Re[2]: ICZN

["Cunningham, Betty" <bcunning@nssi.com>]

     okokokokok  
     I get it
     
     If I was to name a dinosaur or a chicken or something, even if part of 
     the name was in Hottentot, or Eskimo, or Phoenician, there would 
     always be part of the name in greek OR latin, so we could say "New 
     Jersey's stinky lizard" or "the very big lizard from Schenectady", the 
     part that describes it would be the part that tells you whether the 
     grammar would be male or female or other.
     
     I was wise to quit trying to learn Latin at the age of 7. 
     Latin and Greek have silly (read not-like-my-native-tongue) rules.
     
     -Betty


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: ICZN
Author:  aol.com!Dinogeorge
Originator: dinosaur@lepomis.psych.upenn.edu at nssi
Date:    9/28/95 3:49 PM


In a message dated 95-09-28 15:03:22 EDT, Stang1996@aol.com writes:
     
>_Paravertibra_, I would guess _Minmi_ is feminine.
     
It's _paravertebra_, and its gender doesn't bear on the gender of the generic 
name, because it is a noun in apposition to the generic name. As in _Edmarka 
rex_: _Edmarka_ is feminine, but _rex_ is masculine. So you can't infer the 
gender of the generic name from the specific epithet in this instance--just 
when the specific epithet is adjectival. As far as I know, a gender for 
_Minmi_ hasn't yet been specified.