Alipiopsitta
al-ih-pee-op-SIT-uh
Genus
the fat-winged parrot (or: the richly-winged parrot)
Literally: wing + fat/rich + parrot
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| ali- | a wing (ala) | Latin (al, =a, -i) | combining form ali- from ala, -ae (f.) |
| -pio- | fat, rich | Greek (pio, -n) | shortened combining form of pion; connects ali- to the following element |
| -psitta | a parrot | Greek (psitt, -ac, =acus) | shortened to psitta- as a terminal element, paralleling other parrot-genus names (e.g. Pionopsitta, Touit) |
A compound noun coined as a New Latin genus name, treated as feminine (following the grammatical gender of Psittacus). The three elements run together: Latin ali- (wing) + Greek pio- (fat, rich) + Greek -psitta (parrot). The name is a hybrid Latin–Greek compound, a common practice in ornithological nomenclature. No species epithet is present; this is the genus name alone.
Pronunciation
- al-ih-pee-op-SIT-uh Six syllables: al-i-pi-op-sit-ta. Penult is 'sit', whose vowel (i) is short but is followed by two consonants (tt) — stress-penult rule 5 applies.
Other readings
ali- (Latin, 'other, another') + pio- + -psitta: 'another/different parrot with rich coloring' — grammatically possible but the 'wing' reading fits better alongside comparanda such as Pionopsitta ('fat-faced parrot')
Segmenting opsi- (Greek, 'appearance/sight') from position 5 is arithmetically possible (o-p-s-i) but would leave an unanalyzable a-l-i-p before it; rejected.
The terminal element -psitta is the short form of psittacus (full combining form psittac-); this truncation is conventional in parrot-genus names coined in the 19th–20th centuries. The compound is a Latin–Greek hybrid (ali- Latin; pio-, -psitta Greek); such hybrids are permitted under the ICZN but are traditionally noted. Alipiopsitta is a monotypic genus established for the Yellow-faced Parrot (A. xanthops) of central Brazil; the 'richly-winged' or 'fat/bright-winged parrot' reading aligns with the species' vivid yellow and green plumage. The dictionary entry for pio- reads 'fat, rich'; in ornithological names it is often used in the sense of 'richly colored' rather than literally fat.