Branta
BRAN-tuh
Genus
The brant goose genus — comprising the brant, Canada goose, barnacle goose, and their relatives
Literally: The brant / the goose
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| branta | A brant, goose | Icelandic (=branta) | Icelandic/Old Norse vernacular word adopted whole and given the Latin feminine nominative singular ending -a by convention |
Branta is a single uninflected word forming the entire genus name. It is an Icelandic vernacular word Latinized by Joshua Brookes (1830) into a feminine Latin noun in the nominative singular. As a genus name it stands alone; species epithets in the genus (e.g. canadensis, bernicla) relate to it as adjectives agreeing in feminine gender or as nouns in apposition.
Pronunciation
- BRAN-tuh Two-syllable word: stress falls on the penult (Rule 1)
The name is taken directly from the Icelandic word =branta meaning 'a brant, goose'; it is not a Greek or Latin compound. The Latin feminine ending -a is assigned by taxonomic convention, not from the source language. The inner substring 'ran' coincidentally matches the Latin root rana (frog), but this segmentation is not etymologically intended.