Orthography of Names and Epithets: Stems and Compound Words Author(s): Dan H. Nicolson and Robert A. Brooks Source: Taxon, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Feb., 1974), pp. 163-177 Published by: International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1218097 . Accessed: 13/04/2014 08:48 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Taxon. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 212.238.43.46 on Sun, 13 Apr 2014 08:48:02 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TAXON 23(I): I63-I77. FEBRUARY 1974 ORTHOGRAPHY OF NAMES AND EPITHETS:STEMS AND COMPOUND WORDS Dan H. Nicolson* and RobertA. Brooks':-: Hoc opusculum in memoriam clarissimi Conradi Mortonii dedicavimus. Summary Criteria are given for determination of stems of regularly declined nouns and ad- jectives in Greek or Latin based on knowledge of the nominative and genitive singular forms. Rules and examples are given for regular derivation of the compounding forms from the stems. Revisions are proposed for Article 73 and Recommendation 73G of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. A section is included on simple composition of botanical names. i. Introduction Under the presentInternational Code of BotanicalNomenclature (Stafleu et al., 1972), it appears that Article 73, paragraph i, obliges taxonomists to use the original spelling of names and epithets, except for correction of typographic and orthographic errors. To put it in logical terms, taxonomists are obliged to use orthographically correct spellings of names and epithets, irrespective of the original spelling. In practice, most taxonomists are not using the orthographically correct spellings of generic and family names but are using the original spellings and regarding all alternative spellings (whether orthographically correct or not) as orthographic variants. For example, Lespedeza is evidently a typographic error for Cespedeza but is cited among "Examples of retention of original spelling" (Article 73 of the Code, Stafleu et al., 1972). Lysi-o- sepalum is an orthographic error for Lysi-sepalum (in Greek -o- was never used with the stem lysi-, from lysis, a loosening) but no one is accepting this correction. In a future paper a proposal will be made directed toward insuring that the present practice of using original spellings will continue, except when later spellings are explicitly conserved. At the specific level, present usage is mixed with respect to correct vs. original spelling. Most workers seem to prefer original spellings of epithets. Verdcourt and Trump (i969, p. 13) specifically state that they have adopted correct spellings of epithets based on personal names and have corrected wrongly used connecting vowels in compound words. Our paper deals with the latter problem. Article 73, paragraph 6 of the Code (Stafleu et al., I972) states "the use of a wrong connecting vowel or vowels (or the omission of a connecting vowel) in a name or epithet is treated as an orthographic error (see Rec. 73G)." One might expect that study of Recommendation 73G would : Associate Curator, Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution. :: Under Secretary, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560. FEBRUARY 1974 I63 This content downloaded from 212.238.43.46 on Sun, 13 Apr 2014 08:48:02 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions enable the average taxonomist to determinecorrect connectingvowels in new or existing compound words. However, applying the present Recom- mendation 73G requires determinationof stems or word elements in a compoundword. Use of the examples cited in Recommendation73G does not help one understandhow to determinea stem. Several examples use irregularcom- pounding forms (not true stems) such as Hydro- and Meli-. Indeed, stems are not cited, only the compounding forms derived from the stems. Other standard works on scientific terminology and grammar, such as Brown (I956), Nybakken (I959) and Stearn (I966), were either minimally helpful or misleading to one trying to determine stems. The junior author, with his training and experience in the classics, has worked with the senior author to clarify the problem of how to determine the stems of Greek and Latin words. It seems appropriate to make the results of our study available to those taxonomists who know "small Latin and less Greek." 