Philodice
fi-LOH-di-see
Genus (hummingbirds, family Trochilidae)
She who loves justice — the Latinized form of Philodikē, a figure of Greek mythology
Literally: loving-right / friend of justice
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| philo- | love, loving | Greek (phil, -a, -i, -o) | combining form philo- before a consonant; from Greek phileîn, to love |
| -dic- | right; (by extension) justice | Greek (dic) | from Greek dikē (δίκη), justice, right, custom; the dictionary lists dic with the gloss 'Right' |
| -e | connecting vowel / terminal vowel of the Latinized name | Final -e makes the word a Latinized feminine proper noun; it is the closing letter of the Greek name Philodikē transliterated into Latin as Philodice |
Philodice is a single-word genus name, a Latinized feminine proper noun formed from two Greek roots joined by the combining vowel that is already built into philo-. It reproduces the name of Philodikē (Φιλοδίκη), a figure of Greek mythology (variously a Danaid, a daughter of Inachus, or a sea-nymph). The construction is a compound adjective used as a name: philo- (loving) + dikē (justice) = 'she who loves justice / friend of justice.' The genus was established by Ludwig Reichenbach in 1854 for a group of small South American hummingbirds.
Pronunciation
- fi-LOH-di-see Four syllables: fi | lo | di | ce. Penult is 'di': short vowel i followed by only one consonant (c), so penult stress rules 1–5 do not apply. Stress falls on the ANTEPENULT 'lo'. The antepenult vowel o is followed by a single consonant (d) and then a vowel (i), making it long ('oh'). Final -e is a vowel at word-end = long 'ee'. Initial ph = 'f'; c before e = 's'.
Other readings
A purely compositional reading without the mythological reference — philo- (loving) + dic (right/correct) + -e (feminine ending) — gives the same literal meaning and is not in conflict with the mythological derivation; the nymph's own name is built the same way.
The dictionary entry for dic (Greek) gives the gloss 'Right,' corresponding to Greek dikē (justice, right, custom), which is the standard etymological root of the mythological name Φιλοδίκη. The terminal -e is not a separate dictionary root; it is the Latin transliteration of the Greek long-ē (η) ending of the proper name Philodikē. Philodice as a hummingbird genus has been treated as a synonym of Calliphlox or Doricha in some modern classifications, but the name itself remains valid as originally coined.