Anastomus
an-ASS-toh-mus
Genus
the one with an open mouth (or gaping bill)
Literally: one provided with an opening / mouth-to-mouth junction
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| ana- | up, back, again; throughout; against | Greek (ana) | prefix; here with the sense of 'open wide' or 'back open' |
| -stom- | mouth; opening | Greek (stomat, stom, -o) | combining form of stoma / stomatos; stem stom- |
| -us | nominative singular masculine ending | Latin | Latinised genus name treated as 2nd-declension masculine noun |
Anastomus is a single-word genus name formed from the Greek prefix ana- ('open, back, up') plus the Greek root stom- ('mouth, opening') plus the Latinised masculine nominative ending -us. The verb anastomoun means 'to furnish with a mouth or outlet; to open wide'; the derived noun anastoma (or the adjectival participle anastomos) was applied to organisms with a conspicuously open or gaping mouth. The open-bill storks (family Ciconiidae) carry this genus name because their mandibles curve apart in the middle, leaving a permanent gap — a visible 'anastomosis' or opening.
Pronunciation
- an-ASS-toh-mus Antepenult stress: the penult vowel 'o' is short and followed by only one consonant (m) before the final vowel 'u', so control passes to the antepenult 'as', which is short (vowel followed by a single consonant then a non-qualifying vowel sequence).
Other readings
ana- ('up/throughout') + stomus ('mouthed') — same roots, read as a compound adjective Latinised as a noun: 'wide-mouthed'
The dictionary confirmed both 'ana' and 'stomat/stom-o' in the dictionary. The biological genus Anastomus (Bonnaterre, 1791) contains the open-bill storks; the gaping bill is an adaptation for extracting snails from their shells. 'Anastomosis' (the joining of two channels so they communicate) is a related medical/botanical term built on the same roots. Final -us is the standard Latinised masculine nominative singular ending added to Greek-derived genus names; it is not itself a Greek element.