bau-plans and cladistics

[Ken Kinman]

     I think you have to dig more deeply into the meanings of words to
really understand their ultimate origins.
     Bau in German means earth or ground, a burrow in the ground,
cultivation of crops in the ground, the ground or foundation upon which
buildings are built.  Bauer means farmer.  Bauen also means to cultivate or
grow (in the "ground"), as well as to build (on the ground).  The
terminology for farming and building seem to be linked in some way if we go
back far enough.  Bauplans are the groundplans or basic "structural" plans
which underlie the diversity of life on Earth.
     And to tie this in with the PhyloCode discussion, I favor
classifications which reflect broad bauplans, plus a limited number of
subdivisions (in a limited hierarchy of subdivisions---the main Linnean
ranks).
     The PhyloCode, on the other hand, will only perpetuate the strict
cladists' practice of aiming at a virtually unlimited hierarchy of finely
split subdivisions, which goes against the grain of how our brains organize
information.  If the strict cladists organized our armies, the chain of
command would be so long that it would cease to function.  Hierarchies need
some balance and limits to function well.
                           -----Ken Kinman
********************************************************
>From: "W.Wuster" <bss166 at bangor.ac.uk>
>To: Ken Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com>
>CC: TAXACOM at usobi.org
>Subject: Re: baj, bao, bau, bas...
>Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 16:56:24 +0100
>
>Ken Kinman wrote:
> >
> >      I wish I had a good dictionary with me, because the more I think
>about
> > it, the more I believe there is definitely a pattern here.  I think many
>of
> > these words starting with ba- probably had a common origin, meaning
>lowly,
> > on the ground, base (multiple meanings):
> >       bas- (Latin), bau- (German), baj- (Spanish), and bao- (various).
> >       Bao as a tortoise (crawler) makes sense, and bao-bao  for crawling
> > insects, the repetition emphasizing this (just as we might say "creepy
> > crawly" insects).  Bauplan (German, "ground"-plan).
>
>Sorry, but Bauplan comes from "Bauen" which means "to build".
>
> > Babble (lowly talk?)
>
>Isn't that likely to be an onomatopeic expression?
>
>Cheers,
>
>Wolfgang
>
>--
>Dr. Wolfgang Wüster  -  Lecturer
>School of Biological Sciences    Tel: +44 1248 382301
>University of Wales              Fax: +44 1248 371644
>Bangor LL57  2UW                 E-mail: w.wuster at bangor.ac.uk
>Wales, UK                        http://sbsweb.bangor.ac.uk
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