Suggestion: Tag or Sub- tag for Scientific names
John Clews
Scripts2 at sesame.demon.co.uk
Sun Feb 2 20:26:04 CET 2003
As such, I would oppose a tag for scientific Latin: what's here in
the examples is loan words, which occur in every language.
What specific user need is served by the use of any tag for
"scientific Latin" that is not served by existing language tags?
Not to mention all the denotation issues as to "when is it
scientific, and when is it ordinary Latin, and when is it just
loan words?"
A general mechanism for 'Tag as "do not translate"' might be more
effective than this specific request for a new tag, in the examples
below. Overall, a tag for scientific Latin is a sledgehammer to crack
a nut, and possibly seeking to use the wrong tool for this particular
problem anyway.
I'd be interested in any further justification.
John Clews
In message <DfDdMd+WS+O+EwRK at pigsonthewing.org.uk>
ietf-languages at pigsonthewing.org.uk writes:
> LANGUAGE TAG REGISTRATION FORM
>
> Name of requester : Andy Mabbett
>
> E-mail address of requester: andy at pigsonthewing.org.uk
>
> Tag to be registered : SC (or possibly "LA-sci")
>
> English name of language :
>
> Scientific names (aka "Latin names") of living things
> ("Scientific Latin")
>
> Native name of language (transcribed into ASCII): n/a
>
> Reference to published description of the language (book or article):
>
> There is no single published description of this "pseudo
> language". However, the following small sample of the available
> literature may be of use:
>
> The Christian Science Monitor "What's in a scientific
> name? Maybe your own."
>
> <http://csmweb2.emcweb.com/durable/2001/01/04/fp15s1-csm.shtml>
>
>
> Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature
>
> <http://home.earthlink.net/~misaak/taxonomy.html>
>
> A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names.
> Kastner, J.
> Oxford University Press. 1986.
>
> The Dictionary of American Bird Names.
> Choate, Ernest A. Revised by R. A. Paynter, Jr.
> Harvard Common Press. 1985
>
> CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: Common Names,
> Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology
> Umberto Quattrocchi
> CRC Press November 1999
>
> Elsevier's Dictionary of Plant Names in Latin,
> English, French, German and Italian
> M Wrobel and G Creber
> Elsevier 1996
>
> The Scientific Names of the British Lepidoptera - Their
> History and Meaning
> A. Maitland
> Harley Books 1991
>
> Plus the many websites listed at:
>
> <http://home.earthlink.net/~misaak/taxonomy.html>
>
> and titles listed at:
>
> <http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index%3Dbooks%26field-subject%3DScientific%20nomenclature%20%20cl
> assification/202-3492600-6446218>
>
>
> Any other relevant information:
>
> There is currently no language tag to denote the use of
> the scientific names (often erroneously called "Latin
> names") of living things, such as plants and animals
> (e.g. Homo sapiens). While such names are often composed
> of, or derived from, Latin terms, they can also be
> created from "Latinised" words taken from other
> languages, including Greek, English & other Western
> languages, languages local to the habitat of the plant
> or creature described, place names, word- play, family
> names and even words invented for fiction (e.g.
> characters in Tolkien or Star Trek).
>
> For example:
>
> Brachypelma albopilosum
> (Brachypelma, from the Greek)
>
> Ekgmowechashala philotae
> (the North American Lakota language)
>
> Uluops uluops
> (from "ulu", an Eskimo knife)
>
> Linnaea borealis
> (in honour of Linneaus)
>
> Ardeola grayii
> (in honour of John Edward Gray, a
> biologist)
>
> Nepenthes sumatrana
> (from the place name "Sumatra")
>
> Phyllidia polkadotsa
> ("polka-dotted")
>
> Draculoides bramstokeri
> (in honour of the character Dracula and
> its author, Bram Stoker)
>
> Calponea harrisonfordi
> (in honour of Harrison Ford, the actor)
>
> Ba humbugi
> (a quote from Dickens' 'A Christmas
> Carol')
>
> Ytu brutus
> (a quote from Shakespeare, "Et U,
> Brutus?)
>
> Polemistus chewbacca
> (a character from the film 'Star Wars')
>
> Crex crex
> (onomatopoeia)
>
> Phthiria relativitae
> (a play on "The Theory of Relativity")
>
> Abra cadabra
> (a magical pun)
>
> Orizabus subaziro
> (a palindrome)
>
> Agra vation
> (a play on "aggravation")
>
> Bombylius aureocookae
> (a play on "oreo cookie")
>
> Heerz lukenatcha
> (a play on "here's looking at you")
>
> Cyclocephala nodanotherwon
> (a play on "not another one")
>
> Zyzzyx chilensis
> (???!!!)
>
>
> The use of the tag "LA" for Latin, while it may act as a
> useful guide for pronunciation in some cases, is clearly
> inappropriate for many such names, which will not occur
> in regular Latin dictionaries.
>
> I propose a tag for such names (which commonly occur in
> the midst of prose written in another language), or,
> alternatively, a sub- tag of the "LA" tag.
>
> The tag will allow clients to be aware that they should
> NOT translate Scientific names when translating the text
> of a document in which they are included; Homo sapiens
> is Homo sapiens in French, German, English or Serbo-
> Croat.
>
> There is convention to abbreviate second occurrences of
> such names:
>
> <http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000047.htm>
>
> thus:
>
> "Homo sapiens has a bigger brain that H.
> erectus"
>
> and that the proposed tag (or sub-tag) will potentially
> allow the second such occurrence to be pronounced in
> full by speech synthesis software, as it would be in
> normal speech:
>
> "Homo sapiens has a bigger brain that Homo
> erectus"
>
> Scientific names are conventionally rendered, on paper
> or screen, in italics (or sometimes underlined) <ibid.>;
> a unique tag will potentially allow rendering to be
> facilitated automatically by clients (or via style
> sheets in HTML and other mark- up schema).
>
>
> I am grateful to Harald Tveit Alvestrand for his
> response to my initial suggestion.
>
> I have been advised that an "asbestos proof" suit might
> be needed; as a newcomer to this system, I trust that
> this will not be the case; I will gladly submit a
> revised proposal, in the light of guidance from friends
> more learned and familiar with the procedure than I.
> Comments from zoologists, botanists or taxonomists would
> also be welcome.
> --
> Andy Mabbett
>
> Birmingham, UK
> andy at pigsonthewing.org.uk
>
> --
> Andy Mabbett
>
> Birmingham, UK
> andy at pigsonthewing.org.uk
> _______________________________________________
> Ietf-languages mailing list
> Ietf-languages at alvestrand.no
> http://www.alvestrand.no/mailman/listinfo/ietf-languages
Best regards
John Clews
--
John Clews,
Keytempo Limited (Information Management),
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Email: Scripts at sesame.demon.co.uk
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