Linne or Linnaeous question

[Thomas G. Lammers]

At 06:39 PM 2/17/04, Robin Leech wrote:
>The title page of the 10th Edition of Systema Naturae reads: CAROLI
>LINNAEI.  The 1753 edition (volume I) of Species Plantarum reads: CAROLI
>LINNAEI

Yes, genitive case.  Best translated as "of Carl Linnaeus."

>Just for the hell of it, I checked in Charles Clerck's (=Carl Clerck in
>Swedish, and Caroli Clerck in Latin) 1757 book on spiders titled "Svenska
>Spindlar/Aranei Svecici", and Clerck, last page of text, wrote CARL
>LINNAEUS at the upper half of the page (in Swedish), and CAROLO LINNAEO in
>the bottom half of the page (in Latin).

Yes, ablative case.  Best translated as "by Carl Linnaeus."

It is astounding how often I have seen seemingly knowledgeable people say
that his name was "Carolus" Linnaeus, based these Latin title pages, or
that "Carolus Linnaeus" was a Latinized form of his "real" name, Carl von
Linne.

I don't think there is another soul in the history of biology whose name is
so frequently garbled and misunderstood.