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<p>As an ICZN Commissioner, I deal very literally on a daily basis
with scientific nomenclature, and this work intersects a great
deal with vernacular terms - indeed, the farther back in the
literature one goes, the less distinction there is between the
two.</p>
<p>For those of you interested in the topic, I can give some
examples illustrating some interesting things:</p>
<p>(1) The are thousands of examples of single organisms with many
different common names. Conversely, and far less often, some
common names extend across very significant taxonomic boundaries.
Not many of these refer to more than two different <b>types</b>
of organisms (i.e., not related at a rank higher than Class, so
one discounts common names for - e.g. - fish, like "rockfish",
which still always refers to a fish, at least, even if they are in
many different families or orders). One of the better-known
examples is "daddy longlegs", which refers, in different places,
to opilionid arachnids, to true spiders, or to tipulid flies (aka
crane flies). A more obscure and extreme example is the common
name "grampus", which refers to certain small whales, to a
salamander, to the larvae of the eastern dobsonfly, and to a type
of uropygid arachnid (aka vinegaroon).<br>
</p>
<p>(2) Even very closely-related languages can treat taxonomy
differently when it comes to the inclusivity/exclusivity of common
names. In Spanish (at least, the Latin American version), if you
say "mariposa" you could be referring to either a butterfly or a
moth, and would have to specify "mariposa nocturna" to even
attempt to discriminate - a thing that works rather poorly for the
many common day-flying moths in the New World tropics. However, in
Brazilian Portuguese, "mariposa" means a moth, and "borboleta" is
a butterfly.</p>
<p>(3) There seem to be relatively few polysyllabic common names
that are not "cobbled together" out of terms or phrases that apply
to other things or have other meanings (e.g. "<span style="color:
rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;
font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal;
font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Ĺsuzumebachi</span>"
is a Japanese name for the Giant Northern Hornet, aka "murder
hornet", but it translates as "giant sparrow bee"). "Dobsonfly"
and "hellgrammite" are names for the adults and larvae,
respectively, of a type of insect, and neither term has a known
etymology. Oddly enough, one of the other common names for this
insect, "grampus", is also used for a salamander in the same
region that itself has a novel common name, "hellbender", though
both components of this name have some etymological link to other
English words. One of most colorful examples that I know is the
name "<b style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal;
orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style:
initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">jequitiranaboia</b>",
a Brazilian word which refers to a single genus of large
lanternflies, <i>Fulgora</i>. This word appears to have no
etymological links to anything - it simply refers to this one type
of insect. <br>
</p>
<p>(4) In the 18th and early 19th centuries, it was fairly common
for authors to propose hierarchical groups in their native
language, often directly from the vernacular. The ICZN Code has
provisions that permit us to acknowledge and give priority to many
of these groups, <b>so long as they are compatible with binomial
nomenclature</b>. Some of these group names became genus-rank
names, many others are family-rank names. The most common
examples, at least in entomology, are in French, but also in
German, Italian, and others. I bring this up for two reasons: (1)
because these are vernacular names, with non-standard (i.e.,
non-Linnean) endings, they are sometimes overlooked in the course
of scholarly work on names, but they need to be carefully
evaluated. Some are very demonstrably vernacular, some others are
just idiosyncratic attempts to use genus names as the basis for
higher groups. The point is, it sometimes turns out that a name
presently in use has an older <b>non-standard</b> version of that
name that should technically have priority. That being said, in
the most recent edition of the Code, these and other cases of
potential resurrection of forgotten names very often do NOT
displace younger names, so if any of you encounter such
situations, be aware that the Code must be consulted (esp. Art.
11.7 and 11.8) for possible exceptions; strict priority has <b>not</b>
been the default in Zoology since the 2000 Code edition was
released, and not everyone is aware of this. (2) One needs to be
very careful, when digging into old literature, to be certain that
the nomenclature used therein IS compatible with binomial
nomenclature. There are a fair number of works, some of them
well-known, that contained numerous names with 4 or even 5
components, and the Code specifically states that if there is
evidence that a work does not consistently adhere to binomial
nomenclature, then NONE of the names in that work are available
names in Zoology, <b>even those with only two components</b>. The
decision is not made name-by-name, but applies to the entirety of
a published work; no "cherry-picking" allowed. This is governed by
Art. 11.4, and not widely recognized.</p>
<p>Peace,<br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html">https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html</a>
"There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82</pre>
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