Scientific Name Pronunciations

[Missourian]

regarding ammonite genera terminating in -ceras, i posit this example of similar pronunciation...rhi-NAH-cer-as or rhi-no-SAIR-as???

It depends on what's in front of the 'ceras'. I say 'pla-cen-TI-ceras' and 'a-canth-o-CER-as'.

[Harry Pristis]

It depends on what's in front of the 'ceras'. I say 'pla-cen-TI-ceras' and 'a-canth-o-CER-as'.

Here's how I would pronounce these:

Pla-cen-TI-ce-ras

A-can-THO-ce-ras

Tha-las-SO-ce-ras

Ne-o-di-mor-PHO-ce-ras

Ne-o-gly-phi-O-ce-ras

Eu-mor-PHO-ce-ras

Chei-LO-cer-as

and so on.

[siteseer]

Harry,

Mine is also the eleventh printing of 1971 though I got mine in at a university bookstore in 1989 (was it on the shelf that long?). Imagine my surprise when a friend asked me about that book out of the blue while talking about sharks. It's a great little reference and it was only $7.95.

I use the same book, Jess. In fact, it is the book I keep closest to hand as I sit at my 'puter. Mine is the eleventh printing, 1971, and I've had it for most of the time since 1971. It has been very useful, and I recommend it to anyone interested in taxonomy. Unhappily, it cantains no Sioux words.

[astron]

Here's how I would pronounce these: Pla-cen-TI-ce-ras A-can-THO-ce-ras Tha-las-SO-ce-ras Ne-o-di-mor-PHO-ce-ras Ne-o-gly-phi-O-ce-ras Eu-mor-PHO-ce-ras Chei-LO-cer-as and so on.

Hello all. Intersting thread indeed but so complex! And this happens due to the fact that the species ( or geni or families etc) names come from more than one languages and it justifiedly brings a confusion to their pronunciation. The more of the genus, family, order, class etc names come not only from latin , as it's already refered, but at least equally from the greek language, and as a result their pronunciation follows their rules. As an example, I am copying from thispdf the etymology of some ammonites geni names:

''Origin of Generic Names of Ammonites

Most of the generic names of ammonites end inceras (Greek, keras , horn) or ites (Greek, ites, stone)

Acanthoceras. Greek, akanthos, prickly; for its shell with several rows of nodes. Neumayr, 1875.

Baculites. Latin, baculum, rod or staff; for its straight shell. Lamarck, 1799.

Burroceras. For Big Burro Mountains, Grant County, New Mexico. Cobban, et al., 1989.

Clioscaphites. Greek, kleio, close; for the tightly enrolled shell. Cobban, 1952.

Collignoniceras. For the French Général Maurice Collignon, who authored many papers on ammonites, especially those from Madagascar. Breistroffer, 1947.

Conlinoceras. For James P. Conlin (1908-1972), Fort Worth, Texas, who collected and carefully documented numerous Cretaceous fossils, and donated them to the USGS. Cobban and Scott, 1972.

Desmoscaphites. A scaphitid ammonite that has the early whorls with constrictions resembling the constrictions in the ammonite Desmoceras. Reeside, 1927b.

Didymoceras. Greek, didymos, double, for the two growth forms. Hyatt, 1894.

Dunveganoceras. For the Dunvegan Formation, Alberta, Canada. Warren and Stelck, 1940.

Euomphaloceras. Greek, eu, true; omphalor, navel; probably from the navel-like umbilicus of the ammonite. Spath, 1923.

Exiteloceras. Greek, exitglos, becoming extinct. Hyatt, 1894.

28

Hoploscaphites. Greek, hoplo, shield; for the shield-like appearance of laterally compressed scaphitid ammonites. Nowak, 1911.

Jeletzkyites. For Jurij Alexandrovich Jeletzky, (1915-1988), paleontologist with the Geological Survey of Canada from 1948-1988. Riccardi, 1983.

Mammites. Latin, mamma, breast, teat; for the ornament of nipple-like nodes. Laube and Brüder, 1887.

Neocardioceras. Greek, neos, young; for a Cretaceous ammonite younger than the somewhat similar Jurassic ammonite Cardioceras. Spath, 1926.

