| Dear Loxias, I'm trying to find the English translation of several Latin words, which I cannot locate in any Latin-English dictionaries. The words in question are: Strigiformes Striges Strigidae Tytonidae Striginae Tytoninae Tyto Otus Asio Could you help me translate these, or direct me to someone who could? I cannot afford to pay for this favor, but your assistance would bring you great blessings in the afterlife. Thank you for your time. With Kindest Regards, Dr. D |
| Dear Dr D I don't believe in an afterlife - so this must be pure altruism! As an ornithologist and Latin scholar you have come to the right place: *Strigiformes - entities formed/shaped like screech owls > Striges - screech owls (singular strix) - Latin, but derived from Greek strinx (screecher) > *Strigidae - sons of the screech owl > *Tytonidae - sons of the night owl > *Striginae - entities (female) resembling screech owls > *Tytoninae - enties (female) resembling night owls > Tyto - When barn owls were placed in a separate family by Billberg in 1828, somewhere he found the exceedingly rare Greek word tyto - it occurs only once, in Hesychius, an ancient encyclopedia, where it's glossed as "night owl". > Otus - surprisingly the name scops is a Greek word for a small kind of owl (I once thought it was a name like Tengmalm's owl) - but otus is equally good Greek - being used by Aristotle for an "eared" owl (it derives from the Greek word for ear - as in otorhinolaryngologist). > Asio - a Latin word this time, used twice by Pliny to mean a horned owl. The words marked * are not real Latin - I've translated them though as if they were - doubtless you know the scientific meanings. The namers of owls seem to have had problems - strix (tawny owl) undoubtedly was the common name for a barn owl in Latin (onomatpoeia) - but it seems a bit hard that the Barn Owl has ended up with some obscure name while the Tawny makes off with the appropriate one! Also the Little Owl (Greek glaux) - the symbol of Athens is commemorated in the name Athene - but what happened to glaux? |