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Re: [dinosaur] Etymology question




Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com

The name Necromantis would come directly from Ancient Greek, meaning a "necromancer" (not "death eater")

*nekromantis*Â necromancer

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dnekro%2Fmantis

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*dikhasteres* in Greek means "incisors" (plural), with singular form *dikhaster*

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Ddixasth%3Dres

The prefix "a" means "no, without" so *adichaster* would mean "no incisor" or "without incisor"--which would seem to fit with the text in German in the link:

"Darauf folgt dann die sehr grosse Alveole des Canins, doch von etwaigen Incisiven ist vor ihm keine Spur zu sehen."

[This is followed by the very large alveolus of the canine, but no trace of any incisors can be seen in front of it.]

So *Necromantis adichaster* would mean something like "necromancer without incisor"Â

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On Sat, Oct 3, 2020 at 4:49 PM Tyler Greenfield <tgreenfield999@gmail.com> wrote:
I have a question about the etymology of the Eocene bat Necromantis adichasterÂWeithofer, 1887. Weithofer did not give an etymology and there is the misconception that the generic name translates to "death eater". From what I can determine Necromantis actually translates to "dead seer", being derived from the GreekÂnekrÃsÂ("dead/corpse") andÂmÃntis ("diviner/seer"). However, I have been unable to find the roots of the specific name. Does anyone know what theÂetymologyÂof adichaster might be?

Link to Weithofer (1887): https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7220778#page/393/mode/1up