Taxacom: Mandatory ending correction after 226 years of wrong usage - the Dasytes case

[Douglas Yanega]

On 1/29/25 4:37 PM, Michael Heads wrote:
> I was trying to figure out why the authors formerly treated Dasytes as 
> masculine, and why Monotes is still treated as masculine.
> Here's something from GreekPod on -tes as a masculine ending (it isn't 
> listed in the list of feminine endings):
> *-ης*Examples: ο λογιστής (/o loyistís/) meaning “the accountant”; ο 
> υπολογιστής (/o ipoloyistís/) meaning “the computer”; ο πελάτης (/o 
> pelátis/) meaning “the customer”; ο μαθητής (/o mathitís/) meaning 
> “the student.”
>
> Following the argument for Dasytes being feminine, should Monotes be 
> treated as feminine? Or does it depend on the root rather than the suffix?

Monotes is a tree, and governed by a different Code, but it IS a Greek 
noun, and it is feminine:

https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.perseus.tufts.edu%2Fhopper%2Fmorph%3Fl%3Dmonoths%26la%3Dgreek&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C6265c5c5b21344b5ab5508dd40c9076b%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638737955646338670%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C60000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=E9ETwzSOBrYNYlN%2Fw%2BHo0ptiWtJcqOi21EM60dlmM5g%3D&reserved=0

Apparently "unity" qualifies as "a state of being". The most literal 
English translation of monotes would be "oneness", just as for dasytes 
it would be "hairiness".

The genders of tree genera are a bewildering morass, however, so I can't 
tell you what's correct for Monotes.

That said, as I noted, these endings are not always suffixes, and do not 
have fixed gender. If the entire name is not in a standard Greek 
dictionary, and there is no etymology given by the author, you're likely 
to have trouble.

I have in my notes that Arotes, Chirotes, Colotes, Ecrizotes, Nesiotes, 
Taeniotes, and Toxotes are masculine, but Agriotes, Gaurotes, Lipotes, 
and Microtes are feminine. You have to look each one up, you can't just 
look at the ending and guess.

Peace,

-- 
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314  voicemail:951-827-8704
FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffaculty.ucr.edu%2F~heraty%2Fyanega.html&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C6265c5c5b21344b5ab5508dd40c9076b%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638737955646356655%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C60000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=rfrqvFLgOVXJkZshKO5PJvUnvWn9%2Blnov53Ads%2Fupy8%3D&reserved=0
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82