Dinosaurs, and the Greek lexicon

Really Tyrannosaurus Rex is a mix of Greek and Latin. It's common and internationally agreed that the names of species (living or extinct) bring a latin ending (the -us of Tyrannosaurus, for example). The words derive from ancient Greek or Latin or from the discoverer, as Rhinoderma darwini - the frog of Darwin, where darwini is the genitive of the latinized name of C. Darwin.

Obviuosly the reason for this usage is in the fact that modern science is born (or reborn) in Western Europe, in a time when all the scholars used Latin as the common language of science and philosophy.

Edited by Leonardo

What I was asking was, what do those nations that owe Ancient Greece nothing call dinosaurs?

An average-movie-going-living  Indian knows it through a Jew.

It's just a naming convention, based on the system introduced by Carl Linnaeus, according to which life forms are normally defined by two-fold Latin or Latinized Greek names, the first denoting the genus (for instance, Homo), the second the species (for instance, sapiens, making the scientific name for modern man Homo sapiens, as opposite to Homo neanderthalensis, the Neanderthal, or Homo erectus, etc.). Back then, in the 18th century, Latin was still used as the international language of science. By giving each species a very specific Latin name, biologists could (and can) make sure that there would be no misunderstanding as to which type of animal was meant if they referred to it in their research articles. After all, animals have different names in different languages, which could easily be a source of confusion. It's just a matter of agreement. In recent years, lots of dinosaur fossils have turned up in China, and some of them have in fact received Chinese-inspired names, such as Dilong paradoxus, an early tyrannosaurid. (Dilong means 'emperor dragon' in Chinese.)

It isn't confined to only animals either, Scale Tree.

Spondylos and Gigas are still (Ancient )Hellenic words.

Edited by Spartakus - 13-Feb-2007 at 12:46

Hmm i recall seeing an exhibition of dinnosaur fossils/bones a while ago in Cardiff, of finds from China, and i believe they had hybrid names that incorperated aspects of Chinese languages into them.
Cannot renember details though.

Says alot about Wales i guess in that the first actual Dinosau fossils i saw were from China. If you wanted to see British ones back then (the 1980s), you had to go to London.

Dynosaurus comes from the Hellenic Dynosauros or Δεινόσαυρος,where Dyno or Δεινός means terrible and sauros or σαύρα lizzard.

Edited by Spartakus - 26-Feb-2007 at 14:14

Yes,terrifying lizzard sounds more appropriate.