Questions tagged [scientific-names]
For questions related to scientific names of species and other taxonomic uses of Latin.
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What does "arcularia" mean in the species name "Nassarius arcularia"?
I encountered the species name Nassarius arcularia and I'm very confused about its construction.
Per Wikipedia, this name refers to a species of "nassa mud snails" or "dog whelks". ...
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What does "Turritopsis dohrnii" mean?
Turritopsis dohrnii is the binomial name of the immortal jellyfish.
I know that those names are often only inspired by Latin and Greek so I was not wondering about the literal meaning but about the ...
user10176
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Latin scientific phrase for during, outside, non and never intervention [closed]
What is a scientific way of saying, in Latin,
During Intervention
Outside of Intervention
Never received Intervention.
Missing Intervention.
Thanks in advance.
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What is the gender and singular declension of the scientific Latin suffix -idae?
The scientific suffix -idae is used to form names of subclasses of plants or families of animals, e.g. Bovidae. In scientific writing (in English and German), the resulting words are treated as plural ...
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Correct formation of a fictitious scientific name
A few years ago, I asked for, and received help with, the construction of a fictitious name for a fictitious species. This question is similar. Again, I'm writing a story, this time involving locusts. ...
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What's bigfoot in latin?
For a book (let's say on cryptozoology) I need to come up with a scientific name for bigfoot. I'm thinking of using a literal translation of bigfoot for the genus. As typical in scientific naming, the ...
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Are the amynodontidae being slandered?
Wikipedia says that the name of this extinct family of rhino-like animals means "threatening tooth," referencing this page, but that page actually says "Greek: to ward off/threaten (...
user3597
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What's the meaning of onava?
This question is derived from another one posted in the Spanish Language site.
In the original question OP was asking about the meaning of the word onava.
We have not been able to find such word in ...
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What does the Latin name Vectaerovenator inopinatus of the new dinosaur mean?
I just saw in the news that a new dinosaur species was discovered and its scientific name is Vectaerovenator inopinatus.
What exactly does this name actually mean as a Latin word?
How should I parse ...
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A good book on Scientific Latin?
May I request someone to suggest a good book on Scientific Latin? I am looking for a good book on Scientific Latin with emphasis on naming fauna and flora and the grammar of nomenclature. I would ...
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What does the f. adjective "tulda" mean?
In the scientific name Bambusa tulda, I would like to know what tulda (tuldus?) means.
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Where does the word "thlypis"/θλυπις come from?
A number of New World warblers seem to have genus names that end in the element -thlypis. It's been hard for me to find information about the etymology of this element; I found a few sources on the ...
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Meaning of phellos in the epithet for Quercus phellos, the biological/scientific name for the willow oak?
What is the meaning of phellos in the epithet for Quercus phellos, the biological/scientific name for the willow oak? I've tried some obvious resources, but after 50 years in clinical medicine and ...
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Latin for "Teaching man"
How would you say "teaching man" in Latin, in the same way as "homo sapiens" (thinking man) or "homo economicus" (economic man)? It would be for an essay discussing modern education and the role of a ...
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On Julius Caesar and salmon
I saw a TV documentary today which claimed that salmon was named in Latin by Julius Caesar.
It was a side remark, but the narrator elaborated that he saw this fish in Gaul and gave it its name due to ...
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How can I construct a correctly formed fictitious-species name
I'm writing a story in which I want to use a correctly-formed, binomial (Genus species) Latin name for a fictitious species of vampire bat. I want the name to mean "teeth of death", or something very ...
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Can there be double diminutives in Latin?
I've been reading some Latin of the 17th and 18th centuries and am wondering if it is possible for there to be "double diminutives." As I understand it, the word "cerebellum" (Oxford Latin = "brain") ...
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Why hippopotamus instead of potamohippus?
Judging by this dictionary entry for hippopotamus, the Romans knew this animal and used the name we currently use in English.
This word has an obviously Greek origin: hippos is a horse and potamos is ...
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Did the Romans have a definition for a species of organism?
In today's taxonomy animals, plants and other organisms are organized in species.
Defining a species is no simple task for modern biologists, but we have a fair understanding of what a species ...
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Deriving lactuca from lac
The word lactuca refers to lettuce, and Lactuca sativa is the scientific name.
Some of the plants in this genus seem to contain some kind of milky liquid which must be the reason for deriving the word ...
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Is llama lama or glama?
I went to a zoo today, and I noticed that the scientific name of llama is Lama glama.
It seems to me that both lama and glama are latinized versions of "llama".
Why were two different versions of the ...
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Beaver and Pollux?
Castor and Pollux are famous mythological twins.
Castor is also the genus of beavers.
This makes me wonder two things:
Are these two Castors related in any way?
Was this double meaning observed in ...
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Examples of species whose Latin and scientific names are different
Biologists have given scientific names to many species, and these names are in Latin.
A fraction of all named species was also known in ancient Rome (and medieval Europe), and they had a Latin name as ...
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