|
If only Dan Nicolson were around to answer this :)
On my *limited* knowledge, it is complicated by that fact that, although we call these "latin" names, they are really "botanical latin" which is a kind of bastardized multicultural fruit salad, and one generally cannot tell the gender of a generic name just by looking at it, unless you have specialist knowledge of the "language".
As a very very crude generalization, generic names are almost always nouns, usually feminine and tend to be from (or moulded into) greek, while species epithets are generally from latin and either nouns or adjectives. There are many many exceptions though. Some are drawn from mediaeval latinized names themselves drawn from other languages besides greek or latin. Some are drawn from words in modern languages which may or may not have any gender themselves: e.g. the palm Licuala. What happens as a rule to the gender as words are transposed from various languages into botanical latin is a bit beyond me, I'm afraid. Dan had a paper on it in Taxon in 1994 which I don't have.
Here's a few examples of things which I have found confusing at one time or another!
Genus names which commemorate people are nearly always feminine regardless of the gender of the person: Hence Bognera, but Hottarum is neuter because it is a portmanteau of Hotta and the neuter Arum.
Some generic names which "look" feminine are neuter - as for example Aglaonema and Cyrtosperma, mentioned before. Neuter by the way is a definite linguistic gender: it is not "neutral" in the sense of being able to take any gender ending of adjective. A neuter noun must have an adjective in neuter form: so Aglaonema commutatum. And as you have pointed out, some generic names which "look" latin masculine, like Prunus, are feminine.
Some adjectival species epithets are not latin: macrorrhizos is an example. It is greek, and both the feminine and masculine form of this adjective are spelled the same way: Hence Alocasia macrorrhizos. The neuter ending is -on, and this plant started out its nomenclatural life as Arum macrorrhizon, because Arum is neuter. When it was first transferred to Alocasia, the epithet was changed to the feminine-looking and widely used but grammatically incorrect "macrorrhiza", later corrected by Dan.
Some species epithets which look like adjectives are not: e.g. those ending in -icola are nouns (meaning inhabitant of .... so monticola = inhabitant of mountains; vulcanicola = inhabitant of volcanoes). So it is Alocasia (f) monticola, Calochortus (m) paludicola and Arum (n) rupicola, and the gender of the genus does not affect the ending of the epithet.
Another case which it is easy to trip up on is when plant species are named for people. Wilbert's Typhonium is Typhonium wilbertii (the genitive singular of the latinized masculine proper noun Wilbertius). If Wilbert had been a woman, Wilbertha, it would have been the genitive singular of the latinized feminine proper noun Wilbertia, hence Typhonium wilbertiae. But if the plant had been intended to be called, adjectivally, the Wilbertian Typhonium, it would have had the neuter ending Typhonium wilbertianum because Typhonium is neuter, regardless of whether W was Wilbert or Wilbertha!
From: abri1973@wp.pl To: aroid-l@www.gizmoworks.com Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2011 16:54:55 +0100 Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Amorphophallus titanum
One more thing: Quercus, Fagus, Fraxinus, Malus,
Pyrus, Prunus, Pinus, Alnus, Eucalyptus - all they end with -us suggesting
a masculine gender while most of their specific epithets are feminine.
Can a Latin feminine word end with
-us?
Marek
----- Original Message -----
From:
a*@hotmail.com
To: aroid-l@www.gizmoworks.com
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2011 2:13
AM
Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Amorphophallus
titanum
The gender of a genus is unrelated to the habit of the plants it
contains, though I think it is true to say that a majority of generic names
are feminine. Calophyllum is a neuter genus of trees, and Elaeocarpus is a
masculine one, for example.
A
On 09/02/2011, at 10:13 PM, Eduardo Gomes Goncalves <e*@inhotim.org.br>
wrote:
Dear Dylan,
All "tradicional" trees are female in Latin. The question is that
"tradicional" are trees defined as so. Syagrus is a female word because it
is considered a tree but probably Cicerus never mentioned it in his
classical texts. Moreover, we are not exactly sure that all palms are trees
(mainly in Syagrus, with plants of some species reaching no more than 30 cm
tall).
The borderline is quite fuzzy and tricky.
Very best wishes,
Eduardo.
Em 08/02/2011, às 12:24, Hannon escreveu:
Dear Eduardo,
Thank you for this inquiry, it is good to know these things.
Alistair,
So would we have Alocasia scalprifolia for an adjectival epithet
then?
Regarding the example of Pinus, I believe all tree genera are
regarded as feminine, no matter their origin. How lines are drawn between
trees and non-trees I do not know.