Nigericeras. For Niger, Africa. Schneegans, 1943.

Plesiacanthoceras. Greek, plesios, near; for its resemblance to the ammonite Acanthoceras. Haas, 1964.

Prionocyclus. Greek, priono, saw; kyklios, circular; for resemblance to a circular saw. Meek, 1871.

Pseudaspidoceras

. Greek, pseudes, false; for resemblance to the ammonite Aspidoceras, but not that genus. Hyatt, 1903.''

Moreover, almost all the ammos generic names that Harry refers above, consist of two or more greek words. So. if their pronunciation follows the greek language rules, the stress is to go to CE - pronounced KE(acanthoCEras etc).

To close my post to a so difficult thread, I agree that the discussion is useful but the more important thing is us to know what our fossils are and after that their names pronunciation...

Edited February 22, 2012 by astron

[Wrangellian]

Thank you for this, Astrinos, very interesting... you really do have to be a linguist to know how to pronounce the names, so I agree with Jim (top of this page). The link you have provided could be useful too for those of us who work with Cretaceous fossils!

[Indy]

A Paleontologist once told me that pronunciation was not important but spelling was.

Jim

Sounds similar to the advise I got many years ago.

Know the correct spelling and don't try to get creative when pronouncing the names.

Just pronounce each syllable the best way you can. Everyone will understand.

I've heard trilobite pronounced "Trill O Bit" as well as "Try Low Bite" ...

To me it sounds ODD when I hear "Trill O Bit" but the point is...I understand.

The professor I was talking to at the time said..."Latin is a dead language

and pronunciations can vary depending on if you graduated from Harvard or Yale"

[astron]

Sounds similar to the advise I got many years ago. Know the correct spelling and don't try to get creative when pronouncing the names. Just pronounce each syllable the best way you can. Everyone will understand.

Agreed..

Since ''trilobites'' you have refered to are any time in our way, some members may be interested in the etymology:

''Trilobites= marine arthropod, 1832, from Mod.L. Trilobites (Walch, 1771), from Greek tri- "three" + lobos "lobe," so called because its body is divided into three lobes''.

[Anna]

We have a paleontologist friend that can whip out names like nobody's business, and I've often accused him of just making them up. John recently took one of his Kettneraspis sp. to the gem and mineral club meeting, whereupon I apparently pronounced it "Ket te ner aspis." After the meeting my son told me "Mom, those people will go the rest of their lives mispronouncing Kettneraspis because of you!" The shame.

I appreciate this thread, as I've been trying to find resources to help with pronunciations. I walked around for days saying "Acrocanthosaurus" until I could get it right, lest I embarrass myself in front of people who had actually found one.

[astron]

We have a paleontologist friend that can whip out names like nobody's business, and I've often accused him of just making them up. John recently took one of his Kettneraspis sp. to the gem and mineral club meeting, whereupon I apparently pronounced it "Ket te ner aspis." After the meeting my son told me "Mom, those people will go the rest of their lives mispronouncing Kettneraspis because of you!" The shame.

I appreciate this thread, as I've been trying to find resources to help with pronunciations. I walked around for days saying "Acrocanthosaurus" until I could get it right, lest I embarrass myself in front of people who had actually found one.

Hi, Anna and all.

At first I like your and ... my daughter's, as well, name

Since dinosaurs, you have refered to, interest a lot of people around the world, I googled the etymology and the pronunciation of their names and I found the next:

At first the ending word -saurus comes from the greek sauros pronounced savros and meaning lizard.

And secondly the next two links LINK1 and LINK2 contain names etymology, pronunciation and descriptions of the dinos species. In my opinion, the dinos' names etymology in the first link is almost perfect but I am fully confused and disappointed with the pronunciation provided in both sites :startle: :notfair:.

Par example, have a look at ''your'' acrocanthosaurus... .

