Devioeca
deh-vee-EE-kuh
Genus
dweller of out-of-the-way places
Literally: remote dwelling
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| devi- | off the road, away from the way; hence remote, out of the way (Latin adjective devius = de- 'from/away' + via 'road') | Latin (de + via) | devius itself is not a separate dictionary entry, but its components de- and via both are; the stem devio- is the regular adjectival stem of devius |
| -o- | connecting vowel (also the inflectional stem vowel of devius) | ||
| -oeca | a house, dwelling | Greek (oec, -i, -o, =us) | Greek oikos → Latin form oeca; used as a terminal element meaning 'dwelling-place' |
Devioeca is a feminine genus name coined as a single compound word. The first part, devio-, supplies the Latin adjective devius ('off the road, remote, out-of-the-way') as a modifier, and the Greek terminal element -oeca ('dwelling, house') acts as the head noun, treated as feminine in Latin (cf. -oeca compounds in botany and ornithology). The whole name means 'a remote dwelling' or, by extension, '[bird of] an out-of-the-way dwelling.' The combination of Latin devius and Greek -oeca makes this a Greco-Latin hybrid.
Pronunciation
- deh-vee-EE-kuh The penult syllable contains the diphthong 'oe' (= long e / 'ee'), so by penult rule 2 (penult contains a diphthong) the stress falls on the penult: -OE- = 'EE'.
Other readings
One could parse devi- as a standalone stem from Latin devio ('I stray, wander'), giving 'wandering dwelling' or 'dwelling of the wanderer', but devius (off the road) is the more natural etymological reading.
devius is not itself listed in the dictionary, but both its components are: de- (Latin, 'from, away') and via (Latin, 'road, way'). The identification of devi- with devius is high-confidence based on standard Latin word-formation. This is a Greco-Latin hybrid: devio- is Latin; -oeca is Greek. Such hybrids are common in 19th-century ornithological nomenclature. Devioeca is an Australasian flycatcher genus (family Stenostiridae); the name alludes to its somewhat isolated or remote taxonomic and geographic position.