[Taxacom] ubiquist??

[Laurent Raty]

On 10/02/2012 07:24 AM, Stephen Thorpe wrote:
> FYI, an off-list reply (from a French Canadian) stated this: Three of
> the authors of this paper, including the first one, are French, and
> the French word for ubiquitous and ubiquity is ubiquiste. The use of
> ubiquist in English is thus a gallicism.


Actually, it does exist...

Merriam-Webster's "Unabridged dictionary" has it:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ubiquist

Barrows (2000), "Animal behavior desk reference - A dictionary of animal 
behavior, ecology, and evolution":
http://www.crcnetbase.com/doi/abs/10.1201/NOE0849320057.ch21

Hanson ("MCMLXII" [= 1962]), "Dictionary of ecology":
http://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofecol00hansrich#page/359/mode/1up

...So, it may not be ubiquitous ;), but it seems to be used, at least by 
North American ecologists. And it has been in some specialised 
dictionaries for 50 years, hence it isn't exactly a new thing either...

The use of it as an adjective is very likely a gallicism, though. (It's 
an adjective in French.)

Cheers, Laurent -