1. First aspect: Pronounced ack-row-can-thoh-SORE-us Meaning "High spined lizard" Etymology Akros (Greek) = "high" + akantha = "spine" (Greek) + sauros = "lizard" (Greek) and named for the raised ridge of neural spines along its back

2. Second aspect:

(pronounced AK-roh-CAN-thuh-SAWR-us) Acrocanthosaurus (meaning "high-spine lizard" because of the spikes growing out of its spine)

Knowing the greek words Acrocanthosaurus consists of, the above pronunciations (and the most the first one)seem to me so ... strange ....

I think that all these enforce the aspect that the important is the spelling ...

Edited March 2, 2012 by astron

[Wrangellian]

I think I follow you Astrinos.... For me as a non-Greek speaker, though, there isn't a noticeable difference in everyday English speech between your two pronunciations of Acrocanthosaurus, but I'll take your word for it! In English, all vowels in unstressed syllables tend to become "uh" kind of, represented by the 'schwa' symbol in the phonetic alphabet. And the stress wants to follow a certain pattern, specifically the pattern you spelled out in your 2nd pronunciation. It's not natural for us to string too many unstressed syllables together.. so if there is more than one possibility, we will choose one and go with it.

I have wondered also about the names of the new Precambrian periods - I understand the roots come from Greek words. (Siderian, Rhyacian, Orosirian, Statherian, etc) Most of them aren't too ambiguous, such as Tonian (looks like Tone-ian), but some of the others I'm unsure, like the Stenian - is it "Steenian" or "Stennian"?

Have you seen the etymologies of these and if so can you offer us a pronunciation guide?

[Harry Pristis]

Hello all. Intersting thread indeed but so complex! And this happens due to the fact that the species ( or geni or families etc) names come from more than one languages and it justifiedly brings a confusion to their pronunciation. The more of the genus, family, order, class etc names come not only from latin , as it's already refered, but at least equally from the greek language, and as a result their pronunciation follows their rules.

...

Moreover, almost all the ammos generic names that Harry refers above, consist of two or more greek words. So. if their pronunciation follows the greek language rules, the stress is to go to CE - pronounced KE(acanthoCEras etc).

...

The premise is faulty in your argument, 'Astron'. The word-parts may be of Greek origin, but the pronunciation certainly does not follow Greek rules (except, perhaps in Greece). The example that we haven't presented is "Rhinoceros".

Now, Rhinoceros may be a corruption of the original Greek (rhino + keras); but, all of the generic names of ammonoids cited here are made-up (corrupted) words.

But, I do agree that the correct spelling is primary, with the pronunciation (inevitably stylized according to the language of the speaker) is secondary.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Harry Pristis

[astron]

The premise is faulty in your argument, 'Astron'. The word-parts may be of Greek origin, but the pronunciation certainly does not follow Greek rules (except, perhaps in Greece). The example that we haven't presented is "Rhinoceros". Now, Rhinoceros may be a corruption of the original Greek (rhino + keras); but, all of the generic names of ammonoids cited here are made-up (corrupted) words. But, I do agree that the correct spelling is primary, with the pronunciation (inevitably stylized according to the language of the speaker) is secondary.

I wish it to be so. Though, I am not sure at all if the pronunciation of the ''C'' in your example effects the scientific generic names of ammonoids pronunciation. I think that despite to any disagreements, we end up to the same conclusion. The blanc on the pronunciation thread is huge and the only solution so for us amateurs as (mainly) for the scientists themselves would be a Paleontological dictionary providing the etymology and the pronunciation of the scientific names and approved by the paleontological associations worldwide....

Do we have any chance???

Edited March 12, 2012 by astron

[astron]

I think I follow you Astrinos.... For me as a non-Greek speaker, though, there isn't a noticeable difference in everyday English speech between your two pronunciations of Acrocanthosaurus, but I'll take your word for it! In English, all vowels in unstressed syllables tend to become "uh" kind of, represented by the 'schwa' symbol in the phonetic alphabet. And the stress wants to follow a certain pattern, specifically the pattern you spelled out in your 2nd pronunciation. It's not natural for us to string too many unstressed syllables together.. so if there is more than one possibility, we will choose one and go with it.

I have wondered also about the names of the new Precambrian periods - I understand the roots come from Greek words. (Siderian, Rhyacian, Orosirian, Statherian, etc) Most of them aren't too ambiguous, such as Tonian (looks like Tone-ian), but some of the others I'm unsure, like the Stenian - is it "Steenian" or "Stennian"?

