Re: OPLOSAURUS

[NJPharris@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/25/00 12:48:24 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
qilongia@yahoo.com writes:

> The -ites in greek, and
>  correct me if I'm wrong, refers to provenance, and
>  basically means "dweller"

That is indeed one of its uses.  The suffix -ites (the origin of our suffix 
-ite) is used in a wide range of instances, including indicating dwelling 
place (Seattlite), descent from a particular ancestor (Israelite, Levite), 
follower of a particular teacher or philosophy (Mennonite), or generally a 
person concerned with or involved in something (polites "city father, 
politician", from polis "city").  So a hoplite is, basically, a person 
somehow connected with a hoplon, or full-body shield, hence the dinosaurian 
epithets _Oplosaurus_, _Hoplosaurus_, and _Sauroplites_.

Incidentally, the sound /h/ was not marked in classical Attic Greek, hence 
sometimes authors would inadvertently omit it (as in _Oplosaurus_) or insert 
it where it did not belong (as in Greek alkyon "kingfisher", wrongly 
transcribed into Latin as halcyon, like in "halcyon days").

--Nick P.