Re: Response II and Roman emperors

["Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Dinogeorge wrote:

> Likewise try-CARE-uh-tops (Triceratops) and Care-uh-TOPE-yuh (Ceratopia)

What this boils down to is whether pronunciations of scientific names should 
follow the conventions of the native language from which they are derived.  
IMHO, it should be for the person who names the taxon to decide how it is 
pronounced.

Sure, Aristotle or Sophocles would have pronounced "Triceratops" with a hard 
"c" - but the genus was named by an English-speaker who no doubt would also 
have pronounced "Julius Caesar" with a soft "c" (as in Caesar salad).  Ditto 
_Triceratops_.


Garth Godsman wrote:

> I remember seeing an icon of a Byzantine Emperor that
> had the legend in Greek (if I can remember how to
> spell it correctly) "Basileus Romanoi" - King of the
> Romans.

Basileus Romaioi (I think).  Though known to modern historians as the 
"Byzantine Empire", the people (and rulers) of this Greek-speaking east 
Mediterranean realm saw themselves as the continuation of the eastern Roman 
Empire - even though Italy (and the city of Rome) was not part of the Empire 
(apart from a brief period following the conquests of Justinian the Great in 
the 6th century).


Tim

------------------------------------------------------------

Timothy J. Williams

USDA/ARS Researcher
Agronomy Hall
Iowa State University
Ames IA 50014

Phone: 515 294 9233
Fax:   515 294 3163

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