2. The nature of stems Before dealing with the problems of determining stems one should review some basic grammar concerning stems in inflected languages like Greek and Latin. The stem provides (with modifications) an operating base to which case endings are attached. There are, in each language, several systems of case endings known as declensions. If one knows the case endings, one auto- matically knows to which declension the noun or adjective belongs. If one knows the declension of the noun or adjective, one also automatically knows the case endings. Each declension has its own stem or stems and, if the stem is known, the declension is automatically known. However, when the stem is not known it is necessary to know some of the case endings (usually only the genitive singular but also sometimes the nominative singular and, rarely, the genitive plural) in order to determine the stem. In Latin there are five declensions, each with a distinctive stem ending (two in Third Declension) and distinctive case endings in genitive singular and plural. These may be seen in the following table: TABLE1 Latin Declensions with Associated Stem Endings and Certain Case Endings (from Steam, p. 68, 1966) Declension I II III IV V Stems in -a -o consonant -i -u -e Gender f.m. m. n. m.f.n. m. n. m.f. Nom. Sing. -a -us,er -um various -us -u -es Gen. Sing. -ae -i -is -us -ei Gen. P1. -arum -orum -um -ium -uum -erum I64 TAXON VOLUME 23 This content downloaded from 212.238.43.46 on Sun, 13 Apr 2014 08:48:02 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Study of this table reveals that one can predict the ending of a Latin stem if one knows the genitive singularof the word (except in Third Declension where a stem may end in a consonantor -i). A similartable for Greekwords would be as follows: TABLE2 Greek Declensions with Associated Stem Endings and Certain Case Endings Declension I II III ~~~~~i 'i~~ ~diphthong Stems in -a -e -o consonant -i -y -au -eu -ou Nom. Sing. -a,as -e,es -Ss,on various -is -y,ys -aus-eus-ous -as,es,ou -es,6u -eos* -yos,eos Gen. Sing. -ous* -6u -os -eos -eos -oos - Os*,a~s*-os*,a *--0vv -ous* -eos *indicates case endings associated with stems originally ending in consonants but compoundedas if belonging to the vowel stems in which they appear to fall. This table indicatesthat the matter is more complicatedin Greekthan in Latin, but one might suspect(correctly) that one can predict the stem ending if the nominative and genitive singularforms of a word are known. In Table 2 some conventions for transliteratingGreek into the English alphabet are introduced.It is necessaryto distinguishin Greek between the long o (omega) and the short 6 (omicron),as well as the long e (eta) and the shorte (epsilon)when determiningstems. Theoretically, removing the case endings from a Greek or Latin word should leave the stem. Practically, it does not, because the original case endings commonlyinteracted in various ways with the true stem endingsto yield the case endingswe learntoday (Tables i and 2). For example,in Latin TABLE3 Examples from Latin of Evolution of Stems and Case Endings (Letters in italics underwent vowel change (ai-ae;o-u;oi--u) or elision) Declension I II III IV V Stem lancea- equo- section- cauli- manu- specie- Nom. Sing. lancea equo-s section cauli-s manu-s specie-s Gen. Sing. lancea-i equo-i section-is cauli-is manu-ous specie-i Gen. Plur. lancea-rum equo-rum section-um cauli-um manu-um specie-rum (and became) Nom. Sing. lancea equus sectio caulis manus species Gen. Sing. lanceae equi sectionis caulis manus speciei Gen. Plur. lancearum equorum sectionum caulium manuum specierum Translation spear horse section stem hand species FEBRUARY I974 I65 This content downloaded from 212.238.43.46 on Sun, 13 Apr 2014 08:48:02 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the case ending for masculine nominative singular in Second Declension is -s. The form equo-s, however, became equus by vowel change. In the genitive singular, equo-i became equi by contraction. In both cases the original stem vowel -o is obscured. The genitive plural always gives a good indication of the stem in Latin but not in Greek. In addition to the interaction between original case and stem endings, the stems themselves were subject to well-known linguistic processes such as syncopation, elision and contraction, particularly in the most frequently used case, nominative singular. The result was that the original stem was sometimes drastically abbreviated in nominative singular, although it is usually intact in the other cases. Third Declension is particularly prone to stem abbreviation, such as: Greek "light" phos (nom. sing.) phot6s (gen. sing.); Latin "flower" flos (nom. sing.) floris (gen. sing.); Greek "hair" thrix (nom. sing.) trichos (gen. sing.); Latin "barberry" berberis (nom.