Heliodoxa
hee-lee-oh-DOK-suh
Genus
sun's glory
Literally: glory of the sun
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helio- | the sun | Greek (heli, -o) | combining form helio- |
| -o- | connecting vowel | standard Greek combining vowel | |
| -doxa | opinion, glory, splendour | Greek (dox, -a) | head noun; feminine nominative singular, giving the genus its feminine grammatical gender |
A single Greek compound noun. Helio- (sun) is the modifier in combining form, joined by the connecting vowel -o- (which merges with the stem-initial vowel of the second element) to -doxa (glory, splendour), the head noun. The whole word is treated as a Latin feminine noun of the first declension, as is standard for genus names ending in -a. The name was given to a genus of brilliantly iridescent hummingbirds (family Trochilidae), whose plumage flashes like sunlight.
Pronunciation
- hee-lee-oh-DOK-suh Penult rule 5: the penult vowel (o in 'dok') is short but followed by two consonants (x = ks), so the penult is stressed.
Other readings
helio- + doxa could alternatively be read as 'sun-opinion' (the philosophical sense of doxa), but 'sun-glory / sun-splendour' is clearly intended, reflecting the birds' dazzling iridescence.
Heliodoxa is a real hummingbird genus (Gould, 1849), comprising the 'brilliants' of South and Central America. The connecting -o- between helio- and -doxa is part of the helio- combining form itself, so there is no separate interstitial vowel. x in -doxa is pronounced 'ks', making the penult effectively closed (short vowel + two consonants), triggering penult stress.