Pronouncing The Latin Names Of Fish

[crisp]

Hi all,

Thought I was pretty comfortable with pronouncing latin species names, but since starting work at a LFS, and having to deal with loads of species I have never kept, or maybe had much hobby interest in, I'm finding many I struggle with.

Anyone know of a site where I can plug in the species name and get details of how to pronounce it out ? , preferably with a translation of the latin?

Cheers,

Chris.

 

[wendywc]

Hey, I took 2 years of latin... Here's a good website that has all the pronunciation rules. http/www.utexas.edu/courses/cc303/sounds/

I don't know of any translation websites. I'm sure you can search and find them.

 

[dwarfgourami]

If still in doubt after checking out Wendy's website, post us a list; I'm a professional Latinist.

 

[BigC]

http/www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/article_detail.asp?id=22
This might help you somewhat.
Regards
BigC

 

[Fella]

If still in doubt after checking out Wendy's website, post us a list; I'm a professional Latinist.

Really? That sounds fantastic! Are the majority of fish names would you say descriptive or named after the discoverer?

 

[dwarfgourami]

If still in doubt after checking out Wendy's website, post us a list; I'm a professional Latinist.

Really? That sounds fantastic! Are the majority of fish names would you say descriptive or named after the discoverer?

Oh gosh, haven't done statistics on this one. Quick leaf through the first pages of Schliewen seems to suggest about half of each. Plus a few named after location. I can't work out how they decide when they're going to use Latin (nigriventris= black-bellied) and when they're going to use Greek (melanogaster- also black-bellied); perhaps they toss coins.

 

[Fella]

If still in doubt after checking out Wendy's website, post us a list; I'm a professional Latinist.

Really? That sounds fantastic! Are the majority of fish names would you say descriptive or named after the discoverer?

Oh gosh, haven't done statistics on this one. Quick leaf through the first pages of Schliewen seems to suggest about half of each. Plus a few named after location. I can't work out how they decide when they're going to use Latin (nigriventris= black-bellied) and when they're going to use Greek (melanogaster- also black-bellied); perhaps they toss coins.

Yeah, I sort of picked up bits just from looking up fish latin names and comapring, for instance "multifasciatus" and "nigrofasciatus" giving the clue that fasciatus is stripes/bands. Is there a direct translation for colomesus asellus? and neolamprologus? Neo is a prefix isn't it?

Maybe I ought to look into being a latinist, this is a lot more exciting than I expected.

 

[The-Wolf]

as has been pointed out, scientist often use both latin and grek to name fish; thus the corect terminoligy is "scientific name"

I have enough trouble with English let alone trying to pronounce scientific names