Bathmocercus
bath-MO-ser-kus
Genus
the graduated-tail (bird); one with a stepped or graduated tail
Literally: step tail
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| bathmo- | a step, a degree | Greek (bathm, -o, =us) | combining form: stem bathm- + connecting vowel -o- |
| -cercus | the tail | Greek (cerc, -o, =us) | terminal element; masculine nominative singular -us ending gives the genus its grammatical gender |
Both elements are Greek. The compound is a masculine noun in the nominative singular (-us ending). bathmo- is the modifying first element and -cercus ('tail') is the head noun. The name is a compound noun used as a genus name in apposition, referring to the bird's distinctively graduated (step-like) tail in which the feathers decrease in length from the centre outward in a staircase fashion.
Pronunciation
- bath-MO-ser-kus Four syllables: bath-mo-cer-cus. Penult 'cer' has a short vowel followed by only one consonant before the final syllable, so no penult rule applies. Stress falls on the antepenult 'mo'. c before e gives the 's' sound in '-cercus'.
Other readings
bath- (Greek: deep, high) + -mo- + -cercus: 'deep-tailed' — less likely because the dictionary's longest match at position 0 is bathmo- (a step, degree) as a single combining form, not bath- + an independent -mo-
Bathmocercus is a genus of African warblers (family Macrosphenidae). The name almost certainly alludes to the bird's graduated tail. The dictionary's longest match at the start of the word is the combining form bathmo- (Greek: a step, degree), which is preferred over the shorter bath- (Greek: deep, high). The second c in -cercus comes before u, so it is a hard 'k'; the first c comes before e, so it is soft 's': together giving the pronunciation 'ser-kus'.