Re: New Limbed Cretaceous Snake

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Demetrios Vital (demetrios.vital@gmail.com) wrote:

<The Hebrew transliterated as "Na*j*ash" should be transliterated as
"Na*ch*ash" or "Na*h*ash."  The "h" (or in this case "j") corresponds to the
letter "chet."  The sound is a gutteral "h," like in "lo*ch*" or "Ba*ch*." Why
they used a "j" is unclear, though it could be the Spanish transliteration of
the Hebrew sound.>

  I think an allusion to *Naja* was intended, from the Sanskrit _nage_, which
also gives us the mythological Naga, a snake spirit, literally "snake",
personified as either an earth-dwelling, sometimes flying, beneficent and
occassionally temperamental deity. I suspect coauthor Hussam Zaher named the
genus epithet, and Sebastian Apestéguia named the species epithet ;)

  Oh, in addition, "j" in Spanish would be pronounced "h", while "h" in Spanish
is virtually silent. So, "nah-hash" may be the preferred pronounciation. The
species name of course deriving from "of the Rio Negro [region; Black River]."

  Cheers,

Jaime A. Headden
http://bitestuff.blogspot.com/

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)

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