Ephippiorhynchus
eh-FIP-ee-oh-RINK-us
Genus
the saddle-billed bird — referring to the brightly coloured saddle-shaped shield at the base of the bill
Literally: saddle-billed (one)
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ephippi- | a saddle; literally 'that which is placed upon a horse' | Greek (ephippium) | from Greek ἐφίππιον (ephippion), stem ephippi-; connecting vowel -o- follows |
| -o- | connecting vowel | standard Greek connecting vowel linking the two roots | |
| -rhynchus | snout, beak, bill | Greek (rhynch, -o) | used as a terminal element; from Greek ῥύγχος (rhyngchos) |
A compound noun formed from two Greek elements joined by the connecting vowel -o-. Ephippi- (stem of ephippium, 'saddle') + -o- + -rhynchus ('beak'). The whole word functions as a masculine noun in apposition serving as the genus name; it is treated as grammatically masculine in Latin (ending -us). The name describes the bright red-and-yellow saddle-shaped frontal shield at the base of the bird's enormous bill, a defining feature of the saddle-billed stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis).
Pronunciation
- eh-FIP-ee-oh-RINK-us The word has six syllables: eh-FIP-ee-oh-RINK-us. The penult 'rink' contains a short vowel followed by two consonants (nc), satisfying penult stress rule 5; within the first compound element, 'FIP' is stressed because its penult vowel is short but followed by two consonants (pp). Standard practice for long Greek compounds stresses the most prominent internal penult.
Commonly: eff-IP-ee-oh-RINK-us (some speakers voice the initial e- as 'eff')
Other readings
One could read 'epi-' (Greek, 'upon') + 'hippo-' (Greek, 'horse') + 'rhynchus' (Greek, 'beak'), yielding 'upon-horse beak', but this is almost certainly wrong; the saddle reading is confirmed by the bird's morphology and by the original describer's intent.
The dictionary confirmed both 'ephippi' (from ephippium, saddle) and 'rhynch' (beak) are present in the dictionary. The initial E- is the Greek prefix ἐπί (epi-, 'upon') reduced and fused into the noun ephippion; it is not a separate prefix in this compound — the whole stem ephippi- is taken as the first element. Ephippiorhynchus is a genus of large storks (family Ciconiidae) comprising two species: the saddle-billed stork (E. senegalensis) of sub-Saharan Africa, and the black-necked stork (E. asiaticus) of South and Southeast Asia and Australia.