taxonomic translation?
November 9, 2005 11:46 PM Subscribe
Does anyone know of a website that provides meanings of scientific names for plants and animals?
Googling for the term taxonomy and your species name may help as well.
posted by Rothko at 12:08 AM on November 10, 2005
posted by Rothko at 12:08 AM on November 10, 2005
Response by poster: (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.
posted by dhruva at 12:13 AM on November 10, 2005
posted by dhruva at 12:13 AM on November 10, 2005
For animals, there's Animal Diversity Web. You can search by scientific name.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:39 AM on November 10, 2005
posted by Wolfdog at 2:39 AM on November 10, 2005
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.
posted by languagehat at 6:49 AM on November 10, 2005
posted by languagehat at 6:49 AM on November 10, 2005
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.
posted by Rothko at 8:23 AM on November 10, 2005
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.
posted by Rothko at 8:23 AM on November 10, 2005
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.
posted by almostbarefoot at 8:29 AM on November 10, 2005
posted by almostbarefoot at 8:29 AM on November 10, 2005
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.
posted by languagehat at 11:59 AM on November 10, 2005
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.
posted by languagehat at 11:59 AM on November 10, 2005
Response by poster: almostbarefoot: That dictionary is exactly what I'm looking for, but I guess I'll have to order the book. Thanks.
posted by dhruva at 7:46 PM on November 30, 2005
posted by dhruva at 7:46 PM on November 30, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by boo_radley at 11:58 PM on November 9, 2005