Latin Names

[snakeluvver]

Pseudonaja actually means false cobra

And Tassie97 its An-tah-ree-zee-ah strange what you can find with a simple google search

 

[fugawi]

Yeah....Thats right....False Cobra........sorry. Just going on memory.........new it meant something like that. Interesting though. When they named it they thought it was a cobra.

 

[saximus]

If the name translates to "false cobra" how does that mean they thought it was a cobra? Wouldn't that indicate the exact opposite?

 

[hrafna]

If the name translates to "false cobra" how does that mean they thought it was a cobra? Wouldn't that indicate the exact opposite?

maybe the first person to come across it thought it was a cobra until their mate came along and said "no hood, no spitting, doesn't dance to music. nope it isn't a cobra! it must be a false cobra!"

 

[sookie]

Steve1 that is a heaps good idea,so everytime you take a pic you have to put it in the right folder with latin names.now if only i could get pics from my phone etc to my computer.

 

[dihsmaj]

maybe the first person to come across it thought it was a cobra until their mate came along and said "no hood, no spitting, doesn't dance to music. nope it isn't a cobra! it must be a false cobra!"

The threat display of the Pseudonaja genus... Their neck sort of raises... They 'display'.

 

[GeckPhotographer]

With the scientific names there are certain rules for pronunciation based on their Latin origins. You can google pronouncing Latin names and that will help. Just to slightly correct an example given. A name ending in a single “i” is pronounced “ee”; a name ending in “ii” is pronounced “ee-eye”. The ending “ae” is pronounced as you wound say the letter “a”. A regular pain in the cloaca! But as Jonno suggested, the best way to learn them is to try and use them as often as practical.

So you are suggesting things like C.coggeri should be pronounced cog-er-ee instead of cog-er-eye? I disagree, in fact with a quick flip through my rep book found 5 or 6 species like that I disagree with and non I agree with. With double "ii" there is also no "ee" before the "eye". Using a frog this time L.peronii is not pe-ron-ee-eye it is pe-ron-eye.

 

[Snakeluvver2]

I think it matters what is behind those letters as well.

 

[Waterrat]

Actually, none of the English speaking scientists / people are pronouncing Latin names correctly. It's been Americanized to buggery but it doesn't matter, it's a dead language and as long as the written version is spelled correctly, it will have to do. Listening to some European presenters at international conferences, one wouldn't know what the hack they're talking about. You just go with the flow. By the way, not all scientific names are from Latin, many are Greek.

 

[Snakeluvver2]

Thought so! It's like the language of music.

 

[Waterrat]

Thought so! It's like the language of music.

Nowhere near as sweet.

 

[silverback]

By the way, not all scientific names are from Latin, many are Greek.

i was reading with interest all the pseudo-academics giving advice, and waiting for someone to point out that scientific binomial names at best could be described as "latinized". many if not most, are corruptions of latin, greek and other words, and merely because they are used in a "scientific" context, does not infer they are latin. often the species name, such as amyae,(named after amy couper ) is only a latinized form of amy to comply with the rules for nomenclature, not a latin word.

 

[GeckPhotographer]

Not to mention the ones from aboriginal, those named after people and those that people thought would be funny. (A snake was described as Somethingorother montypythonoides the name did not stay, possibly a junior synonym but the point is many names come from many places.

Edit: the somethingorother part is just me forgetting what the genus really was.

 

[Snakeluvver2]

Is there a website that can "translate" scientific names.

 

[silverback]

my favourite binomial name is Cyrtodactylus gordongekkoi !!!!

 

[snakeluvver]

If the name translates to "false cobra" how does that mean they thought it was a cobra? Wouldn't that indicate the exact opposite?

I think it means it looks similar to a cobra but its not one.

 

[Waterrat]

i was reading with interest all the pseudo-academics giving advice, and waiting for someone to point out that scientific binomial names at best could be described as "latinized". many if not most, are corruptions of latin, greek and other words, and merely because they are used in a "scientific" context, does not infer they are latin. often the species name, such as amyae,(named after amy couper ) is only a latinized form of amy to comply with the rules for nomenclature, not a latin word.

Well, I know one fellow in Melbourne who is an expert on latinizing. .... Hoserae - rings a bellii?