Lopholaimus
loh-foh-LYE-mus
Genus
the crested one; a bird distinguished by its tufted crest above the throat
Literally: crest-throat
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| lopho- | a crest, a tuft | Greek (loph, -i, -o, =us) | combining form lopho-, connecting vowel -o- |
| laim | the throat, the gullet | Greek (laim, -o, =us) | stem used directly before the Latin nominative ending |
| -us | nominative singular ending | Latin | marks masculine grammatical gender |
Both roots are Greek; no hybrid. The combining form lopho- (crest/tuft) modifies the head noun laimus (throat/gullet), forming a compound noun meaning 'crested throat'. The whole word is a masculine Latin-form noun used as a genus name, following the standard practice of giving Greek compound nouns a Latin nominative -us ending. The epithet of the only species, antarcticus, is a Latin adjective agreeing in gender with the masculine genus name.
Pronunciation
- loh-foh-LYE-mus The penult syllable -lai- contains the diphthong ai (= long i), so stress falls on the penult by the diphthong rule.
Other readings
The split lop- (scale/husk) + hol- (whole) + aim + -us was considered but produces no coherent biological meaning and is rejected.
Lopholaimus is a monotypic genus erected by Temminck in 1821 for the Topknot Pigeon (L. antarcticus) of eastern Australia. The alternative segments phola- (lurking in a hole; a mollusc) and hol- (whole) surfaced in the tool scan but yield no meaningful reading and are discarded. The -us ending is a standard Latin nominative masculine suffix applied to Greek compound genus names; it is listed in the dictionary as a taxonomic ending.