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Scientific Name Translations

severum boy

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Ive just had a thought, is there anyone on here who knows enough about scientific names and their meaning in english (eg, microlepis = small scale) to write a topic for pinning with a large list of name translations. I for one as a budding taxologist would be very interested to find out exactly what a cirtain fish is named after.
Any ideas?
 
I'm no good for translations, but just thought I'd add my vote to the idea, I think it's an excellent idea. :good:
 
Might get very long if the terms are to be explained.

Tanichthys albonubes:

Tan: Discoverer of the fish. A chinese boy scout leader on a field trip.
Icthys: Fish.
Albo: White.
Nubes: Cloud.

White Cloud Mountain is an isolated peak about 15km from Canton in South East China.

Tans fish from the White Cloud Mountain - White Cloud Mountain Minnow.

There are some recurring terms however. Rubro/i - red, Punctatus - spots, Multi - many, Micro - small, Macro - large etc. The key is to look at the name and see how it was constructed.

Interesting idea.
 
I am a big fan of this. It would create something good to look through and every so often try and add. Perhaps a sticky in the scientific forum?

Could also consider a pronounciation thread.
 
I've been working on a database of the etymology of freshwater fish (genus only) and it has taken me 3 months to reach L :/
admittedly, not been doing this every day, only the odd hour here and there, but there is a lot of genera to research.

If someone wants to carry on, I'll happily email them my XL spreadsheet so they can follow the same format
 
I am a big fan of this. It would create something good to look through and every so often try and add. Perhaps a sticky in the scientific forum?

Could also consider a pronounciation thread.

Good to see this has some support!
The scientific forum is probably the best place for it id imagine. But as The-Wolf says, it would take a while to get a big database up together, but if people got the more common ones up together, then if they had a spare moment people could add to them.
Full fish names could also be described.
 
"A journey of 10,000 leagues starts with the first step"

Just because it would take a while to do every species does not mean we shouldn't start with the more common ones.
 
If this could be done in a nicely organized way, I'd be happy to pin it. Keep me posted. SH
 
"A journey of 10,000 leagues starts with the first step"

Just because it would take a while to do every species does not mean we shouldn't start with the more common ones.

Very true. I guess once you have learnt most of the descriptive words most fish species names would be opened up easily without too much difficulty.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to start this thread? Once the first post on the thread has been posted, anyone who wants to add something could post it, and if that same person wanted to then add something elce then they could just edit their original post and add the extra information to it, preventing the thread having about 100 posts with just one name/descriptor on them.
 
The thing to do is to decide a format for the information which is easily workable. As I said above, names are typically constructed from elements. Identifying a list of elements would be a start, colours for example. You will never get a definitive list because nomaclature is constantly shifting, and the grammatic rules of Latin and Greek are pushed beyond breaking point in many places.

A number of names include peoples name, "Axelrod" appears often for example, and in the case of the Black Neon, H. herbertaxelrodi, has his forename as well!

A lot of names are based on a locality. Kiunga ballochi is an example of this and the above, it was found around the Kiunga region by a guy called Balloch.

There are also a few real howlers out there. Barbus viviparous for example means "Livebearing Barb" but this is total crock of course. The researcher examining the original specimen found the stomach full of undigested fry of a Chromide cichlid and assumed these were developing barb fry!

I am supportive of this enterprise.
 
just found a list of loaches I did a while back for the loach forum
was this the kind of format you guys were thinking of?

