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Words...
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by Hellemar on August 30, 2005
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Hi...
Words... They are really making me go nuts today... I´m very interested in different languages and for all my spieces I´ve check where their scientific names comes from and what they means...
But I can´t find any information about Aspidelaps lubricus infuscatus.
Actually, I belive that "lubricus" is latin and means "slippery".
So if you knows where "Aspidelaps" comes from and what it means I would be happy, and if you also knows where "infuscatus" comes from and means it would be great !
I suppose that "Aspidelaps" has something to do with the Greek word "aspis" (adder)...
Henke :)
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by Cro on August 30, 2005
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Henrik: This might help some.
aspido-, aspid- (Greek: shield; one who is armed with a shield), thus the common name Shield Nosed Cobra.
Late Greek elaps, elap-, fish, variant of Greek ellops, was later used for Coral Snakes and Elapid, elaps is From New Latin Elapidae, family name, thus the other common name Coral Cobra.
infuscatus- darkened
Best Regards JohnZ
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by bush_viper17 on August 31, 2005
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I found out something today. I have been mis-pronouncing Anole(green anole) I used to pronounce it like Anol with the E silent but I recently found out that it is pronounced An ol ee. This has nothing to do with your question but I just wanted to post it here for people to see instead of starting another thread.
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by earthguy on August 31, 2005
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That sort of thing happens A LOT. Especially if you are self taught (as many of us are). Often times there are differences in pronounciation from region to region in both common terms (think pecan- is it pee-can or pe-caun) and scientific terms (think Elodia - is it el-o-dee-a or Elow-dya). There is no shame in pronouncing something a little differently- as long as the meaning is conveyed. By the way- does anyone know of a good book where all of the Latin/Greek terms that are common to science have been compiled in an easy to read format? For example: I know that Agkistrodon piscivorous (which I pronounce very differently from other people that I know :) )means "Hook toothed fish eater. I would like to look up othernames as I run across them. John, where did you get your info? Thanks fellas. Keep up the good work!
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by bush_viper17 on August 31, 2005
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I know that the genus Lachesis(bushmasters) is pronounced Lack uh sis. I used to prounounce it Lacheesus. Sometimes you can look up the words in the encyclopedia and they will have the pronunciation. Thats how I found out about Lachesis.
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by Cro on August 31, 2005
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Joshua: I have a couple of good books on the origin of Latin and Greek names, but both are long out of print and very difficult to find.
There is a very large and interesting web site that has an index where you can seach the origin of many Latin and Greek names. Just remember that many Scientific names are made up of a combination of two or three different Greek or Latin words, so you have to break up the name into sections or sylables, and research each part of the name, and then combine them, and try to decide what the taxonomist had in mind, and use some logic for the total meaning. Whole words are not often found, it is usually just part of a word. Even then, they can be very confusing, as some scientific names describe a very small feature or behavior of an animal, which is not always apparent in the appearence of the animal, but reflected maybee in morphology, or scale arrangement, or in bone structure, or tooth structure.
Scientist also have often used honorariums, naming animals after their friends or mentors or wifes, thus Agkistrodon p. conanti after Roger Conant, but you will never find conanti in a Latin or Greek book.
One funny example of this I know of is a Butterfly Pea found on the Georgia coast. It has this red pink double lobed flower that resembles................ Well, just let me say that the scientific name is Clitoria mariana, and the botanist who first described it probably had a girl friend or wife named mariana! I will let you figgure out the rest!
Check out the site and let me know what you think.
http://wordquests.info/cgi/ice2-for.cgi?BUILDINDEX=1&letter=A
Best Regards
JohnZ
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by earthguy on September 2, 2005
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John,
Cool site. I prefer, though, the things that people used to make- way back in the stone age. What were they called again? Oh, yeah! Books. Sorry for the sarcasm. It really is a cool site. I was just hoping that somebody out there had taken the time to write a book (you know, books don't require electricity, a phoneline, internet connection, or computer) to help us hapless students of knowlege out. What are the titles/ISBNs of the books that you mentioned? Are they good? One really good thing about the internet is that you can find ANYTHING for sale. Even ancient tombs of knowledge.
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by Cro on September 2, 2005
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Joshua: Yea, I like those stone age books also!
You still might be able to find this one used on Amazon: (Reptiles-Their Latin Names Explanied) by A.F. Gotch. It is fun to read and very educational on how Scientific names are derived, but only covers select groups of reptiles.
Also, a Latin-English dictionary and even a high school Latin text can be quite useful.
I have another very old, out of print book on this subject, that is quite good, but cant`seem to find where it is hiding at the moment. It probably jumped into a box of magazines or something. When it turns up, I will post the name.
Best Regards JohnZ
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by Cro on September 2, 2005
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Here is another one to look for on Amazon, but it costs about $50.00. Perhaps your school library has a copy you can access.
Dictionary of word roots and combining forms: Compiled from the Greek, Latin and other languages : with special reference to biological terms and scientific names
JohnZ
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