Re: I think.....

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Posted by CptvBrdr on March 09, 2001 at 05:34:33:

In Reply to: I think..... posted by Nazzareno on March 09, 2001 at 04:54:11:

The problem is 99.9% of all herpers are not latin scholars. I assume all students of latin do pronounce it the same way, often termed "classical latin".
But in herpetoculture, as well as horticulture, the majority of enthusiasts are laymen, and this has resulted in a different method of pronouncing the words, which is basically latin with an English influence.
Take the word biceps for instance, as explained in one of the links from my previous post. In english the word is pronounced "bye-seps" while a student of classical latin would pronounce it "bickeps".
My position is that the purpose and benefit of using latin in taxonomy lies not in the proper pronunciation, but in the ability to communicate the positive identification of a species. When the majority of people in the hobby use the english pronunciation of latin, then one who uses the scholars pronunciation will often fail to be understood.
For the record I also pronounce Elaphe the way you outlined, but that is an easy and very common name.

: that if there isn't official "right" way to pronounce latin there is a convention used by latin scholar and all read latin the same way.
: elaphe is E as in Education, LA as in large , FE as in federal with the stress on the first E.
: Nazzareno

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: The problem is 99.9% of all herpers are not latin scholars. I assume all students of latin do pronounce it the same way, often termed "classical latin". : But in herpetoculture, as well as horticulture, the majority of enthusiasts are laymen, and this has resulted in a different method of pronouncing the words, which is basically latin with an English influence. : Take the word biceps for instance, as explained in one of the links from my previous post. In english the word is pronounced "bye-seps" while a student of classical latin would pronounce it "bickeps". : My position is that the purpose and benefit of using latin in taxonomy lies not in the proper pronunciation, but in the ability to communicate the positive identification of a species. When the majority of people in the hobby use the english pronunciation of latin, then one who uses the scholars pronunciation will often fail to be understood. : For the record I also pronounce Elaphe the way you outlined, but that is an easy and very common name. : : : that if there isn't official "right" way to pronounce latin there is a convention used by latin scholar and all read latin the same way. : : elaphe is E as in Education, LA as in large , FE as in federal with the stress on the first E. : : Nazzareno

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