Re: ICZN

[Stan Friesen <swf@ElSegundoCA.ATTGIS.COM>]

>From: "Cunningham, Betty" <bcunning@nssi.com>
 >      
 >      I "think" that the ICZN >may< be trying to root out problems they are 
 >      having, not with Latin or Greek, but with Latin-izing ...
 >      words as Mongolian place names, Chinese emporors, or Australian 
 >      Aboriginal place-names, and having the professionals in the field 
 >      seemingly needing to know enough Mongolian, Manchurian, or 
 >      Aborginal to know whether these would be male or female names and 
 >      thus how to treat them when Greek-ing and Latin-izing are applied to 
 >      them.

If so, then the concern is misplaced.  The rules allow for *arbitrary*
assignment of gender when Latinizing a word.  That is, the inventor
of the name gets to *choose* the gender when there is no clear gender
to assign.

 >      Is  "Minmi"  a male or female gender?

What's the species epithet?  The ending may tell you.

swf@elsegundoca.attgis.com              sarima@netcom.com

The peace of God be with you.