Regards,
Dylan Hannon
On 7 February 2011 07:12, Eduardo Gomes Goncalves
<e*@inhotim.org.bre*@inhotim.org.br>
wrote:
Dear Alistair
You are absolutely correct. I have re-checked this morning and
"titanum" is the genitive plural of "titan" so it means exactly "of the
titans". Since it came from greek, its declension is
anomalous.
Many thanks for your help.
Very best wishes,
Eduardo.
Em 06/02/2011, às 21:15, Alistair Hay escreveu:
I think the point is that not all speces epithets are adjectival,
so they do not necessarily have to agree with the gender of the
genus.
For example in Alocasia scalprum the epithet is a noun which
happens to be neuter: the knife alocasia. An adjectival latin epithet
in Alocasia would indeed be feminine: Alocasia indica: the
indian Alocasia.
Aglaonema is a neuter genus, as are Cyrtosperma, Arisaema and
Syngonium. So its Aglaonema rotundum, Cyrtosperma cuspidispathum,
Arisaema concinnum and Syngonium chiapense when the epithet is
adjectival.
In Amorphophallus titanum, the epithet is not an adjective.
I am uncertain but fairly sure it is the genitive plural, meaning "of
the titans" or something like that. It does not mean the adjective
"titanic".
Alistair
On 05/02/2011, at 10:50 PM, "Marek Argent" <a*@wp.pla*@wp.pl>
wrote:
Dear Eduardo,
A good point.
The suffix -um is
neutral and it fits to all grammatic genera:
Also feminine botanical genera species
epithet can end with -um,
the examples are: Arisaema
triphyllum, Alocasia scalprum, Aglaonema commutatum, Syngonium
auritum...
But indeed, I have never heard
another construction like Amorphophallus
titanum.
I always wondered why Alocasia
macrorrhizos is a proper name, the epithet is of Greek
origin,
and I don't know why it is named
so. The suffix -os is masculine in Greek, and
Alocasia is feminine.
And what do you think about the name
Synandrospadix vermitoxicus?
I can't find anywhere what is the
gender of the word "spadix". Isn't it feminine?
There is also one important
note,
many people erroneously take genera
ending with -is as masculine, but it is
feminine,
Ariopsis peltata or in
other families Iris pumila, Clematis
lanuginosa etc.
Also the genera ending with -as are
feminine: Anubias gigantea, Zamioculcas zamiifolia, Cycas
revoluta.
But... the pine tree, Pinus
seems to be a masculine word, and we have Pinus sylvestris, P.
excelsa, P. nigra,
while some other species of pine
end usually with -us: like Pinus
strobus.
Strange things...
Marek
----- Original Message -----
From: e*@inhotim.org.br
To: aroid-l@www.gizmoworks.com
Sent: Thursday, February 03,
2011 4:34 PM
Subject: [Aroid-l]
Amorphophallus titanum
Dear fellows,
I have a silly (but important) question for you. As far as I
know, Amophophallus is a masculine word, am I correct?
In Latin, except for the name of traditional trees (Malus,
Pyrus, etc), all names ended in -us are male names. So it is
correct to say that all adjective epithets in Amorphophallus
species end with -us (A. gomboczianus, A. hirsutus, A
lunatus, A. glaucophyllus, etc).
Why Amophophallus titanum is not A. titanus? Other species
with a similar epithet (I don't remember none in plant kingdom,
but I know Dorcus titanus - a beetle)... Wilbert, do you
have any reason for this?
Very best wishes,
Eduardo.
INHOTIM
Dr. EDUARDO G. GONÇALVES
Curador Botânico
Jardim
Botânico
Rua B,
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3571.6638 Ramal Fixo 107
+55 31 9604.8618 Ramal
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INHOTIM
Dr. EDUARDO G. GONÇALVES
Curador Botânico
Jardim
Botânico
Rua B,
20
35460-000 | Brumadinho | MG | Brasil
+55 31
3571.6638 Ramal Fixo 107
+55 31 9604.8618 Ramal
380
Rua Antônio de
Albuquerque, 215 | Funcionários
30112-010 | Belo Horizonte | MG |
Brasil
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3223.8224
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INHOTIM
Dr. EDUARDO G. GONÇALVES
Curador Botânico
Jardim
Botânico
Rua B,
20
35460-000 | Brumadinho | MG | Brasil
+55 31 3571.6638
Ramal Fixo 107 +55 31
9604.8618 Ramal 380
Rua
Antônio de Albuquerque, 215 | Funcionários
30112-010 | Belo Horizonte |
MG | Brasil
+55 31
3223.8224
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