Edolisoma
ee-dol-ih-SO-muh
Genus
Edolius-bodied; having the form of an Edolius (drongo)
Literally: Edolius-body (a body resembling the drongo genus Edolius)
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edoli- | Edolius, an older genus name applied to drongos (family Dicruridae); ultimately of uncertain etymology, treated as a taxonomic proper name | New Latin (proper name) (Edolius) | stem Edoli-, formed by dropping the Latin nominative ending -us before the Greek combining form |
| -soma | a body | Greek (=soma, -t, -to) | Greek sōma; as a terminal element -soma names an organism characterised by a particular body form |
Edolisoma is a compound genus name (neuter, following the gender of Greek -soma compounds in zoological nomenclature). The first element, Edoli-, is the stem of the older drongo genus Edolius. The second element, -soma (body), is the Greek head noun. Together the name means 'having the body of an Edolius', indicating that these cuckoo-shrikes (Campephagidae) were thought to resemble drongos in body form. This was a common 19th-century coining pattern: [existing genus stem] + -soma.
Pronunciation
- ee-dol-ih-SO-muh Rule 4: the penult vowel belongs to the terminal element -soma, which is listed explicitly as a penult-stressing ending; stress therefore falls on the penult syllable 'so'.
Commonly: eh-DOL-ih-SO-muh (also heard with a short first vowel)
Other readings
A superficial reading might parse iso- (Greek 'equal') + -oma (Greek 'tumor/growth'), yielding 'equal growth', but this is ruled out by the ornithological context and the historical record linking the name to Edolius.
doli- (Latin 'jar') + soma is equally nonsensical in context and should be rejected.
Edolius is not in the roots dictionary; its etymology is treated here as an opaque taxonomic proper name coined in the early 19th century, used for drongos before the name was stabilised as Dicrurus. The compound Edolisoma (cuckoo-shrikes resembling drongos) was erected by Bonaparte (1850). The dictionary matches for doli- (Latin 'jar'), iso- (Greek 'equal'), and -oma (Greek 'tumor') are all positional coincidences and carry no etymological weight here.