Amalocichla
a-mal-OH-kik-la
Genus
the soft thrush
Literally: soft/tender thrush
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| amal- | soft, tender | Greek (amal, -o) | combining form amal-o-; the final -o- serves as the connecting vowel to the next root |
| -o- | connecting vowel | standard Greek linking vowel, dropped before the initial vowel of cichl- | |
| -cichl-a | a thrush | Greek (cichl, =a) | -a is the nominative singular ending; the whole word is feminine |
Amalocichla is a single-word genus name formed by combining the Greek adjective/combining form amal(o)- 'soft, tender' with the Greek noun cichl-a 'thrush'. The word is treated as a feminine Latin noun of the first declension, following the form of its head noun cichla. The modifier amalo- qualifies the head noun directly in the manner typical of Greek compound nouns.
Pronunciation
- a-mal-OH-kik-la Five syllables (a-mal-o-cich-la). Penult 'cich' has a short vowel followed by a single consonant (ch = k) before final -a, so the rule would normally push stress to the antepenult. The antepenult is 'o', which is a, e, o, or u followed by a single consonant (c/k) and then a syllable beginning with vowel i, making it long by the stated long-antepenult rule. Stress therefore falls on the antepenult 'o'.
Other readings
The segment malo- (Greek, 'woolly, soft') at positions 1–5 would give 'a woolly thrush', but the full match amalo- [0–5] is longer and better supported by the dictionary; amalo- is therefore preferred.
Amalocichla is a genus of New Guinean ground-thrushes (family Turdidae / Muscicapidae), and 'soft/tender thrush' likely alludes to the birds' plumage texture or gentle appearance. The competing segment malo- (Greek 'woolly, soft') is also in the dictionary and overlaps at positions 1–5; however amalo- provides a cleaner full-word match from position 0 and is the accepted etymological root. ch in cichl- follows the rule ch = hard k, giving the pronunciation 'kik-la' for that portion of the name.