Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!netnews.upenn.edu!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!cert.sei.cmu.edu!krvw
From: DEL2@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Origins of Virus
Message-ID: <0001.9003151947.AA01476@ubu.cert.sei.cmu.edu>
Date: 13 Mar 90 13:58:40 GMT
Sender: Virus Discussion List <VIRUS-L@IBM1.CC.Lehigh.EDU>
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Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu

My OED and Lewis & Short agree that "virus" is a perfectly good Latin
word, meaning "slime", "poison", "venom" &c, and taken over into
English with all these meanings at least as early as 16th Century.

Perfectly straightforward second declension (like "dominus"), so
genitive and plural are "viri".

Regards, Douglas de Lacey.