Re: [dinosaur] Fwd: Beg, new neoceratopsian from early Cretaceous of Mongolia (free pdf)

[Tim Williams <tijawi@gmail.com>]

Ethan Schoales <ethan.schoales@gmail.com> wrote:

> Speaking of Mongolian dinosaurs with questionable names, Tsaagan mangas means 
> "white monster" in Mongolian, except 1) they spelled it wrong and 2) we have 
> no idea what colour it was and it probably wasn't white since it didn't live 
> in the Arctic.
>
> (I can't access the original paper.)

The original _Tsaagan mangas_ paper doesn't provide an explicit reason
for why the authors chose "White Monster" as the name.  Based on this
explanation, I can see why...

https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/TSAAGAN__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!-MxGoDM7Vl-RPxNoFIAUK-OrUWLyoGMGb7cqfXPuV0vLUIMrEx0iAX2YNG61qtUK$
 

The ankylosaur genus _ Tsagantegia_ also incorporates the Mongolian
word for "white" -  from Tsagaan-Teg (White Mountain).  Also the
fossil mammal _Tsagandelta_ (deltatheroidan), "after the whitish color
of the outcrops in Tsagan Tsonj".

Incorrect transliterations of Mongolian words are quite common in
dinosaur names.  The specific name for _Tarbosaurus bataar_
(originally _Tyrannosaurus bataar_) should have been _baatar_,
Mongolian for 'hero' or 'warrior'.

Sloppy transliteration also applies to the genera _Achillobator_  and
_Imperobator_, with 'bator' apparently coming into English from the
Russian spelling of the original Mongolian word.  (The Mongolian
capital Ulaan Baatar ['Red Hero'] was known as Ulan Bator for the same
reason.)  At least the multituberculate names have the right spelling
(_Eobaatar_, _Catopsbaatar_, _Jeholbaatar_, _Kryptobaatar_, etc).  The
Siberian multituberculate _Baidabatyr_ is based on 'batyr', the Turkic
equivalent of baatar.  Ditto for the ornithopod _Batyrosaurus_ from
Kazakhstan.