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Degredado
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Topic: Dinosaurs, and the Greek lexicon Posted: 14-Mar-2006 at 12:22 |
Out of more of my dumb curiosity, I was wondering...here in the west, we tend to give dinosaurs Greek names. After all, Greece is considered the intellectual cradle of Europe. It makes sense. But what about countries like China, India, or Iran, who don't owe the Greeks that much? What would a Chinese man call a dinosaur he's just discovered? How does one say Tyrannosaurus Rex in Japanese, or Korean?
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Leonardo
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Posted: 14-Mar-2006 at 14:28 |
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
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Paul
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Posted: 15-Mar-2006 at 05:06 |
I always find it a bit peculiar. The protestants translated the bible centuries ago, but scientists still won't let us understand what they're saying.....
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Degredado
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Posted: 15-Mar-2006 at 13:41 |
What I was asking was, what do those nations that owe Ancient Greece nothing call dinosaurs?
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tadamson
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Posted: 16-Mar-2006 at 07:21 |
Originally posted by Degredado
What I was asking was, what do those nations that owe Ancient Greece nothing call dinosaurs? |
The terminology is used worldwide by all paleontologists.
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rgds.
Tom..
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Answer
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Posted: 31-Mar-2006 at 09:35 |
An average-movie-going-living Indian knows it through a Jew.
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Athanasios
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Posted: 27-Jan-2007 at 20:10 |
As it happens in all sciences , so in palaiontology Latin and ancient Greek languages are used.Especially ancient Greek language can describe something whith scientific accuracy . For example tyrannosaurus rex means lizard wich causes fear+ king(rex= latin).Eventhough ancient greeks may haven't had seen such a beast , they would be able to use the suitable words to describe it.
Objectively ancient greek language is devine...You can hardly find modern Greeks who speak our ancient dialect fluently.
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Lepidodendron
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Posted: 27-Jan-2007 at 22:46 |
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.)
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Imperator Invictus
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Posted: 28-Jan-2007 at 00:54 |
Exactly. The reason why animals and dinosaurs have Latin- and Greek-derived names is because Latin and Greek were the languages of the "educated people" during the 18th and 19th century western world. The latin terms are also recognized internationally, in China, India, etc.
The naming is not unique to dinosaurs. All animals have Latin and Greek names. For example, the siberian tiger is known as Panthera tigris altaica
Edited by Imperator Invictus - 28-Jan-2007 at 00:58
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red clay
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Posted: 28-Jan-2007 at 10:14 |
It isn't confined to only animals either, Scale Tree.
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"Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces".
Unknown.
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Lepidodendron
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Posted: 09-Feb-2007 at 19:22 |
Of course, a case could be made for restoring some old nomenclature for
species that are today known under totally different names, such as Manospondylus gigas (Cope, 1892):
(M. gigas!) and especially Scrotum humanum (Brookes, 1763):
S. humanum
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Spartakus
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Posted: 13-Feb-2007 at 12:45 |
Spondylos and Gigas are still (Ancient )Hellenic words.
Edited by Spartakus - 13-Feb-2007 at 12:46
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"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. "
--- Joseph Alexandrovitch Brodsky, 1991, Russian-American poet, b. St. Petersburg and exiled 1972 (1940-1996)
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pekau
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Posted: 16-Feb-2007 at 02:30 |
Sigh, another Western dominance over East...
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Join us.
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Cywr
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Posted: 17-Feb-2007 at 19:49 |
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.
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Arrrgh!!"
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Mordoth
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Posted: 25-Feb-2007 at 19:49 |
Dynosaurus means " Terrible Creature " in Greek .
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If Electricity Comes from Electrons ; does Morality come from Morons :|
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Spartakus
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Posted: 26-Feb-2007 at 14:13 |
Dynosaurus comes from the Hellenic Dynosauros or Δεινόσαυρος,where Dyno or Δεινός means terrible and sauros or σαύρα lizzard.
In other words,Dynosauros=terrible lizzard
Edited by Spartakus - 26-Feb-2007 at 14:14
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"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. "
--- Joseph Alexandrovitch Brodsky, 1991, Russian-American poet, b. St. Petersburg and exiled 1972 (1940-1996)
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Neoptolemos
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Posted: 26-Feb-2007 at 15:44 |
Depending on the context, dynos (δεινός) means terrible, terrifying, fearsome, formidable, admirable.
I think a more appropriate definition for dynosaurus is "terrifying lizard" or "owe inspiring lizard", because of it's size.
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Spartakus
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Posted: 26-Feb-2007 at 18:03 |
Yes,terrifying lizzard sounds more appropriate.
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"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. "
--- Joseph Alexandrovitch Brodsky, 1991, Russian-American poet, b. St. Petersburg and exiled 1972 (1940-1996)
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Athanasios
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Posted: 03-Mar-2007 at 21:58 |
it sounds funnier actually
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