Taxon

[Piera e Piero VISENTINI]

The word "taxon" is a greek one,
whose correct spelling at singular_nominative
should be taxiV
"taxis" (order, arrangement),
originating from the verbe
tassw  "tasso" (I put in order).
"Taxon" should be the singular_accusative and
"taxa" the plural_accusative.


Pietro Visentini, Dr. Psychologist,
Entomologist
pieronev at tin.it
Via delle Melette 5
35138 PADOVA Italy
+390498714410
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Da: Jose H. Leal <jleal at GATE.NET>
A: TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
Oggetto: Re: The plural forms
Data: mercoledì 1 dicembre 1999 16.59

In the late 1970s, one of my professors of theoretical systematics in São
Paulo, Brasil (who also happened to be a former priest, and a student of
Latin and old Greek) mentioned in passing that the word "taxon" qualified
as pseudo-Greek and that, as such, formation of its plural in Portuguese
should be "taxons", not "taxa". Any truth to that? Comments?
__________________________________________________________________________
José H. Leal, Ph.D.
Director, The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
Editor-in-chief, THE NAUTILUS
jleal at gate.net
http://www.uwp.edu/academic/biology/bmsm/bm_shell.htm
3075 Sanibel-Captiva Road
Sanibel, FL 33957 USA
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