Comments on: taxonomic translation?

Question: taxonomic translation?

dhruva — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 23:46:54 -0800

Does anyone know of a website that provides meanings of scientific names for plants and animals?

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 23:58:11 -0800

Wikispecies?

By: Rothko

Rothko — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:08:10 -0800

Googling for the term taxonomy and your species name may help as well.

By: dhruva

dhruva — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:13:01 -0800

(i tried googling but it's a hit and miss affair), but i'm looking for something like a latin/greek dictionary for biological names. Something that tells me what the root word is, etc. Often you can know a lot about how the species looks by knowing a bit of latin or greek, but not all the time.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 02:39:47 -0800

For animals, there's Animal Diversity Web. You can search by scientific name.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 06:49:33 -0800

To clarify, the poster is not asking about taxonomy, he's asking about the meaning of scientific names. Neither Wikispecies nor Animal Diversity Web provides this. Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature does, but only for names they consider "curious." I too would like to see such a site, and I'd be surprised if it doesn't exist... except I guess biologists tend not to be that interested in etymology, and vice versa.

By: Rothko

Rothko — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 08:23:37 -0800

I guess biologists tend not to be that interested in etymology, and vice versa.

The problem is that past species name there is no one named criteria used for genus. It could be the PIs last name, someone famous, a location, or other descriptor of the researcher's choice.

To learn the "meaning" of the species name, you might just as well do a Google lookup, or open up a Latin-English dictionary and search for roots. There's one online, even.

By: almostbarefoot

almostbarefoot — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 08:29:04 -0800

I know you're looking for a website, but I would highly recommend the Dictionary of Root Words and Combining Forms, which deals with etymologies of scientific words, focusing primarily on those associated with animals, plants, and medicine.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 11:59:58 -0800

The problem is that past species name there is no one named criteria used for genus. It could be the PIs last name, someone famous, a location, or other descriptor of the researcher's choice.

Well, yeah, that's exactly why a nomenclature-etymology site is needed. At least for those of us who like that sort of thing. A reference like almostbarefoot's book is useless once you get beyond the melano- = 'black,' gaster = 'belly' stuff.

By: dhruva

dhruva — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 19:46:38 -0800

almostbarefoot: That dictionary is exactly what I'm looking for, but I guess I'll have to order the book. Thanks.