Nothura
NOTH-ur-uh
Genus (birds, family Tinamidae)
false-tailed (bird)
Literally: spurious tail
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noth- | Spurious, illegitimate | Greek (noth, -o) | From Greek νόθος (nothos). In taxonomy regularly signals a deceptive or imperfect resemblance to another group — here, the near-absence of a visible tail. |
| -ura | The tail | Greek (ur, =a, -o) | Dictionary standalone form is =a (i.e. -ura used as a word-ending). From Greek οὐρά (ourá). No connecting vowel is needed because the root begins with a vowel. |
Nothura is a single compound genus name formed from two Greek roots. The first root noth- modifies the second root ur-, giving the compound the adjectival sense 'having a false/spurious tail.' The final -a is the standalone nominative form of the tail root (ur, =a) and simultaneously serves as the standard New Latin feminine singular genus-name ending. The name alludes to the extremely short, vestigial tail of these South American tinamous, which is almost entirely hidden beneath the upper tail-coverts and thus appears 'not a real tail.'
Pronunciation
- NOTH-ur-uh Three syllables: Noth-ur-a. Penult is 'ur': its vowel (u) is short and followed by only one consonant (r), so the penult is light. Stress therefore falls on the ANTEPENULT (Noth-). The antepenult vowel o is short (followed by a single consonant th, then the light penult). Final -a = 'uh' per the rules.
Other readings
An alternative — but far less plausible — reading is not- (Greek: the back) + hur-a, giving 'of the back.' The dictionary also yields thura (Greek: a door) at positions 2–7, which would produce no + thura = 'no door', making no biological sense and rejected.
Both roots confirmed in the dictionary: noth (Greek, spurious/illegitimate) and ur =a (Greek, the tail). Nothura is a genus of chunky, short-tailed tinamous native to South America (e.g. Nothura maculosa, the spotted tinamou). The name was coined by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1837. The spelling Nothura contains no connecting vowel: noth- ends in a consonant and -ura begins with a vowel, so they join directly.