pronunciations

[1_iron]

Eric, et al:

Many thanks for the discussion of pronunciation of sci names. I live in
(lepidopteron) isolation here in south Ga, and only my specimens hear what I
call them. I have always pronounced "ae" as long "e" because I had, of all
things, German in college. A rule of thumb in that language is that "ie" and
"ei" takes the long sound of the latter vowel; thus ...stein is ...stine and
...stien is ...steen.

I'll try Amazon for the Borror book.

Jim Taylor
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric or Pat Metzler" <spruance at infinet.com>
To: <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 9:03 PM
Subject: Re: pronunciations


> Good topic, and the answers are already known.  We just have to do our
> research.
>
> Don Borror was an expert on the subject.  He taught classes and wrote the
> book referenced by Jane Dillonaire.  I have copies of several editions of
> his class notes that were the basis for the book.  If you want to talk
about
> pronounciation, you have to have a copy of Don's book.  It is still
> available and inexpensive.
>
> In the meantime, we have to remember two things.
>
> FIRST of all, scientific words are latinized, they are not necessarily
> Latin.  For example, a species named after Bethune as bethunei does not
> become "beh thu neee iii."  It is "beh thune i."   It is Bethune's name
with
> a long i on the end.  We don't change Bethune's name just because we
> latinized it.  On the other hand, some words, like Patricia, are Latin
words
> and need no modification in spelling nor pronounciation.  A copy of good
> Latin dictionary is very helpful for learning these things.
>
> Also, Borror makes a point of stressing the root of the word when trying
to
> understand the pronounciation.  Many of the scientific words were created
> from Greek roots, thus their pronounciation relies on knowledge of Greek.
> As all of us try to apply our high school and college Latin to scientific
> names, we will not know the answers until we know the roots of the words,
> and from whence they came.  So, add a good Greek dictionary to your list
of
> books to buy.
>
> For names from Russian, add a Russian dictionary.  You get the idea.
>
> Until the early 20th century, and much later for experts like Borror and
> Franclemont, knowledge of Greek and Latin roots was required for persons
who
> coined a scientific name.  These subjects were commonly taught.  These
guys
> knew what they were talking about.  If you look at many of Grote's
> descriptions, he even gives the scientific name in Greek as well as Latin.
>
> Secondly, Look at different pronounciations of the same word.  People in
> "Deh troit" Michigan bristle at persons who say "DEEE troit," and try to
get
> by saying "Orrr eee gahn" in the state of "Ore eh gun."
>
> So, for common words, like the dae ending of animal family names, or the
> aceae ending of family plant names, Borror is the undisputed authority.
For
> all others, whether "Cat ah ca lla" or "Cat OH cay lah," you have to know
> the roots and the correct combinations.  Everything else is just guessing.
>
> Cheers from Columbus, Ohio
>
> Eric
>
> "Jane Dillonaire" <jdillonaire at rcn.com> wrote in message
> news:9jsn87$jo3$1 at bob.news.rcn.net...
> > According to Borror (in _Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms_),
> the
> > diphthong "ae" is pronounced as a long e - like in "Pete".  By the way,
I
> > find this book indispensable.  Knowing the meaning of the roots helps me
> to
> > remember the species as well as the scientific name.
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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