Cinclus
SINK-lus
Genus
Wagtail (a small, bob-tailed bird); applied to the dippers
Literally: The wagtail
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cinclus | the wagtail | Greek (cincl, -o, =us) | Greek κίγκλος (kinklos); the =us ending is the Latin nominative singular masculine form used for the genus name |
Cinclus is a single-word genus name, a Latinized form of the Greek κίγκλος. It stands alone as a noun in the nominative singular, treated as masculine second-declension Latin (-us). No epithet is present. The Greek original referred to a small tail-wagging bird; Illiger applied it to the dippers (Cinclidae) in 1811.
Pronunciation
- SINK-lus Two-syllable word: stress falls on the penult (rule 1). 'c' before 'i' = 's' sound, giving SINK-; -us ending has a short vowel.
Other readings
One could formally separate the stem cincl- from the Latin nominative ending -us, but the dictionary treats cinclus as a single entry, so a one-segment reading is preferred.
The Greek source word κίγκλος (kinklos) referred to a wagtail or similar tail-bobbing bird; modern ornithology applies Cinclus to the dippers, which share a similar bobbing behaviour but are aquatic songbirds. The segment 'clu-/clus' (Latin 'close') at position 3–7 is an artefact of substring matching; it plays no role in this name.