Re: New issue of JVP 2001(2) (no JOKE)

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Ken,

  There is precedent in regarding etymologies in these names by
their meaning, and not given interpretation. I will never call
*Tyrannosaurus* the "Hitler Lizard" for instance.

  *Oviraptor* = snatcher of eggs
  *Conchoraptor* = snatcher of shells
  *Velociraptor* = snatcher of swift[ness]
  *Utahraptor* = snatcher of [a/the] Utah [as if there was an
object called a Utah that could be grasped between the limbs]
  *Bambiraptor* = snatcher of Bambi [not _ever_ in reference to
the Disney character, or the Italian word "bambino", but as a
nickname for the specimen]
  *Rapator* [probably? a "revision" of _raptor_] = snatcher?
  *Eoraptor* = snatcher of the dawn
  *Variraptor* = snather of [a/the] Var [same as Utahraptor]
  *Pyroraptor* = snatcher of fire

  These are the etymological definitions. The intended and
utilized construct requires an _object_ to precede the suffix
 -raptor, a word that refers to "one who snatches ..." where the
ellipsis is the object refered to. Perhaps Nick Pharris or Ben
Creisler can explain this better.

  The inference of the use of the term "raptor" to apply to a
small predator has been to indicate some form of
"dromaeosaurid-like" theropod dinosaur, instead of the use of
the etymology; it is used as such even in birds of prey, which
_snatch_ with the feet. They are those who snatch prey.

  A point: there is as much data supporting an egg-based diet as
a mullosk-based diet in oviraptorids, all of them. Barsbold
named *Conchoraptor* on the basis of his theory that the jaws
are over-built for eggs. However, the jaws are equally suited to
both, but seem designed for the processing of circular-section
shell. If you intend to attend the 2001 SVP in Bozeman, I should
be able to demonstrate this to anyone interested.

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