And don't forget that scientific names are not all Latin - but they are always
"Latinised". Many names are Greek-derived or taken from other languages. An
example - just think of the generic name for the darter - Anhinga is a
Brazilian Indian name for the bird. One of my favourites is the Arabic
Abudefduf, the genus of the sergeant major damselfish (Aboo-deff-duff).
Hypsypops isn't bad either (hip-see-pops), a bright orange damselfish.
So we are pronouncing Latinised words that are often made up of several words
stuck together to make a descriptive name for the bird or fish or flower. As
student I learned scientific nomenclature among Americans and had to adapt my
pronunciation to suit Australian-English speakers. And sorry for the two fish
examples, I can think of fish genera much faster than birds.
As long as you make a decent stab at the name and think Latin-ish (the root of
all the romance languages) you should be able to communicate.
Helen
<')/////==<
________________________________
From: Dave Torr <>
To: Terry Bishop <>
Cc: Birding Australia <>
Sent: Thu, 10 December, 2009 8:06:28
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Pronouncing latin names of Parrots correctly
Interesting that we seem to expect there to be one "correct" pronunciation
for Latin - yet Latin was spoken over a large area and I am sure that - like
most modern languages - there would have been regional variations in
pronunciation.
2009/12/10 Terry Bishop <>
> A lot depends on what state you come from. Each state has their own
> pronunciations on certain vowels in particular. It is easy to detect a
> Victorian who has just moved to Qld or a South Aussie. I say "tom-art-o"
> you
> say "tom-ato"
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of Syd Curtis
> Sent: Wednesday, 9 December 2009 7:05 PM
> To: John Graff; ; Birding-Aus
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Pronouncing latin names of Parrots correctly
>
>
> Apologies in advance for this bit of frivolity. And not even a parrot.
> :-(
>
> "Gerygone"
>
> Surely the "Australian" pronunciation should be "Jerry gone"?
>
> Cheers
>
>
> Syd
>
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