[Taxacom] Code enquiry

[Thomas G. Lammers]

At 11:07 PM 11/11/2009, Simon Tillier wrote:
>D'Urville, in French, translates into "of Urville" in English,
>which in Latin is declined as a genitive, ie durvillae because
>"Urville" is feminine (like "villa") - actually it could (should?)
>have been "urvillae".

That makes sense: the -ae was an attempt to Latinize "of Urville" as 
"urvillae" and THEN tack on the final -a to make it a substantive.  It was 
the "D-" on the front that is rather redundant, resulting in possession 
expressed in both the French and the Latin style; "Urvillaea" would have 
been more logical, I guess.  I suppose it reflects the confusion that 
non-Francophones (like moi!) have with initial articles.


Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Curator of the Neil A. Harriman Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
800 Algoma Blvd.
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-1002
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and 
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.

Webpages:
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