Minutia(e)?

[Barbara Yanez <BarbaraYanez -at- cogentsystems -dot- com>]

Hello all:
 
I have looked this up in the dictionary, as well as on some industry-leader
sites on the web, so as to gain an understanding of what the industry
leaders are doing, and now I am even more confused.
 
In biometric terminology, we speak of "minutiae" as the points on the
fingerprint image that the computer reads which allow it to determine the
identity of the individual (subject to the review of a fingerprint
examiner). The software reads minutiae such as the delta, core, and other
markers, plots them on a scatter diagram, and "decides" if the print is a
match or not a match.
 
Here is my dilemma. Strictly speaking, the singular form is "minutia" and
the plural form is "minutiae." However, in the documentation of the industry
leaders in the field (i.e., the FBI and its associated sites) I see the form
"minutia" used to refer to the plural at least as often as the form
"minutiae." For a long time we went round and round on this here at Cogent.
After a time, even though Chicago Manual of Style indicates that, "writers
should not feel compelled to change spellings that are accepted within an
industry, though they may be non-standard in general usage..." (examples:
"instalment" versus "installment" in the banking field; etc.), for sake of
ease, I made an administrative decision here at Cogent to follow the
convention of using "minutiae" for plural and "minutia" for singular forms.
Which lead to another dilemma.
 
What is I am referring to a specific minutia(e) point, or a minutia(e)
marker? Should I use the singular form or the plural form of "minutia(e)? My
confusion is that, I checked Webster's unabridged dictionary, and there it
states that "minutia(e) is only a noun - and not an adjective. It seems to
me, though, that in this usage, the word is being used as an adjective. It
is modifying "point" or "marker." 
 
If that is the case, extrapolating from other usage, I reasoned that, when a
noun-turned-adjective is modifying a noun in English, we generally use the
singular form. Example: necklace holder, compact disk case, etc., (as
opposed to "necklaces holder" or "compact disks case.")  - So that my
thinking is that if the word is used as an adjective, as in the expression
"minutia point" or "minutia marker," then the singular form should be used.
However, I am not sure if, strictly speaking "minutia(e)" can be a noun,
because Webster's seems to think it cannot be. 
 
Am I stretching the usage of this word to make it an adjective? Can I do
that? And if I do, shouldn't I use the singular and not the plural form? 
 
Any advice? Thanks!
 
Barbara Yanez - who is now hopelessly confused after having gone round and
round on the schools of thought here...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Barbara Yanez
Manager-Documentation
Cogent Systems, Inc.
209 Fair Oaks Ave.
South Pasadena, CA  91030
(626) 799-8090 x419
byanez -at- cogentsystems -dot- com
www.cogentsystems.com 


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