Catharus guttatus
KATH-a-rus gut-TAY-tus
Species
the pure (thrush) marked with spots; the Hermit Thrush, whose underparts bear dark drop-shaped spots
Literally: pure one provided with drops
Catharus · genus name
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| cathar- | Clean, pure | Greek (cathar, -o) | Greek adjective stem katharós (καθαρός); the full stem cathar- is used directly as the generic name |
| -us | Latin nominative singular ending, masculine gender | Latin | Standard Latinization giving the genus a masculine grammatical gender |
guttatus · specific epithet
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| gutt(a)- | a drop | Latin (gutt, =a) | gutta is the nominative/ablative singular form; the stem gutt- combines with -atus to mean 'furnished with drops', i.e. spotted |
| -atus | past-participial / adjectival suffix meaning 'provided with' or 'having' | Latin (-tus, =ta, =tum) | combined with a noun stem it forms adjectives: guttatus = 'having drops, spotted'; masculine nominative singular -atus agrees with the masculine genus Catharus |
Catharus is a masculine genus name (Greek adjective stem katharós Latinized with -us). Guttatus is a first/second-declension adjective in the masculine nominative singular, agreeing in gender with the genus. The epithet is therefore an attributive adjective: 'the spotted/pure one'. No ending change is needed; -atus is already masculine to match Catharus.
Pronunciation
- KATH-a-rus Antepenult stress: the penult vowel (a) is short and followed by only one consonant (r) before a single following vowel, so stress falls on the antepenult (KATH-).
- gut-TAY-tus Penult stress, Rule 4: the ending -atus is a recognised long-penult ending; the penult syllable 'ta' carries the stress.
Other readings
guttatus could theoretically be parsed from guttur ('throat') + -atus, giving 'having a throat', but the dictionary form gutt=a ('drop') is the standard source of this well-established ornithological epithet meaning 'spotted'.
The epithet guttatus, 'spotted with drop-like markings', is extremely common in ornithology and refers to the bold dark spots on the Hermit Thrush's breast and flanks. The suffix -atus (= -tus, =ta, =tum in the dictionary) is the standard Latin participial/adjectival ending meaning 'furnished with'; it was not returned as a standalone entry but is confirmed by the -tus entry. No change to the saved Catharus entry is required: guttatus is already masculine nominative singular, matching the masculine genus.