Kaupifalco
kaw-pee-FAL-koh
Genus
Kaup's falcon — a falcon (or hawk) named in honour of the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup
Literally: Kaup's falcon
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kaupi- | Honouring Johann Jakob Kaup (1803–1873), German ornithologist and herpetologist | German (Kaup (proper name)) | Latinized genitive singular of the surname Kaup: Kaup + -i (Latin genitive suffix for a proper name ending in a consonant), meaning 'of Kaup' |
| -falco | A falcon | Latin (=falco, -n) | Latin third-declension noun falco, falconis; used here as the head noun of the compound, giving the genus its grammatical gender (masculine) |
Kaupifalco is a genus name formed by combining a Latinized possessive genitive of the proper name Kaup (Kaupi-) with the Latin noun falco (falcon). The construction follows the common ornithological convention of prepending a naturalist's name in the genitive to a bird-name head noun — literally 'falcon of Kaup.' The genus is masculine, matching falco. The single known species, Kaupifalco monogrammicus (Lizard Buzzard), bears an adjectival epithet agreeing in gender with the genus.
Pronunciation
- kaw-pee-FAL-koh Penult rule 5: the penult vowel 'a' in '-fal-' is short but is followed by two consonants (l + c), so the penult is stressed.
Other readings
One might superficially read 'Kau-' as related to Greek kau- (burn, burning), but the context of the name's coinage and the well-documented honour to J. J. Kaup make the proper-name reading certain.
'Kaup' (the proper name) is not in the roots dictionary; identification is based on the well-documented historical record of the genus being named after J. J. Kaup (1803–1873) by Bp. (Charles Lucien Bonaparte) in 1854. Confidence: high. The dictionary returns Greek cau- (burn) when queried for 'Kaup', but that reading is ruled out by the biographical context. falco is confirmed in the dictionary as Latin 'a falcon' (=falco, -n).