Chasiempis
kah-sih-EM-piss
Genus
the gaper of gnats — a bird that yawns wide to catch insects
Literally: gaping gnat
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chas- | a gaping, a yawning open space | Greek (=chasma, -to) | Root chas- extracted from chasma (stem chasmato-); the base verb is chaino (chain-o), to yawn or gape. The -i- that follows is the connecting vowel binding chas- to empis. |
| -i- | connecting vowel | Euphonic -i- linking chas- to the vowel-initial second element empis; avoids the hiatus that -o- would create before 'e' | |
| -empis | a gnat | Greek (empi, -d, =s) | Greek ἔμπις; the -s nominative singular form is empis; the stem is empid- (cf. Empidonax, Empididae). Here it functions as the head noun of the compound. |
A Greek nominal compound: modifier chas- (gaping) + connecting vowel -i- + head noun empis (gnat). The whole compound is treated as a Latin feminine noun of the third declension, as is conventional for genus names ending in -is. The name describes the bird's behavior — a wide-gaped flycatcher that snaps up gnats — fitting the Hawaiian Elepaio (family Monarchidae), to which this genus belongs.
Pronunciation
- kah-sih-EM-piss Penult rule 5: the penult vowel 'e' is short but is followed by two consonants (m + p), so the penult 'em' receives stress.
Other readings
chas- could alternatively be taken directly from the verb chain-/chaino- (to yawn, gape) rather than from the noun chasma; the semantic outcome is identical. A minority reading connects Chasi- to chaos (chao=s, an abyss, empty space), giving 'gnat of the void', but this is less biologically apt and less likely intended.
The dictionary lists chasma (=chasma, -to) as the form for 'a gaping'; the bare root chas- is not entered separately but is the transparent stem before the Greek noun-forming suffix -ma. This is a well-attested pattern (cf. plasma, diploma, etc.). The connecting vowel -i- rather than the more usual -o- is regularly used in Greek when the second element begins with a vowel, preventing double-vowel hiatus. Chasiempis contains three species of Elepaio, small Old-World-flycatcher relatives endemic to the Hawaiian Islands; the genus was erected by Cabanis in 1850. empi, -d, =s is confirmed in the dictionary (id 2050). =chasma, -to is confirmed (id 1214). chain, -o (yawn, gape) is confirmed (id 1190) as the underlying verb.