Perisoreus
peh-rih-SOH-ree-us
Genus
the one that heaps up (food)
Literally: around/about the heap or pile
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| peri- | around, about, near | Greek (peri) | |
| -sor- | a heap, pile, urn | Greek (soros) | |
| -eus | adjectival/nominal suffix meaning 'pertaining to' or forming a noun | Greek / Latin | standard Latinized Greek genus-name ending; treated as masculine |
A single-word genus name, treated as a masculine Latin noun. It is built from Greek peri- (around, about) + soros (heap, pile) + the Latinized ending -eus. The name alludes to the bird's well-known food-caching behaviour: it gathers and 'heaps up' stores of food. No specific epithet is present; this is the genus name alone.
Pronunciation
- peh-rih-soh-REE-us The penult syllable is '-re-', containing the diphthong-like ending '-eus' (parsed as two vowels: -e- + -us); stress falls on the penult per Rule 2 (penult contains a long/diphthong vowel in '-eus'). Actually, parsing strictly: five syllables Pe-ri-so-re-us; the penult is '-re-', a single short vowel followed by a single consonant, so we move to the antepenult rule — but '-re-' is followed only by the vowel of '-us', making it a long antepenult by the rule 'long when followed by another vowel'. Wait — let me recount: Pe·ri·so·re·us = 5 syllables; antepenult = 'so', penult = 're', last = 'us'. Penult 're' is a short vowel followed by one consonant then a vowel, which means the penult is not long by position. By default we stress the antepenult 'so': peh-rih-SOH-ree-us.
Commonly: peh-RIH-soh-ree-us (sometimes heard in common speech)
Other readings
Some sources read -sor- as a connecting/contracted form of sōros (a coffin-chest or ossuary) rather than soros (heap), but the food-caching interpretation is the standard one.
Peri- could theoretically be read as a Persian fairy ('peri'), but the Greek preposition is the overwhelmingly accepted reading.
Perisoreus is a small genus of corvid birds (family Corvidae) including the Gray Jay (Canada Jay), Siberian Jay, and Sichuan Jay. The name was coined by Bonaparte (1838). The root soros (σωρός) means 'heap' or 'pile' in Greek; combined with peri- ('around/about'), the name likely references the bird's remarkable habit of caching food by sticking it under bark or in crevices. The ending -eus is a standard Latinized adjectival/nominal suffix used in genus names, giving the word masculine gender.