Have you seen the etymologies of these and if so can you offer us a pronunciation guide?

Hi, Eric and all.

Heaving searced it enough, I am convinced that the Greek pronunciation is partially valid in the Greek originated paleontological terms without being able to spot and to understand where and why. My next post will show better what I mean. So, I will not endanger any more personal opinions on this confusing thread and I doubt if I have done well with placing above some thoughts of mine.

Thus, the only answer I can give to your question about the geologic time term pronunciations is this LINK .

I don't know if it helps.

[Wrangellian]

Thanks my friend, that's a good resource, it has most of them. If they would add Rhyacian and the others it would be perfect!

Don't worry about putting your opinions out there, I for one appreciate it.

Here's my compilation as far as I know it now, for anyone who's curious:

Ediacaran - EEdeeACKaran - Ediacara Hills, South Australia

Cryogenian - CryoGENNian - Greek cryos, "cold", genesis, "birth"

Tonian - TONE-ian - tonas, "stretch"

Stenian - STENNian - stenos, "narrow"

Ectasian - EcTAYsian (EctTAYzhan) - ectasis, "extension"

Calymmian - CaLIMMian - calymma, "cover"

Statherian - StaTHEERian - statheros, "stable, firm"

Orosirian - OroSEERian - oroseira, "mountain range"

Rhyacian - RyASSian? (or Ry-ACE-ian? -Wikipedia) - rhyax, "stream of lava"

Siderian - SidEErian - sideros, "iron"

Edited March 14, 2012 by Wrangellian

[piranha]

Here is a fun LINK to the Google Translate utility.

Plug in a few of your favorite paleo-words and experiment with German, Latin and Spanish pronunciations. Once you type a word in the box, a clickable audio icon will appear for playback. The German version produces the hard 'ka' sounds while the Spanish equivalents are softer more 'anglicized' sounding overall. The English playback is often far from accurate but the others can occasionally provide useful results... Enjoy!

[astron]

Good points, Eric and Scott.

In order us to have a spherical view, I thought it would be useful to add any scientific aspects. The only relative I found is in the site of the Tate Museum http://www.caspercollege.edu/tate/downloads/tm_newsletter_2010_0506.pdf

and I am copying what interests. Everyone can gets their conclusions...

? and Answers

Q:One minor note of

puzzlement to me is the

fact that when I see the

proper (alleged I must

add) pronunciations of

the dinosaurs in various

books, they are sometimes

different. How can that

be? For example, how can

Troodon be TROO-oh-don in

one publication and TROH-uhdon

in another? How can an

animal be pronounced other

than the right way?

-- Bill Sparks

Green Bay, Wisconsin (via

e-mail)

A: Dinosaur books vary greatly in the

amount and quality of research

that goes into them. Some are

written by scientifically trained people who

wish to educate the general public about

paleontology, while others are written by

popular writers who just want to jump on the

dinosaur bandwagon and who often don’t

know enough Latin to spell Habeas corpus.

Anyway, in answer to your query: the

second book had it right. The name Troödon

is derived from the Greek trogein (Τρογειν)

which means ‘To gnaw,’ and odontos

(Οδοντος) also Greek, which means ‘tooth.’

In Greek, whenever you see the double ‘o,’

you pronounce each ‘o’ separately. (A good

way to spot first-year geology students is that

they keep trying to pronounce oolite ‘OO-lite’

rather than the proper ‘Oh-Oh-lite.’ The word

oolite is derived from the Greek oon (Ωον),

meaning ‘egg,’ and lithos (Λιθος) meaning

‘stone.’

Some other rules about ancient Greek

are helpful to keep in mind as you read

those dinosaur books. The letters ‘Ch’

are a transliteration of the Greek letter chi

(Χ) which is pronounced like a ‘k.’ So, for

example, Chasmosaurus is pronounced

‘KAZ-mo-saurus.’ If a Greek word starts

with ‘Pt,’ the ‘P’ is silent. So pterodactyl is

pronounced ‘Ter-o-dac-tyl.’

