Okay so I’ve been identifying for almost a year now, and I always learn the scientific names. Every species I know how to identify, I know the scientific name. BUT… I have no idea how to pronounce them! I would hate to be talking with someone and totally butcher a binomial name like that. I’m hones…

This is a little off topic but the double end “ii” is pronounced longer? Sounds similar to Japanese. Where if there are two vowels that are the same, you say the sound longer. For instance the adjective “Kawaii” (可愛い/かわいい) which means cute. The “いい” = “ii” but you don’t just say one i, you drag o…

For practical purposes, you can pronounce the double I same as the single I. The ending means the same in an epithet.

It has already been said! Mostly, don’t worry, we all pronounce things differently sometimes. For example, any time I see Ratibida pinnata, I sing it to the tune of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Ratibida pinnata, honey Don’t you know that I’m lovin’ you Ratibida pinnata, baby Don’t you know that I’ll al…

I wouldn’t worry too much about pronouncing things “correctly.” Many of the people who I’ve met who are the most strict about using the “correct” pronunciation don’t even pronounce the names as they would be pronounced in Latin or Greek. I used to pronounce Eriogonum almost as /ɛɹɪɘɡonəm/ (eri-uh-GO…

No, I mean that “-ii” is pronounced like two syllables. Do you know that glottal stop sound? In Tongan, at least, it’s written ’ [EDIT: Ignore this. I was wrong for how most people pronounce scientific names.] The -ii ending is pronounced (in English) ee’ee or ee’eye, like it has a glottal sto…

-ii is from when they Latinized the author’s name as well. So if it’s called thomasii it’s because Thomas was latinized to Thomasius, then with the possessive replacing the suffix it becomes thomasii. -i is when the root is the unlatinized name (which personally I prefer, I’d rather minimize the eff…

Divided by a common language? I wouldn’t pronounce xeno as if it was written with z (zed to me and zee to you?)

Imagine if we could streamline the taxonomy rules and call it Plant Thomas and ditch the ivory tower dead grammar rules - which serve only as a barrier to keep out the rabble. That ThomasII is linguistics, not biology. Then when taxonomists change the Plant bit, again, Thomas could sail on undistu…

My colleague, who is now an engineer, but first studied classical history before completely changing course, has recently explained to me that we are all pronouncing Latin wrong, because what is now the accepted pronunciation of Latin, in church, medicine, biology … is completely different from how …

Where Do I Start With Pronouncing Scientific Names?

Nature Talk

egordon88 June 25, 2022, 4:22am 32

Example: Penstemon richardsonii

Richard-sown-ee-eye

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Where Do I Start With Pronouncing Scientific Names?

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