Porella etymology help sought

[Andrew K. Rindsberg]

John Steel asked about the meaning of "elegantula", which turns out not to
be an exact synonym of "elegans". According to Brown (1956), elegantula
means "very fine/tasteful/select/choice": in a word, very elegant. This is a
bit odd, because the suffix -ula is a diminutive ("little"), not an
intensifier ("very"); evidently the core meaning of "elegans" originally
referred to thinness, e.g., of fabric.

Brown, Roland Wilbur, 1957, Composition of scientific words (2nd edition):
Washington and London, Smithsonian Insitution Press, 882 pp. Still available
in a reprint edition: ISBN 0-87474-286-2. One of the most useful
English-language sources on Latin and Greek roots.

Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama