Re: CHAT Almost well-formed southern ape (wasRe: Teknonyms)

Hi all,

I'm back now in the UK and on list. I meant to post the following before
my short sojourn in France:

Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:
> R A Brown skrev:
[snip]
>> _australis_ "southern" is a perfectly good Latin adjective. But if
>> this were a properly formed Latin compound, it would be
>> 'Australipithecus' "southern ape".
>>
>> Sigh.
>>
>
> "Notiopithecus" had not only been perfect Greek, it had also
> precluded the notion that the critter lived in Australia!
One would think the epithet 'africanus' would, er,  a sort of gives away
its habitat.

But I recall that a young foreign language student, who lodged with us
in south Wales for two years, was often assumed to have hailed from
Australia - despite her Austrian accent!!! So I guess you have a point.

--
Ray
==================================
ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
==================================
MAKE POVERTY HISTORY

Reply