Meaning behind the Latin

This is a silly thread, but I have been curious for a while about the meaning of some of the latin names. I know that for JFB the species name literally means "fire belly" (pyrro = fire, gaster = belly/stomach), but what does Cynops mean - and is it pronounced as "Synops" or "Kynops" (in my head its Synops)? I am also curious about the meaning of triton, as in Pachytriton, Mesotriton, Echinotriton, etc. I scoffed at the latin classes they offered at my University, silly me....

Well, Triton comes from the Greek and is actually the name of a son of Neptune. So this part of the name refers to the aquatic nature of the creature. At least, that is the best that I have been able to discern.

I really love etymology, but it can be hard to discover in relation to scientific names.

I have always heard (or said) "sigh-nops", but in Asia they pronounce it "kee-nops", which is supposed to be more faithful to Latin. I too wish I had taken Latin in school.

Heather;
I can't guide you for 'triton' (except they were water nymphs in old mythology) or the sea god (http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Triton.html); but N American latin salamander names and translations can be found at: http://ebeltz.net/herps/etymain.html#Salamanders

Excerpt: The name Irido – triton comes from two words: iris, irido meaning rainbow (an allusion to the Rainbow Park site); and <font color="ff0000">triton, meaning newt</font> .
http://digimorph.org/specimens/Iridotriton_hechti/

I was going to post a link to very same site Wes, you beat me to it .

Does anyone know of similar sites for other continents? Asia would be nice. Was William Jones working on something to do with scientific names and their origin? It would certainly make a great article.

We say "Ceenops"???

[Tim Johnson]

To add to what Jen said, I noticed that even in Asia, Japanese and Chinese scientists pronounce it differently, though neither says "sy" as in "cyborg." According to something I read at http://www.ai.uga.edu/mc/latinpro.pdf, the "c" before "y" can be pronounced 4 different ways:

1) like "k" according to "Reconstructed Ancient Pronunciation"

2) as "s" according to "Northern Continental Pronunciation (recommended for scientific use")

3) as "ch" in "church" according to "Southern Continental Pronunciation ("Church Latin")"

4) as "s" according to "English Method (ancient names in English context)"

I wish Kai were around to shed more light on this for us...

Hi Mark, yes I have been doing translations, though i've put it on the back burner for a few months so i can knuckle down with some real latin

I haven't got any definite translation for cynops. there are a few theories floating in my mind, but none strong enough to put to paper.

here are two of my favourites i've come up with so far: Nyctanolis night-anole (anole as in the new world lizard)

Neurergus pertaining to an obscure sea god.

btw i pronounce it sigh-nops too.

a little fact: 'ch' is always pronounced 'k' when the stem is derived from latin or greek, e.g. pakytriton not pachytriton. or chenggongensis not kenggongensis.

[Ryan]

Whats necturus?

Greek nektos swimming and Greek oura tail — referring to its aquatic existence

Sorry for bringing this old topic back...but i was discussing with a friend about it and we don´t understand why ppl say "synops"...i mean.... the scientific name Cynops is a latin word (greek origin, but latin) so it should be pronounced in a latin way....which means it´s pronounced "Thi-nops"? (like in "thin"). But as the word is of greek origin it could be pronounced "Ky-nops". So, greek way, Kynops, and latin way, Thinops. But talking to english speakers, you only hear an englishized way of pronouncing it. And at least for me it´s hard to understand it, cause it barely sounds alike the original word.
If the scientific names were created for being world wide recognizable, shouldn´t we all pronounce it the same way so we all know what we are talking about??? Not trying to sound rude n_n

[Tim Johnson]

Hi Rodrigo

So far as I can tell, it's just because English-speakers are so familiar with such words as cyborg, cyberspace, cycle, cyclone, cyanide, cypress. etc. that it seems only natural to pronounce Cynops in the same way. I too would like to see a definitive pronunciation emerge -- at least one that herpetologists can agree on, if not linguists. Then maybe somebody can post it here as a WAV sound file

This makes me wonder, how is Cynops pronounced in Esperanto?

(Message edited by TJ on March 29, 2007)

I understand each one pronounces it as they can or as they want. I just agree with you that it would be interesting to have a world wide understandable way of pronouncing the scientific names. I guess for us, spanish ppl, it´s very easy to pronounce them properly cause we are a latin language. I understand some words are complicated for english speakers, but if we want to understand each other we should try to reach an agreement.
All this comes from a congress, were i had a really hard time trying to understand english spakers..cause if it is hard for me to understand spoken english....imagine how hard it is trying to decipher englishized latin names....:S

Cynops means "dog face". Or perhaps "dog eye". I'm not sure what features of the newt's skull warrant this comparison, but I'm 90% certain that's what it means.

Here's what some of the others mean, to my understanding:

Echinotriton: "spiny newt"

Pachytriton: "thick newt"

Tylototriton: "knobby newt"

Paramesotriton: "The other middle newt"?

Taricha: "mummy" (don't ask)

Triturus: Triton + Tail

Mesotriton: "Middle newt"?

Pseudotriton: "false newt"

(Message edited by Amphiuma on April 22, 2007)