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Post by faith on Sept 13, 2015 7:55:49 GMT
How about starting a new thread on it somewhere then?
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Post by stigofthedump on Sept 13, 2015 8:09:21 GMT
Indeed.
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Post by earthdragon64 on Sept 15, 2015 17:12:16 GMT
Knowing the scientific name is also useful if conversing with botanists from other countries. I regularly go out with a group which has a lady originally from Germany who, even though her spoken English is very good, mostly only knows German common names for plants rather than English common names, and she also uses a German flora. As the Latin is the same for both floras, we can converse quite well botanically speaking, although she reckons the British pronunciation of Latin is abysmal...........but that's another argument entirely!
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Post by faith on Sept 15, 2015 18:37:11 GMT
Thinks: a thread on the pronunciation of Latin names should provoke plenty of controversy! I have a friend, a very well respected botanist, who says the pronunciation 'should return to the way Linnaeus had it'. But when I asked whether that meant we should pronounce all the names with a Swedish accent he came over all grumpy!
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Post by aeshna5 on Sept 16, 2015 4:49:28 GMT
Strictly not latin names as many are of Greek origin or even made up words. Scientific name is the best description. Problem is so many change so much these days it's difficult to keep up with changes in nomenclature as the science changes the relationships between various taxa.
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Post by faith on Sept 16, 2015 9:07:37 GMT
Yes of course one shouldn't say 'Latin names' but in the case of pronunciation, it is the Latin ones which are usually the problem. Hard c versus soft c, long a versus short a, and so on – that's where botanists tend to come to blows, depending, quite often, on whether they were public school- or state school- educated (or claim not to have been educated at all . . . )
Which is worse, I wonder, scientific names changing from time time (sometimes back to what they changed from 20 years ago) or vernacular names changing from place to place?
Start a new thread, someone, on nomenclature and pronunciation.
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