DEL2@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk (03/13/90)
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.