Re: Giganotosaurus carolinii

[pharrinj@PLU.edu]

On Sun, 7 Jan 1996, Amado Narvaez wrote:

> I'm still not entirely certain about the cadence to the pronunciation of 
> Giganotosaurus. Of course, it may be like Parasaurolophus, which seems to 
> be pronounced two different ways depending on the paleontologist 
> speaking. If I'm way off base, someone let me know and I'll go back to 
> the drawing board/rhyming dictionary.
> 

My preference is for GI-ga-NOH-toh-SAWR-us  KAR-oh-LIN-ee-eye, to 
preserve the flavor of the Greek and to emphasize the presence of two i's 
at the end. of the species name.  (Note: the first sound is /g/ as in 
"give".)

> For the record, the name derives from the Latin "gigan" for giant, the 
> Greek "notos" for austral (or southern) and of course the greek "sauros" 
> for reptile. (It surprises me a little that two different languages are 
> used to give a name to one creature, but I suppose that's not really 
> rare. Lends an educational, multicultural aspect to dinosaur study, 
> especially since this is a dinosaur found in a Spanish-speaking 
> country...

The name could at least as well be interpreted as all Greek, coming from:

_gigas_ = giant (noun) + _notos_ = the South Wind + sauros 

> 
> ----- Amado Narvaez
>       anarvaez@umd5.umd.edu
> 

     Nick Pharris
     Pacific Lutheran University
     Tacoma, WA