Re: In Nomine Dinosauri (...et avis, et oviraptoris :-) )

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

----- Original Message -----
From: <NJPharris@aol.com>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2001 12:40 AM
Subject: Re: In Nomine Dinosauri


> In a message dated 3/3/01 4:31:19 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> tmk@dinosauricon.com writes:
>
[...]
>
> The "mani-" part of Maniraptora is perfectly OK.  It is regular in Latin
for
> an unaccented short -u- in a non-initial, non-final syllable to change to
an
> -i-.  For instance, the dative/ablative plural of "manus" ("hand") is
> "manibus", even though it consists of the stem "manu-" plus the ending
"-bus".

Oh! Oops! Plainly forgot that :-] (another example: man_i_pulate).

> The problem with Maniraptora is that it has a neuter ending on a masculine
> stem.  It should by Maniraptores, or it should be converted into an
adjective
> by the addition of an -i-: Maniraptoria.

Interestingly, most higher animal taxa are neutral, and I don't have any
idea why. For example, in the early 19th century, people did write
Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri, but all these have become -sauria, and I don't
know how.