posted
Some of you may have heard me grouse about having to come up with a scientific name in the latest thing I'm working on. For the longest time, I just had the bracketed words [Scientific Name] holding down its place.
Well, I finally reached that point in my revision. It's for a kind-of plant, and I want it to mean, more or less, "bluish-pink squat-barrel," or somesuch approximation. (That's the way the thing looks.) I consulted a couple of Latin translation sites (I tried Greek but had little luck with it), and wound up with coeruleroseas compactucadus, which means, I think, what I said above.
Only I know no Latin. I found the words for "blue," "pink," "squat," (or "compact,") and "barrel," and kinda mushed them together. But what do I know? I'm aware Latin is a marvelously complex language---but I don't know enough to even be sure I'm faking it correctly.
Anybody got any thoughts on that? Or, for that matter, any thoughts on how to put scientific names in one's work?
posted
Well if you ask me it looks PLENTY convincing. I don't know Latin either but I don't think many people do. Sure, it's nice to be accurate but you can afford things like that from time to time. Still, I might be able to get the Latin teacher at my school to look at it and see if that makes sense and then if it doesn't have her make it work.
posted
What Latin I have makes that plant name seem sensible. In the alternative its meaning is not as accessible as I might want for a story. Have you tried botanical taxonomy? "The value of a scientific name is that it is an identifier; it is not necessarily of descriptive value, or even accurate." [Wikipedia: International Code of Botanical Nomenclature]
posted
The person who discovers a new species gets to name it. The fancy names you hear are a sort of pseudo-Latin. If you Google the history of naming and browse credible sites, you will find that people have even named plants and animals after their heroes and their enemies.
Edited to add: My point is, it's your story and you can name it whatever you want. History will support you in this.
[This message has been edited by Sunshine (edited March 06, 2009).]
posted
I was thinking of sticking a Latinized surname on the end of it all, but then I'd'a had to think of one...
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posted
The words you coined look fine, except when making compounds you would use the stem form of the first word (which ends in o for both your words. Also, you want "roseus" with a "us" ending to agree with cadus. And if you want it to be a proper binomial, like botanists and zoologists use, you want to put the noun (genus) first and capitalize it:
posted
Yup. I had been so wrapped up in the Latin angle on it that I forgot (if I ever knew) the proper way to put it in order. Certainly it matches up with the little I do know about it. Thanks, Starweaver.
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