Poll: How familiar are you with the name: Xenopus Laevis

[Necromencer]

Well hello there, some of you may know me from my rather long introductory post about the ACF.

I've read quite a lot about these little fellows and as a student of ancient languages (mainly Latin, Ancient Greek and Coptic) I'm especially interested in the names of the animals I'm interested in.

So, that said, out of the following, what do you fit the most in:

A) I thought that X.L was from Latin.

B) I thought that X.L was from Ancient Greek.

C) I thought that X.L was a hybrid of both Latin and Ancient Greek.

D) I thought that X.L the first bit is a hybrid and the latter is Latin.









Answer:


D) Xenopus Laevis is a hybrid of Latin and Ancient Greek:

Xeno: ξένος (ΞΕΝΟΣ): Used in literature as a stranger, an unknown foreigner. Today it is used as a foreign element.

Pus: ΠΥΣ or πούς It's not Latin, the Latin form is 'pes': meaning 'foot'


Laevis: Late Latin for 'smooth or young'. Classical Latin form would be 'Levis', which is more faithful to modern Latin derivatives. Spanish 'leve' comes into mind.



So, X.L literally means 'smoothed strange foot' Interesting!

Many websites claim that it is Latin only, so don't be misleaded!

[Felis]

Hi,

interesting info, thanks. I thought "Xenopus" to be derived from Ancient Greek and "laevis" from Latin, so I think it´s C).

Just a remark (no offense): the epitheton of a scientific species´ name is never written in capital letters, so it´s "Xenopus laevis" instead of "X. Laevis"