Taxacom: Single official lists of taxa (sensu Doug Yanega many proposals to this list)

[Douglas Yanega]

On 7/5/23 1:54 PM, John Noyes wrote:
> Hi Doug,
>
> Fair enough, but you cannot get away from the argument that gender 
> agreement is just simply 100% unnecessary. Forget about it being a 
> waste of time. If we all worked on the premise that all genera have no 
> gender then it would make life a whole lot easier. Like many people I 
> definitely prefer the original spelling.

And you work, by and large, with species names that rarely enter the 
non-taxonomic literature. In contrast, using a few other hymenopteran 
genera as examples, consider that many of the most common bumblebee 
species in the world, and many of the most common ants, and many of the 
most common paper wasps, would all suddenly have to change spellings 
because they have been in masculine genera for over 100 years, but their 
original Linnaean or Fabrician genera were feminine (e.g., Apis, 
Formica, and Vespa). The many people - including laypeople - who are 
familiar with common European species like Bombus lapidarius, Camponotus 
herculeanus, and Polistes gallicus wouldn't be happy *at all*.


The best estimate is that around 1/6th of the most well-known animal 
species in the world would have to change their spellings if we revert 
to original spellings (excluding butterflies). That would be the 
absolute biggest public relations nightmare we could ever ask for. If 
you think the furor over "offensive names" is bad, just imagine how much 
worse the public outcry would be if we told everyone that 1/6th of the 
animal species they know suddenly have different scientific names.


Maybe, if you worked on a group in the public awareness, you might feel 
a little differently about the matter.


> That way it would be completely objective and 100% stable.

Changing 1/6th of all well-known names is *not* promoting stability.

> However, if we had to determine the gender of every single genus it 
> would probably take at least 3 weeks even using the system that you 
> might be talking about because there is a good proportion of names 
> that would have to be argued over (e.g. Trichogramma, one of the 
> best-known genera in parasitic wasps which is currently used as neuter 
> whereas it is actually of female gender; Tetramesa is another that 
> springs to mind). Also, If we had to check the status (adjective, noun 
> in apposition, etc.) of every species name it would take a good six 
> months, even using the UCD. I think 6 months is minimum because very 
> many names appear to be adjectival, but might just be nouns in 
> apposition, e.g. flavus (a Roman general).
>
You seem to have missed the point I was making, that we don't want 
anyone to "argue over" anything, ever again. Complying with gender 
agreement can be trivially easy, and not involve any linguistic research 
at all, *and no arguing*.


Case in point, under Article 30.1.2 of the Code, all names ending in 
"-gramma" are neuter, because "γράμμα" (gramma) is a Greek neuter noun 
transliterated directly into the Latin alphabet, and usage by the 
coining author is explicitly not taken into consideration.


"30.1.2. a genus-group name that is or ends in a Greek word 
transliterated into Latin without other changes takes the gender given 
for that word in standard Greek dictionaries"


https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wiktionary.org%2Fwiki%2F%25CE%25B3%25CF%2581%25CE%25AC%25CE%25BC%25CE%25BC%25CE%25B1&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cbc3d64ecf55840e7599708db7da5af3a%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638241922812122696%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=B3t6skoXFNEdNn2YxwbCy2LX0%2BCe%2BqamiTj2Uesf%2Bpk%3D&reserved=0


You appear instead to be looking at "γραμμή" (gramme), which is indeed 
feminine, but does not transliterate as "gramma".


https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wiktionary.org%2Fwiki%2F%25CE%25B3%25CF%2581%25CE%25B1%25CE%25BC%25CE%25BC%25CE%25AE&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cbc3d64ecf55840e7599708db7da5af3a%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638241922812122696%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=hWSV7c9Wb3QJ3nXam1d8w8f%2BARQFUWepkaRnnuLsPp4%3D&reserved=0


In fact, there is a natively Latin noun "gramma" already, and it is also 
neuter.


https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wiktionary.org%2Fwiki%2Fgramma%23Latin&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cbc3d64ecf55840e7599708db7da5af3a%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638241922812122696%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=8Ly%2Br4kbPl2sXeLCF3kk4ud6KKJemP8CB0NgCwEugkw%3D&reserved=0


Accordingly, we appear to have an argument on our hands. However, 
*arguing* is a waste of your time and my time. It would save everyone a 
lot of annoyance if you were able to simply consult an official list of 
genus names and suffixes, where it says "-gramma" is always neuter and 
"-gramme" is always feminine. *Then there is no more argument*. Same for 
declaring that names like "flavus" are always adjectival, even if 
someone, somewhere, used them as a noun. If we try hard enough, can we 
dig up obscure references that use nouns as adjectives, or adjectives as 
nouns? Maybe we can, but linguistic research is *not our job*.


No taxonomist should *ever* have to do linguistic research again; we CAN 
eliminate that, by having lists, and still keep gender agreement 
completely intact as a practice. All of the alternatives to official 
lists are much worse, including the status quo.


Sincerely,

-- 
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
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