‘Ph’ is a transliteration of the Greek letter

phi (φ) pronounced as an ‘F.’ In words that

start with ‘Ps’ you only pronounce the ’s.’

Many scientific words include the letters ‘ae’

(written ‘æ’ in older books) – this is a Latin

diphthong and is pronounced like the ‘i’ in the

word ‘kite.’ (I’m still trying to break the habit

of pronouncing it like a long ‘A!’)

Sadly, paleontology books written for

adults rather than children seem to assume

that we all took Latin in high school (an

increasingly unlikely prospect in today’s

world…) and they almost never tell you how

the names should be pronounced. So it’s

quite easy to find out how to say the various

dinosaur names, but if you need to know

the pronunciation of the names of ancient

mammals or invertebrates you’re usually out

of luck.

When I went to my first paleontology

conference I was mortified to discover

that I’d been pronouncing almost all of

the names of ancient mammals with the

accent on the wrong syllable. After a

couple of paleontologists ridiculed me

for pronouncing Phenacodus ‘fen-a-

CODE-us’ rather than ‘fen-ACK-odus,’

and pronouncing Merycodus

‘merry-CODE- us’ rather than ‘me-

RICK-o-dus,’ I decided to spend

the rest of the convention doing

more listening and less talking.

There don’t seem to be

hard and fast rules for accent

placement in scientific names, but

I did notice some general trends.

If a name ends in a two-syllable suffix,

the emphasis is usually (but not always!)

placed on the last syllable that precedes

that suffix. This is particularly noticeable in

ammonite names, which almost always end

with – ceras, meaning ‘horn.’ So the pancake

ammonite’s genus name is pronounced ‘Placen-

TISS-er-us’ -- not ‘Placenta-SERR-as!’

Russell J. Hawley,

Tate Geological Museum

Education Specialist

[richardfulton]

Latin rules prevail. You might want to take a basic on-line Latin course (pick a freebie!). You don't need to get too involved in it. The rules of pronunciation are pretty basic.

Even then, many ignore the rules, including myself in many cases and I studied Latin!

Edited March 16, 2012 by richardfulton

[Harry Pristis]

For those still interested, Bretton W. Kent on page 98 of his book (FOSSIL SHARKS OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY REGION, 1994) presents the rules for pronunciation of taxonomic names:

"The pronunciation of taxonomic names can be exceedingly confusing to the non-biologist. While the rules of scientific pronunciation are relatively complex, they largely follow conventions of the English language. . . .

"1. Pronounce all syllables.

"2. Vowel sounds are ...

"3. Consonant sounds can ...

"4. Emphasis should be ...

"5. All letters are usually pronounced. Exceptions are ...

"6 Commemorative names of a person or place retain their original pronunciation as much as possible.

"7 Certain letters and comination of letters have special pronunciations: ..."

I stumbled across this page last night while looking for something else. I've just presented the flavor of the information here. My scanner is down, and there's just too much to transcribe.

[Regg Cato]

Generally I pronounce each part of a name separately, but by and large there seem to be a couple of different generally accepted ways to pronounce names.

As an example, PEAR-uh-SORE-oh-LOAF-uss and pair-ah-sore-ROL-oh-fuss for the dinosaur Parasaurolophus. (According to the way I pronounce things I pronounce it the first way).

Some taxa are named after specific locations that are pronounced a certain way. The Titanosaur Sauropod Bonitasaura is not pronounced "BON-it-ah-SORE-ah", but "beh-NIGHT-ah-SORE-ah", because that's how the location it's named after is pronounced.

Another thing I've observed is that Canadians say "SORE-uss" and Americans say "SAWR-uss"...so neither is wrong.

Another sticky area is the use of the Greek word kephalon in names. The "k" is almost invariably used as a "c", but I generally pronounce it soft (so it's "you-op-lo-SEFF-al-uhs", and I'll give you a funny look if you say "you-op-lo-KEFF-al-uhs").

My observation is that the hard "k" sound, as well as the syllabic lumping of "OSS-ar-us" as opposed to "oh-SARE-us" seems to be more common among British english speakers.

