Nonnula
NON-new-luh
Genus
little nun
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| nonn- | nun | Latin (nonna) | From Late Latin/Medieval Latin nonna, a nun or religious woman; also used in diminutive formation |
| -ula | little, small (diminutive suffix) | Latin | Latin diminutive suffix forming feminine nouns |
Nonnula is a single-word genus name. It is a Latin feminine diminutive noun formed from nonna (nun) + -ula (little), meaning 'little nun.' The birds in this genus (puffbirds, family Bucconidae) are small, drab, and round-headed, resembling a little nun in a habit — a common metaphor in 19th-century ornithology for quietly coloured birds. The name stands as a noun in apposition and requires no epithet to be grammatically complete at the genus level.
Pronunciation
- NON-new-luh Antepenult stress: the penult vowel (-u-) is short and followed by only one consonant before a non-qualifying vowel sequence, so stress falls on the antepenult (NON-).
Other readings
Some sources analyse nonn- as a reduplication or nursery form of nonna ('grandmother' or 'nurse' in Late Latin), but the 'nun' reading is the universally accepted ornithological interpretation.
Neither 'nonn-' nor '-ula' was returned as a discrete entry in the roots dictionary; both are identified from general Latin knowledge and are marked accordingly. nonna (Late Latin / Medieval Latin) is well attested meaning 'nun'; -ula is the standard Latin feminine diminutive suffix (cf. formula, fibula, macula). Nonnula is a valid bird genus of puffbirds (family Bucconidae), described by G.R. Gray in 1855.