Golden Eagle's scientific name (1 Viewer)

[Gonçalo Elias]

Hi all,

The scientific name of the Golden Eagle is Aquila chrysaetos, however in older books it is spelled Aquila chrysaëtos (originally Falco chrysaëtos from Linnaeus).

It seems that the diaeresis (tréma) over the E is no longer used.

I would like to know if there was a formal decision by some committee to drop this diacritical mark or people just stopped using it for sake of simplicity.

Best regards,
Gonçalo

 

[l_raty]

The ICZN does not allow diacritics in scientific names. If one is present, it must be removed.

ICZN Art. 27:

Article 27. Diacritic and other marks
No diacritic or other mark (such as an apostrophe), or ligature of the letters a and e (æ) or o and e (œ) is to be used in a scientific name; the hyphen is to be used only as specified in Article 32.5.2.4.3.

ICZN Art. 32.5:

32.5. Spellings that must be corrected (incorrect original spellings)
[...]
32.5.2. A name published with a diacritic or other mark, ligature, apostrophe, or hyphen, or a species-group name published as separate words of which any is an abbreviation, is to be corrected.
32.5.2.1. In the case of a diacritic or other mark, the mark concerned is deleted, except that in a name published before 1985 and based upon a German word, the umlaut sign is deleted from a vowel and the letter "e" is to be inserted after that vowel (if there is any doubt that the name is based upon a German word, it is to be so treated).
Examples. nuñezi is corrected to nunezi, and mjøbergi to mjobergi, but mülleri (published before 1985) is corrected to muelleri.

 

[Gonçalo Elias]

Thanks l_raty

Best regards,
Gonçalo

 

[janvanderbrugge]

Bom dia, Gonçalo,
I do not know of any bird species which is named after someone who has or had the same Christian name as you, but its name would be spelt goncaloi and thus turn out to be hardly recognizable for the dedicated person . . . Well, that's a negative effect of the uniformity in international spelling rules. It is not quite new, for Brazilian names like Jaçana and çocoi were mutilated in the same way: Jacana, Ardea cocoi etc. I still consider it as a loss in bird names (and also in valuable use of language), but the birds don't care, of course.
Boa sorte, Jan (João, which would not be allowed van der Brugge

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

mjöbergi and/to mjobergi

Welcome back to the Bird Name Etymology Forum, Gonçalo.

As usual Laurent ("l_raty") managed to explain what the (tricky) ICZ Code dictates ...

Note that, for examples; the (Snowy-browed) Flycatcher subspecies Ficedula hyperythra mjobergi HARTERT 1925 (here) was described as "DENDROBIASTES HYPERYTHRUS mjöbergi" [later a k a F. h. "mjoebergi", in for example; Check-list of Birds of the World (1931–52), by James Lee Peters] contrary to the (Plain-throated) Sunbird subspecies Anthreptes malacensis mjobergi BANGS & PETERS 1927 (here). See attached excerpts.

Mr Mjöberg wasn't German (but Swedish), no doubts about that, nor was this/his name based upon a German word, hence the change from ö to o (on the former one).

I don't know any bird originally described as "mjoebergi"* and certainly not as "mjøbergi" (with the Danish alt. Norweigian letter ø), like in the quoted examples from ICZN Art. 32.5 (see the very end of Laurent's post #2) ... !

Or does such a bird/name exist?!?

As Mjöberg is one of "my guys" I would definitely be glad to know of it! And, if so; in/on what combination/taxa?

Grateful for any assistance.

Björn

__________________________________________________
*Note: that this certain spelling is the one present in today's HBW Alive Key ...
Also in the cross-reference in/from mjöbergi.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Welcome back to the Bird Name Etymology Forum, Gonçalo.

As usual Laurent ("l_raty") managed to explain what the (tricky) ICZ Code dictates ...

Note that, for examples; the (Snowy-browed) Flycatcher subspecies Ficedula hyperythra mjobergi HARTERT 1925 (here) was described as "DENDROBIASTES HYPERYTHRUS mjöbergi" [later a k a F. h. "mjoebergi", in for example; Check-list of Birds of the World (1931–52), by James Lee Peters] contrary to the (Plain-throated) Sunbird subspecies Anthreptes malacensis mjobergi BANGS & PETERS 1927 (here). See attached excerpts.

Mr Mjöberg wasn't German (but Swedish), no doubts about that, nor was this/his name based upon a German word, hence the change from ö to o (on the former one).

I don't know any bird originally described as "mjoebergi"* and certainly not as "mjøbergi" (with the Danish alt. Norweigian letter ø), like in the quoted examples from ICZN Art. 32.5 (see the very end of Laurent's post #2) ... !

Or does such a bird/name exist?!?

As Mjöberg is one of "my guys" I would definitely be glad to know of it! And, if so; in/on what combination/taxa?

Grateful for any assistance.

Björn

__________________________________________________
*Note: that this certain spelling is the one present in today's HBW Alive Key ...
Also in the cross-reference in/from mjöbergi.

Re mjöbergi -mjoebergi,
why the additional 'e', if it's an attempt at a phonetic representation, why isn't it uniformy applied e.g jassana?

 

[Paul Clapham]

Re mjöbergi -mjoebergi,
why the additional 'e', if it's an attempt at a phonetic representation, why isn't it uniformy applied e.g jassana?

I don't think the ICZN had "phonetic representation" in mind when they wrote that clause. More like just restricting names to use ordinary Latin characters only.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I don't think the ICZN had "phonetic representation" in mind when they wrote that clause. More like just restricting names to use ordinary Latin characters only.

But the additional 'e' does change the sound of the word and probably results in a fair approximation of the ommited ö so what was the intention in it's inclusion if not that? It can't just be the limiting to Latin letters or they'd just use o without the e?

 

[njlarsen]

Andy,
the way I read this thread is that if the original word had for example ü in a clearly German word, the addition of an e for phonetic representation is allowed, but if letters such as ö or ä are in a Swedish word or if it is any other non-latin letter originating from any other language, phonetic representation is not allowed.

Niels

 

[Paul Clapham]

It can't just be the limiting to Latin letters or they'd just use o without the e?

Well, they have done exactly that since 1985.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Thanks for indulging my ignorance.

 

[Gonçalo Elias]

Bom dia, Gonçalo,
I do not know of any bird species which is named after someone who has or had the same Christian name as you, but its name would be spelt goncaloi and thus turn out to be hardly recognizable for the dedicated person . . . Well, that's a negative effect of the uniformity in international spelling rules. It is not quite new, for Brazilian names like Jaçana and çocoi were mutilated in the same way: Jacana, Ardea cocoi etc. I still consider it as a loss in bird names (and also in valuable use of language), but the birds don't care, of course.
Boa sorte, Jan (João, which would not be allowed van der Brugge

Thanks Jan. Makes sense

Welcome back to the Bird Name Etymology Forum, Gonçalo.

As usual Laurent ("l_raty") managed to explain what the (tricky) ICZ Code dictates ...

Note that, for examples; the (Snowy-browed) Flycatcher subspecies Ficedula hyperythra mjobergi HARTERT 1925 (here) was described as "DENDROBIASTES HYPERYTHRUS mjöbergi" [later a k a F. h. "mjoebergi", in for example; Check-list of Birds of the World (1931–52), by James Lee Peters] contrary to the (Plain-throated) Sunbird subspecies Anthreptes malacensis mjobergi BANGS & PETERS 1927 (here). See attached excerpts.

Mr Mjöberg wasn't German (but Swedish), no doubts about that, nor was this/his name based upon a German word, hence the change from ö to o (on the former one).

Thanks Björn, very interesting.