Ciconia
sih-KOH-nee-uh
Genus
the stork
Literally: stork
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ciconia | a stork | Latin (ciconia) | Latin noun, feminine gender, 1st declension; used whole as a genus name for the true storks (family Ciconiidae) |
Ciconia is a single Latin noun used directly as a genus name. It is feminine (1st declension, -a ending), so any specific epithet must agree in feminine gender. The name is not decomposed into Greek or Latin roots; it is a complete Latin word that Romans used for the white stork.
Pronunciation
- sih-KOH-nee-uh Penult rule 4: the penult vowel 'o' is long (open syllable before a single consonant), so stress falls on the penult 'ko'.
'ciconia' was not found as a discrete entry in the dictionary (it is a complete Latin word, not a combining form), so it was identified from general knowledge of classical Latin with high confidence. The Romans used 'ciconia' for the white stork (Ciconia ciconia); the word may be onomatopoeic, echoing the bill-clattering display of storks. The family name Ciconiidae is formed by adding the standard zoological suffix -idae to the genus stem Ciconi-.