Odontophorus
oh-don-TOF-or-us
Genus
the one that bears teeth; armed with teeth
Literally: tooth-bearer
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| odonto- | a tooth | Greek (odon, -t, -to) | combining form odonto- from stem odont- |
| -phor- | carry, bear; movement | Greek (phor, -a, -e, -i, -o) | chosen over homograph phor 'a thief/bee' because the bearer-of-teeth sense fits the zoological context perfectly |
| -us | Latin nominative singular masculine ending | Latin | standard ending giving the genus a grammatical gender of masculine |
A single compound Greek stem (odonto- + -phor-) given a Latin nominative singular ending -us, as is standard for Latinized genus names. The whole word functions as a noun meaning 'tooth-bearer' or 'the one carrying teeth.' Odontophorus is a genus of wood-quails (family Odontophoridae); their upper mandible has a pronounced tooth-like projection, hence the name.
Pronunciation
- oh-don-TOF-or-us Five syllables: o-don-TO-phor-us. Penult 'phor' has a short vowel followed by a single consonant r, so stress falls on the antepenult 'to'. The antepenult vowel o is short (followed by a single consonant ph, but the next vowel does not meet the lengthening condition). Stress: antepenult rule.
Other readings
odonto- + -phorus from Greek -φόρος, an adjectival suffix meaning 'bearing' (agent noun), which is the same root — the suffix -phorus is simply the fully Latinized form of -phor + -us
Odontophorus is the type genus of the New World quail subfamily Odontophorinae; the tooth-like notch on the bill is the direct anatomical referent of the name. The segment -phor- has two dictionary entries: 'carry, bear' and 'a thief; a kind of bee.' The bearer/carrier sense is clearly intended here. The -or- that appears in positions 8–10 in the match list is not a separate Latin suffix here; it is simply the tail of the root -phor- before the ending -us.