Fregilupus
freh-jih-LOO-pus
Genus
Wolf-like breaker; informally, "the wolf among the choughs" — a powerful, chough-like bird
Literally: Breaking wolf
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fregi- | To break (perfect stem frēg-/fregi-, from frangere, 'to break') | Latin (frang) | Fregi- is the perfect stem of frangere; it is also the root of the chough genus Fregilus ('the breaker'), which this name deliberately echoes |
| -lupus | A wolf | Latin (lup, =us) | Nominative singular, masculine; forms the head noun of the compound |
A Latin noun compound: Fregi- (perfect stem of frangere, 'to break') + lupus ('wolf'), giving a masculine nominative singular genus name. The construction mirrors older compound genus names such as Fregilus (chough genus) and implies a creature with the 'breaking' habit of a chough but with the power or fierceness of a wolf. The word is treated as a masculine Latin second-declension noun.
Pronunciation
- freh-jih-LOO-pus Penult rule 4: the penult vowel 'u' in -lu- is long (the vowel u followed by a single consonant p counts as long in classical scansion), giving penult stress on -LU-
Other readings
Fregil- + upus: read as Fregil(us) [chough genus, stem fregil-] + upus [clipped from upupa, hoopoe] — possible but the -upus/-upupa clipping is unattested and forced
regi- + lupus: 'royal wolf' — the match of regi- is a false internal match; the word boundary falls after Fregi-, not after re-
frang (Latin, 'to break') is in the dictionary; its perfect stem fregi- is not listed as a separate entry but is the regular Latin perfect of frangere — marked high confidence from general classical knowledge upus is not in the dictionary as a standalone form; the segment -lupus is parsed whole via the dictionary entry lup/=us (wolf), confirmed high confidence Fregilupus varius (Boddaert, 1783) is the Réunion starling, an extinct bird from Réunion Island; the genus was erected by Lesson (1831) to capture both its chough-like bill (Fregilus) and its notably robust, wolf-fierce character