Buteo
BYOO-tee-oh
Genus
The Hawk; the classical Roman hawk, applied to the buzzards
Literally: a kind of hawk
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buteo | a kind of hawk | Latin (=buteo, -ni) | Single classical Latin noun, third declension; genitive stem buteoni-; adopted wholesale as a genus name, treated as masculine |
Buteo is not a compound. It is a single classical Latin noun (third declension, masculine, genitive buteonis) taken directly from classical Latin authors such as Pliny, who used buteo for a type of hawk or falcon. Lacépède adopted it unchanged as a genus name in 1799.
Pronunciation
- BYOO-tee-oh Three syllables; penult vowel (e) is short and followed by only one consonant before another vowel, so the antepenult rule applies. The antepenult vowel u is followed by a single consonant and then two vowels, making it long, giving stress to the first syllable.
Buteo is found directly in the dictionary as =buteo, -ni (Latin), meaning 'a kind of hawk'. No segmentation into sub-roots is needed or appropriate.