So in short...there's a couple of different ways to pronounce most names, which vary based on where you're from and who you learned from, and I won't be offended if you use either lol.

[Harry Pristis]

Generally I pronounce each part of a name separately, but by and large there seem to be a couple of different generally accepted ways to pronounce names.

As an example, PEAR-uh-SORE-oh-LOAF-uss and pair-ah-sore-ROL-oh-fuss for the dinosaur Parasaurolophus. (According to the way I pronounce things I pronounce it the first way).

Some taxa are named after specific locations that are pronounced a certain way. The Titanosaur Sauropod Bonitasaura is not pronounced "BON-it-ah-SORE-ah", but "beh-NIGHT-ah-SORE-ah", because that's how the location it's named after is pronounced.

Another thing I've observed is that Canadians say "SORE-uss" and Americans say "SAWR-uss"...so neither is wrong.

Another sticky area is the use of the Greek word kephalon in names. The "k" is almost invariably used as a "c", but I generally pronounce it soft (so it's "you-op-lo-SEFF-al-uhs", and I'll give you a funny look if you say "you-op-lo-KEFF-al-uhs").

My observation is that the hard "k" sound, as well as the syllabic lumping of "OSS-ar-us" as opposed to "oh-SARE-us" seems to be more common among British english speakers.

So in short...there's a couple of different ways to pronounce most names, which vary based on where you're from and who you learned from, and I won't be offended if you use either lol.

I was curious to test your example of "Parasaurolophus" with the pronunciation rules in Kent (op. cit.).

Kent writes:

4. Emphasis should be placed:

- On the first syllable of words with two syllables.

- On the penult syllable of a word with more than two syllables, if it contains a diphthong (two vowels, such as toy, pronounced together), or a long vowel sound.

- On the antepenult ( = preceding the penult) syllable if the penult syllable has a soft vowel.

In your example, Pa-ra-sau-ro-lo-phus, the penult ("lo") has a long vowel sound. Therefore, the correct pronunciation under these rules would be pa-ra-sau-ro-LO-phus.

Another sticky area is the use of the Greek word kephalon in names. The "k" is almost invariably used as a "c", but I generally pronounce it soft (so it's "you-op-lo-SEFF-al-uhs", and I'll give you a funny look if you say "you-op-lo-KEFF-al-uhs").

It's clear from your example what you were trying to say here, and your suggested pronunciation of Uoplocephalus is consistent with Kent. But, for the sake of clarity, "k" is never pronounced as a "c". In Uoplocephalus a soft "c" is substituted for a "k" in the English adaptation of the Greek.

Kent explains:

3. Consonant sounds can be either hard or soft:

- C and g are soft (as in cedar and genius, respectively) when immediately followed by ae, e, i, oe, or y, but are hard (as in cat and go) when followed by a, oi, o, or u.

- The consonant pair ch is pronounced as a hard c (as in cat).

[Regg Cato]

I was curious to test your example of "Parasaurolophus" with the pronunciation rules in Kent (op. cit.).

Kent writes:

4. Emphasis should be placed:

- On the first syllable of words with two syllables.

- On the penult syllable of a word with more than two syllables, if it contains a diphthong (two vowels, such as toy, pronounced together), or a long vowel sound.

- On the antepenult ( = preceding the penult) syllable if the penult syllable has a soft vowel.

In your example, Pa-ra-sau-ro-lo-phus, the penult ("lo") has a long vowel sound. Therefore, the correct pronunciation under these rules would be pa-ra-sau-ro-LO-phus.

yes, this is what I was saying

It's clear from your example what you were trying to say here, and your suggested pronunciation of Uoplocephalus is consistent with Kent. But, for the sake of clarity, "k" is never pronounced as a "c". In Uoplocephalus a soft "c" is substituted for a "k" in the English adaptation of the Greek.

Kent explains:

3. Consonant sounds can be either hard or soft:

- C and g are soft (as in cedar and genius, respectively) when immediately followed by ae, e, i, oe, or y, but are hard (as in cat and go) when followed by a, oi, o, or u.

- The consonant pair ch is pronounced as a hard c (as in cat).

it's been a while since I reviewed those rules, but yes this is essentially what I was saying.