Balitoridae
Aborichthys Greek, a = without + Greek, boros = gluttonous + Greek, ichthys = fish
Acanthocobitis Greek, akantha = thorn + Greek, kobitis = a kind of sardine
Annamia Greek, ananeomai = to reappear
Balitora After the island Bali + old English, tor = rock
Barbatula Diminutive of Latin barba = beard
Barbucca Latin barba = beard + Latin, bucca = mouth
Beaufortia In honour of Lieven Ferdinand de Beaufort, 1879-1968
Bhavania (any clues?)
Crossostoma Greek krossoi = tassel + Greek, stoma = mouth
Cryptotora Greek, kryptos = hidden + old English, tor = rock
Dzihunia (any clues?)
Ellopostoma Greek, ellops = a kind of serpent + Greek, stoma = mouth
Erromyzon In honour of Luis Enrique Erro + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Gastromyzon Greek, gaster = stomach + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Glaniopsis Greek, glanis = a fish that can eat the bait without touching the hook + Greek, opsis = appearance
Hemimyzon Greek, hemi = half + Greek, myzon = to suckle
Homaloptera Greek, homalos = flat + Greek, pteron = wing
Hypergastromyzon Greek, hyper = over + Greek, gaster = stomach + Greek, myzon = to suckle
Katibasia (any clues?)
Lefua A Niuean word that means "kingship", "royalty"; Niue is a Polynesian island.
Lepturichthys Greek, leptos = thin + Greek, oura = tail + Greek, ichthys = fish
Liniparhomaloptera Latin, linea = line + Latin, par = two + Greek, homalos = flat + Greek, pteron = wing
Longischistura Latin, longus = long + Greek, schistos = divided + Greek, oura = tail
Mesonoemacheilus Greek, mesos = half + Greek, nema = fialement + Greek, cheilos = lip
Micronemacheilus Greek, mikros = small + Greek, nema = fialement + Greek, cheilos = lip
Nemacheilus Greek, nema = filament + Greek, cheilos = lip
Neohomaloptera Greek, neos = new + Greek, homalos = flat + Greek, pteron = wing
Neonoemacheilus Greek, neos = new + Greek, nema = filament + Greek, cheilos = lip
Oreonectes Greek, oreos = mountain + Greek, nekton = swimmer
Oxynoemacheilus derived from Oxygen + Greek, nema = fialement + Greek, cheilos = lip
Paracobitis Greek, para = the side of + Greek, kobitis = a kind of sardine
Paraprotomyzon Greek, para = the side of + Greek, protos = the first + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Parhomaloptera Greek, para = near + Greek, homalos = flat + Greek, pteron = wing
Physoschistura Greek, physa = bellows + Greek, schizein = divided + Greek, oura = tail
Plesiomyzon Greek, plesios = near + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Protomyzon Greek, protos = the first + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Pseudogastromyzon Greek, pseudes = false + Greek, gaster = stomach + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Schistura Greek, schizein = to divide + Greek, oura = tail
Sectoria Latin, sectator = follower
Seminemacheilus Greek, semi = half + Greek, nema = filament + Greek, cheilos = lip
Sewellia (any clues?)
Sinogastromyzon Latin, sino = from China + Greek, gaster = stomach + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Sinohomaloptera Latin, sino = from China + Greek, homaloptera = unequal wing
Sphaerophysa Greek, sphaira = ball + Greek, physa = tube
Sundoreonectes Composed from Sunda, Asiatic island + Greek, oreos = mountain + Greek, nekton = swimmer
Travancoria From Travancore, a city in the south Indian state of Kerala
Triplophysa Greek, triplos = thrice + Greek, physa = tube
Tuberoschistura Latin, tuberosus = form of a tuber + Greek, schizein = to divide + Greek, oura = tail
Vaillantella (any clues)
Vanmanenia (any clues)
Yunnanilus From Yunnan, city in southwest China

Cobitidae
Acanthopsoides Greek, akantha = thorn + Greek, ops = similar + Greek, oides = looks like
Acantopsis Greek, akantha = thorn + Greek, ops = similar
Botia Regional Asian native word = warrior or soldier (any ideas what part of Asia and which particular language)
Chromobotia Greek, chromo = coloured + regional Asian native word = warrior or soldier
Cobitis Greek, kobitis = a kind of sardine
Enobarbichthys Greek, eno = improves + Latin, barba = beard + Greek, ichthys = fish
Iksookimia A Korean name (an English translation would be nice to know)
Koreocobitis Composed from Korea + Greek, kobitis = a kind of sardine
Kottelatlimia In honour of M. Kottelat + A Portuguese city; today called Ponte de Lima
Lepidocephalichthys Greek, lepas = limpet + Greek, ichtys = fish
Lepidocephalus Greek, lepis = scale + Greek, kephale = head
Leptobotia Greek, leptos = thin + Regional Asian native word = warrior or soldier
Misgurnus not a gurnard (I'd like to know the root of this)
Neoeucirrhichthys Greek, neos = new + Greek, eu = good + Latin, cirrus = curl
Niwaella (any clues?)
Pangio (any clues?)
Parabotia Greek, para = the side of + Regional Asian native word = warrior or soldier
Paramisgurnus Greek, para = the side of + not a gurnard
Protocobitis Greek, protos = the first + Greek, kobitis = a kind of sardine
Sabanejewia In honour of P. Sabanejev, an expert in plankton
Serpenticobitis Latin, serpens = serpent + Greek, kobitis = a kind of sardine
Sinibotia Latin, sino = from China + Regional Asian native word = warrior or soldier
Somileptus Greek, soma = body + Greek, leptos = thin
Syncrossus Greek, syn = together + Greek krossoi = tassel
Yasuhikotakia In honour of Yasuhiko Taki, Japanese ichthyologist

Rhyacichthyidae
Rhyacichthys Greek, rhyax = stream + Greek, ichthys = fish

Please note;
I do not profess to be a linguist or have any qualifications in the Classics, however my roots and translations of each Genus is as accurate as I can find on the net. If you find any errors please point them out and I'll amend them.

My thanks to
Mad Duff & Graeme Robson
for their help on a few definitions
 
Thats excatly the sort of thing I was thinking of, thanks Wolf. Its easy to navigate for people who want to look for Genus nomaclature within specific families or orders, but also provides exactly the right amount of information. Its short and to the point, and everyone should be able to understand it.
I thikn there should also be a few lists of more common colours, places and finders names as LL suggested.
 
so
can we agree on the points needed for this venture?

ie
fish name then the origin of the root words that it is constructed from with what they mean
as in
fish name (Aborichthys)
origin or root words with their meanings (Greek, a = without + Greek, boros = gluttonous + Greek, ichthys = fish)

or do you want more like an English translation too (fish without gluttony)?

I'm currently on N in my research so could start posting from A for those that are interested,
perhaps in the scientific section?
 
I like the idea. I for one would like to know what a Kribs scientific name means! In case one of you guy's/girl's would like to tanslate for me :

Kribensis CIchlid= Pelvachromis Pulcher
 

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