Did Burbidge name N. burbidgeae after his wife?

[dlybrand]

I was just reminded of this looking at the updates for Nepenthes for Everyone and remembered-- I had been thinking about this and figured it out not long ago:

Burbidge and his wife share the same last name. Species names are in Latin. Nepenthes burbidgeae literally means 'Nepenthes of Burbidge' just like Nepenthes macfarlanei means 'Nepenthes of Macfarlane'. Now for a Latin lesson:

1st declension feminine nouns end in 'ae' for the genitive. 2nd declension masculine nouns end in 'i' for the genitive. The main use of genitive case is possession (remember 'Nepenthes of Burbidge'?).

So, if Burbidge named it after himself (assuming he is a man, that is) it would be Nepenthes burbidgei. However, it is N. burbidgeae.

Now stop accusing the man!

-D. Lybrand

 

[WalterG]

Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur.

 

[dlybrand]

Hic altior viditur quam est!

I suppose I could have just said 'burbidgeae is feminine'!

-D. Lybrand

 

[glider14]

wow! i think you solved the mystery for us all!!! now i dont have to live in question about this anymore for the rest of my life!!!

 

[SydneyNeps]

You are right, having studied six years of Latin I should have noticed it, but I'm still a cynic! I still think the motivation is egotistical.

 

[dlybrand]

I think he named it burbidgeae so he could say it was named after his wife, but still let people know he discovered it! Clever... sort of.

-D. Lybrand

 

[SydneyNeps]

I think disingenuous is the word for it

 

[shokuchuu]

Speaking of nomenclature - Hamish, shouldn't argentii be referred to as 'Nepenthes of [George] Argent', instead of silver?

Your website's as great as ever, by the way!

Cheers
Amori

 

[SydneyNeps]

Probably, where I couldn't track down the description of a species (and I must admit I didn't spend days trawling the web) I used the Latin or Greek base. I will correct it accordingly. I still have blanks on some of the descriptions which I'd appreciate answers to.

 

[shokuchuu]

OK, I looked through your species list, and I came up with the following:

N. rowanae - named in honour of Ellis Rowan (ICPS);
N. ramispina - ramus = branch, spina = spine, spur (Clarke, 2001);
N. mikei - named after Mike Hopkins, late friend of Salmon & Maulder (Clarke, 2001).

As for N. edwardsiana, I give up. I like your comment for N. jacquelineae's name!

Cheers
Amori

 

[rbjong]

who named N.edwardsiana after King Edward of England?

Robert

 

[tonyc]

SydneyNeps wrote

Quote[/b] ]Probably, where I couldn't track down the description of a species (and I must admit I didn't spend days trawling the web) I used the Latin or Greek base. I will correct it accordingly. I still have blanks on some of the descriptions which I'd appreciate answers to.

I can maybe help with a few, platychila means flat lipped and clipeata is from clypeus, (a sort of Ancient Roman circular shield), referring to the round leaves.
Also, edwardsiana was named by Joseph Hooker after the Honourable George Edwards, the Governor of the Crown Colony of Labuan at the time.
Cheers,
T.

 

[SydneyNeps]

Thanks Tony, I knew platy meant flat, but for the life of me I couldn't work out the chila part as there are about 6 different 'chila' roots in Greek. I'll have to find some time on the weekend to correct things. At least changing words doesn't involve the same hassle as resizing and lining up photos.

 

[Hans Breuer]

Quote[/b] (WalterG @ Mar. 11 2006,11:45)]Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur.

You actually made me look that up! The Pox on yas!