Cinnyris
SIN-ih-ris
Genus
The small bird — applied to the sunbirds, a genus of brilliantly coloured nectar-feeding passerines
Literally: A small bird
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cinnyris | a small bird | Greek (cinnyr, =is) | The form =is is the nominative singular ending; the stem is cinnyr-. Used here as a standalone noun in the nominative, giving the genus its name directly. The sub-matches ris- (Latin 'laughter') and -is (Greek noun suffix) are artefacts of substring search and are not operative here — the entire word is a single Greek lexical item. |
Cinnyris is a monomial genus name. It is a Greek noun (stem cinnyr-, nominative singular cinnyris) used directly as a Latin-treated genus name, as permitted by the ICZN. There is no specific epithet to relate grammatically; the word stands alone as the genus.
Pronunciation
- SIN-ih-ris Antepenult stress: the penult vowel (i in -ny-) is short and followed by a single consonant r, so stress falls on the antepenult (SIN-). The initial C is 's' before i. Both y and i are short vowels; final -is is a short closed syllable (not the -es diphthong rule).
Other readings
One could theoretically segment cinnyr- + -is (Greek noun-forming suffix), but the dictionary treats the whole form cinnyr, =is as a single entry meaning 'a small bird', so no further decomposition is warranted.
The Greek word κίνναρις (kinnyris) referred to some small bird in antiquity; the exact species it originally denoted is uncertain. It was adopted by the ornithologist William John Swainson in 1827 for this genus of sunbirds (family Nectariniidae). The substring matches for ris- (Latin 'laughter') and -is (Greek suffix) are coincidental and should not be read into the name's meaning.