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For all of the people who have been pronouncing it the other way, do you also pronounce stimsoni, childreni, mcdowelli etc. like that or was it just this?
 
For all of the people who have been pronouncing it the other way, do you also pronounce stimsoni, childreni, mcdowelli etc. like that or was it just this?

Like that, LOL, but TBH, I don't think I've ever needed to mutter any of these words out aloud, so I don't feel that bad.
 
My understanding of this, gleaned from a book on botanical nomenclature many years ago, is that where names end in a single i “...i” the pronunciation is “ee”. Where names end in a double i “...ii” the pronunciation is “eye”.

Where the names of people or places are used in naming living things, these names are latinised first, hence the endings. Latin, like French, ascribes gender to nouns. If the genus name has a gender, the specific epithet should be of the same gender. So some species endings have now been changed to tidy that up e.g. what was Dendrelaphis punctulata is now D. punctulatus.


AROD has included the pronunciation of many species and I checked half a dozen or more, starting with the Antaresia, and it utilises the above scheme.


FYI: It is not entirely clear cut. I know there are three general forms of Latin with differing pronunciations. Classic (also referred to as Italian) is what the ancient Romans used up until about the 2nd or 3rd century AD. The church developed its own form of Latin from that time on and this is called Ecclesiastical, while that spoken by academics and the like in Britain (based originally on a French scheme apparently) has changed as the English language has developed and is usually referred to as Modern Latin. This seems to have fallen into disuse in favour of Classical Latin. And of course the Christian churches still use Ecclesiastical Latin to a small degree. From memory, I believe there was a push at one stage to standardise the pronunciation in all binomial nomenclature (scientific names) to that of Classical Latin. I really cannot recall any details however.


Blue

 
How interesting, Blue. Looks like I stand corrected. Though everyone I know uses the convention I described
 
Pseudechis - pseudech(ess) or pseudech(eye)????

Can of worms = well and truly opened here.

I had always wondered about Tanami, especially given I have two of them and wanting to do a tour of the Tanami Desert/Road/Track.
 
Why would it be the second one? Pseudechis ends in s not i

Funnily enough, and maybe not in herp terms but some words ending in "is" sometimes have a silent "s".

Will try find an example....................................don't hold your breath.....;)

Illinois......chamois.......chassis. Not herp related i know.
 
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Funnily enough, and maybe not in herp terms but some words ending in "is" sometimes have a silent "s".

Will try find an example....................................don't hold your breath.....;)

Illinois......chamois.......chassis. Not herp related i know.

I still don't know how to say chamois, I just say shamwow :/
 
Funnily enough, and maybe not in herp terms but some words ending in "is" sometimes have a silent "s".

Will try find an example....................................don't hold your breath.....;)

Illinois......chamois.......chassis. Not herp related i know.

Haha oh right sorry. I think that only applies to English/French words, not Latin. I may be wrong though
 
Tanami is pronounced Tan-ah-my. Chamois is Shammy.

Aspidites ramsayi is named after Edward Ramsay. Isn't that pronounced ram-see-ee? Same with stimson-ee and children-ee? I always thought when it came to Latin one i was ee and ii was ee-ee.

I have heard bredli pronounce both ways, and so am very confused.
 
now that the latin pronunciation is made as clear as mud again, shall we talk greek (also utilised for binomials)?
 
So when people say they prefer the common name because the scientific names are too confusing then get shot down there is some truth to that statement.
 
bredli......bread -L - E

Pseudechis ...Sue - Deck- iss (like hiss)
 
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