair pro tempore."
According to general convention of how to form plural with titles, I would assume the major term/noun should receive the pluralization marker (thus, "chairs pro tempore"), as done with "Queens of England" or "mothers-in-law".
But the Latin phrase muddles the issue. Looking at various documents on the web and how they create the plurals of "pro tempore," I'm seeing far more uses of "chair pro tempores" (not to mention a handful of "chairs pros tempore").
Does anyone have any insight on this matter? I don't think it's so much a matter of Latin rules as it is a matter of conventions for English terms that hijack Latin. The last time I dealt with such a construction and question, I recommended we the follow the convention that most colleges follow (I've forgotten the term in question before).
Larry
Larry Beason
Associate Professor & Composition Director
Dept. of English, 240 HUMB
Univ. of South Alabama
Mobile AL 36688
(251) 460-7861
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