Aphelocoma
a-fel-OH-co-mah
Genus
smooth-plumaged (uncrested)
Literally: smooth hair
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| aphelo- | smooth | Greek (aphel, -o) | combining form aphelo-; describes the absence of a crest |
| -coma | hair; the hair of the head | Latin (from Greek κόμη) (=coma, -to) | here used for the plumage/head-feathering; the same word also means 'deep sleep' in a medical context, which does not apply here |
A compound noun used as a genus name (treated as feminine in Latin, as is conventional for bird genera). The Greek combining form aphelo- (smooth) directly modifies the Latin/Greek noun coma (hair), yielding a noun-in-apposition style compound: 'the smooth-haired one.' The name alludes to the plain, crestless head of scrub-jays in contrast to crested jays.
Pronunciation
- a-fel-OH-co-mah Five syllables: a-fel-o-co-ma. Penult 'co' has a short vowel followed by a single consonant, so stress falls on the antepenult, which is the connecting syllable '-o-', giving a-fel-OH-co-mah. Common ornithological usage shifts stress back one further to 'fel'.
Commonly: a-FEL-oh-co-mah (stress on 'fel' is widely used in birding)
Other readings
aphe- (touch) + lo- + coma is theoretically possible but yields no coherent meaning and is rejected in favour of aphelo- (smooth) + coma (hair).
The entry =coma, -to in the dictionary is labelled Latin but traces to Greek κόμη (komē), hair. In botanical and zoological nomenclature it is used for a tuft or head of hair-like structures. Aphelocoma is the genus of scrub-jays (family Corvidae); the name distinguishes them from crested jays by their smooth, uncrested heads. The Latin loc- root (place) at position 4–8 is a spurious overlap; loco- here is simply the tail end of aphelo- and should not be read as the Latin locus. The Greek -oma suffix (tumor) at the end is also a spurious overlap; the final element is coma (hair), not the medical suffix -oma.