Artomyias
ar-to-MY-i-as
Genus
bread fly — a genus of African flycatchers whose name combines 'bread' (artos) with 'fly' (myia)
Literally: bread fly
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| arto- | a loaf of bread (from artos) | Greek (arto) | combining form of artos; root -arms in the dictionary entry is an OCR artefact for -artos |
| -myia | a fly | Greek (myi, =a) | nominative singular form myia; the final -s is the genus-name termination treated as a Latin nominative |
| -s | nominative singular ending conventionally added to form a Latin genus name | connecting terminal, not a separate root |
The name is a Greek compound noun used as a New Latin genus name (neuter/feminine singular). Arto- is the combining form of artos (bread) and myia (fly) is the head noun, giving a compound meaning 'bread-fly.' In ornithology, the -myias ending is a standard suffix for flycatcher genera (cf. Melaenornis, Muscicapa), so the intended sense is almost certainly 'bread flycatcher,' perhaps alluding to the dun, bread-coloured plumage of these African forest flycatchers.
Pronunciation
- ar-to-MY-i-as Five syllables: ar-to-my-i-as. Penult is 'i', a short vowel followed by a single consonant (s), so stress falls on the antepenult 'my'.
Commonly: ar-to-MY-as (the two unstressed vowels i and a before the final s are often run together in English speech)
Other readings
arto- + -myias as a single unit meaning 'fly-catcher' (myias = genitive of myia or a standalone form): same meaning, different parsing
The dictionary entry for arto reads 'arto, -arms' — the '-arms' is an OCR scanning error for '-artos', the full stem. The genus Artomyias (African forest-flycatchers) was erected by Oberholser 1899; the exact inspiration for 'bread' is not recorded in the protologue, but bread-coloured (dun/buff) plumage is a plausible explanation. Cannot verify current availability; check IOC World Bird List or ZooBank for current synonymy.