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There are some non-published works that I am reading that were written by a professor, so I do not feel I can discount his claims out-of-hand. However, he uses a term I have never read and can find no reference online for.

In this other question, the focus in on whether one can use "et al." (as in Smith et al.) when there is only one additional author (as in, Smith and Jones). That is not really my question.

The professor in my situation use "et ali" meaning "and one other." Now, as I read here, in Latin "et alii" is masculine plural, "et aliae" is feminine plural, and "et alia" is neuter plural. However, these are all plural. What about singular, meaning "and another?"

Searching for this is difficult because search results for "et ali" often bring back French results of "Moi et Ali" since Ali is a common name in some areas.

Any insights about what is technically right here?

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    et ali has no currency. I think your "professor" has some weird ideas, and if he's seriously advancing that neologism (to indicate a single unspecified collaborator, rather than just naming the collaborator) I'd be skeptical about the value of anything else he said.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jul 4 at 11:16
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    The singular is alius, alia, aliud (masc, fem, neuter). That much is a Latin question (but probably too basic for Latin SE). Proving nobody else uses et ali is harder, but they shouldn't.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jul 4 at 11:34
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    The usual style advice is to name both authors etc if there are just two.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 4 at 14:49
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    @StuartF I think your comment answers the question. So, "ali" is not actually Latin for "and another" because that would be "alius" or "alia" or "aliud" depending on gender. Thanks!
    – John
    Commented Jul 5 at 12:37
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    There comes a point where idiomaticity trumps 'technical correctness', as Gricean maxims and especially Orwell (sixth law) attest. Not using (in technical writing) the style chosen by the institution under whose aegis one is writing etc would be seen as 'improper' and rejected. Novel words (including D-I-Y Latinate constructs) are unacceptable (unless one is offering a stipulative definition for a new concept/product etc).
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 5 at 14:26

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To collate the comments into an actual answer: No, this is neither a common convention nor valid Latin. Perhaps the professor is using et ali consciously and according to some personal scheme. Occam's razor suggests that it's more likely a mistake. You said these were unpublished works, so perhaps not exhaustively proofread. If you think it worthwhile you might ask him about it, and will either learn his unique rationale or have done him a favor by catching a typo.

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The declension of alius is available from Wiktionary. In no person, case, or number is it *ali.

In plural number, alii may be masculine nominative or masculine vocative, so the use in et alii is probably nominative. The corresponding singular forms are alius, alia, and aliud for masculine, feminine, and neuter, respectively.

So no, it's not proper.

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  • Usage governs acceptability. This often does not correspond with the niceties of derivation, especially in a foreign language.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 6 at 11:59
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    @EdwinAshworth sure, if some critical mass of English speakers were using "et ali" then at some point it would become correct. But I don't see any evidence that this has happened or is even in the process of happening. For my money, the best approach is to recognize that because the abbreviation al. omits the declension, it hides information about gender and number and is therefore correct regardless. If someone wants to expand the abbreviation, they probably want to do it correctly according to Latin grammar. But if there's only one other author, "Smith and Jones" is probably better.
    – phoog
    Commented Jul 6 at 12:08
  • I'm saying I don't see the relevance of 'applying correct Latin rules' on ELU when none of the resulting forms is standard in English.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 6 at 13:49

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