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Re: [GWL]: Idiotic questions

>> I read an interesting thing on the Apline e-list:  The plant I have always
>> called "Aubretia" is actually spelled "Aubrieta", but the misspelling has
>> made it into some plant dictionaries as an alternative spelling.
>>
>> Skyler Walker
>> Long Beach Peninsula

> So THAT's it!
> I had an employee, who fancied himself as quite
> sophisticated/philosophical/"cultured"/educated who went round and round
> with me for months on the "Au-bree-ET-i-a" name.  And he never missed an
> opportunity to correct a customer in the mis-pronunciation of it.  I could
> have choked the living #*&% out of this guy over this issue, petty as it may
> seem.  When I tried to educate him by showing him the proper spelling of it
> in a hort book, darned if it wasn't spelled exactly as you show above.
> In 10 years, I'm sure that this issue will spring to mind as my most vivid
> memory of him.
> And I find NO amusement in it.
> Diana

Diana, Skuyler,

Unfortunately, most people tend to pronounce botanical names the way they
first heard them pronounced, regardless of how they are spelled.  Rock Cress
or Aubrieta (properly pronounced "oh-bree-AY-tah"--please note the lack of
an "i" in the ending!)  It is named after Claude Aubriet (1665-1742), the
Frenchman who was one of the greatest botanical illustrators of all time.
It is one plant name that is mispronounced more often than not.

In light of the fact that plants named for people are intended to honor
their memory, the late William T. Stern (who passed away a couple of months
ago), in his Botanical Latin, recommended that commemorative names be
pronounced the way the name would have been spoken in its original
language--then add the Latinized ending.

I realize that most people couldn't care less about such things, but I am a
bit of a history buff, and I find the botanical history of a plant to be
part of its fascination.  Wherever possible, I like to look up the natural
range of each new plant I encounter and to find out who it is named for and
whatever history I can find about its discovery.  Their stories are often
quite wonderful, and this can help me to remember the names (both scientific
and common) and understand their environmental requirements.

John MacGregor
South Pasadena, CA 91030
USDA zone 9   Sunset zones 21/23
 

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