Chrysolampis
kris-oh-LAM-pis
Genus
the golden-shining one; the golden torch
Literally: golden torch
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| chryso- | Gold | Greek (chrys, -o, =us) | Combining form; -o- connecting vowel retained before consonant |
| lamp- | Shine; torch | Greek (lamp, -ad, =as, -s) | Stem of lampas (λαμπάς, -άδος); the full standalone form is lampas |
| -is | Nominative singular ending | Latinized third-declension nominative ending; gives the genus its grammatical form; not a lexical root |
Chrysolampis is a single-word genus name formed by prefixing the Greek combining form chryso- (gold) to the stem lamp- (shine, torch) of the Greek third-declension noun lampas. The ending -is is a Latinized nominative singular. The whole word functions as a feminine Latin noun in apposition to any species epithet assigned to it. No epithet is analyzed here as only the genus was supplied.
Pronunciation
- kris-oh-LAM-pis Penult rule 5: the penult vowel (a in -lam-) is short but is followed by two consonants (mp), so the penult receives stress.
Other readings
No plausible alternative segmentation exists; the chrys-o + lamp division is unambiguous given both roots are confirmed in the dictionary.
The genus contains the Ruby-topaz Hummingbird (Chrysolampis mosquitus); the name alludes to the male's blazing golden-orange and ruby iridescent plumage. The ending -is is treated as a connecting/nominative suffix rather than the Greek root is- (equal), which would make no semantic sense here. ch in scientific Latin is always the hard 'k' sound.